Post by paul on Apr 10, 2006 0:42:23 GMT -5
Hi all.
I just wanted to report on my first batch of chocolate and let you all know how it went.
I went with a milk chocolate for a few reasons, firstly whilst I do enjoy a good dark chocolate, milk is definitely my preference. Secondly I needed to convince my wife that the whole chocolate making idea is viable and the only way to do that was by presenting her with an acceptable milk chocolate.
I used pre-roasted nibs from a local whole foods store which was probably not the best way to go but having just bought a Santha and gone through all the expense of getting it here (Australia) & through customs etc I didn’t have a lot of money left to order beans from John as well as set myself up to roast, crack and winnow. I was also really eager to have a go NOW!
I used John’s formulation of:
33% Cocoa liquor
22% Cocoa butter
28% Sugar
17% full cream milk powder
0.5% Total weight lecithin.
I used 2 6oz bags of nibs, which yielded 238g of cocoa liquor after running through the Champion. To this I added158g cocoa butter, 201g caster sugar 122g milk powder, 3.6g granulated lecithin and ΒΌ vanilla bean for a total yield of 721g.
I threw the whole lot in the Santha which was a mistake as it became very dry and actually stalled the Santha a few times. I probably should have let the liquor & butter come up to temperature then slowly added the dry ingredients. However after a bit of prodding to get the grinder going again and a lot of scraping down the sides of the bowl to get the mass to run under the rollers it started to liquefy. I refined for about 10 hours (not long enough as it turns out) as I started the process a little late in the day and could not let the grinder run overnight. The following day I tempered and molded the chocolate I used the electric frypan method which I must say worked quite well. I heated the chocolate to 120f stirring well to ensure an even heat then turned the frypan off, walked away and let the whole lot set. Once set I heated to 90f, again stirring well. I used ice cube trays as my molds and initially tried using a syringe to transfer the chocolate into the molds. This was less than successful as the hole in the syringe was too small and the chocolate too viscous. (I have since discovered I need a catheter syringe, not a normal one.) I ended up using a teaspoon to ladle the chocolate into the ice cube trays, which worked but was laborious. I then let the chocolate set on the bench before transferring to the fridge for an hour prior to de-moulding.
The end product was surprisingly good considering the rushed manufacture. It had good gloss and snap, the only temper problem I had was whitish swirls on the outside of the blocks. I don’t know if this was due to insufficient stirring when re-melting the chocolate, over vigorous stirring introducing air, or my molding method creating layers of air bubbles as it took several spoons to fill each cavity. The overall taste was a rich almost dark tasting chocolate with some sharp overtones and a slightly astringent aftertaste. I don’t know if this was caused by too light a roast (out of my hands) or just insufficient refining/conching time. I am guessing probably a combination of the two. Mouth feel in my opinion was quite good. Certainly much better than the mass produced chocolate available locally which to me seems to have a bit of a gummy or sticky finish.
I now have some beans on order from John so am looking forward to having control of the whole process from start to finish. I think it will also be easier working with larger quantities as I found my batch quite fiddly and was worried about the amount I was loosing in the champion and the Santha.
All the best.
Paul.
I just wanted to report on my first batch of chocolate and let you all know how it went.
I went with a milk chocolate for a few reasons, firstly whilst I do enjoy a good dark chocolate, milk is definitely my preference. Secondly I needed to convince my wife that the whole chocolate making idea is viable and the only way to do that was by presenting her with an acceptable milk chocolate.
I used pre-roasted nibs from a local whole foods store which was probably not the best way to go but having just bought a Santha and gone through all the expense of getting it here (Australia) & through customs etc I didn’t have a lot of money left to order beans from John as well as set myself up to roast, crack and winnow. I was also really eager to have a go NOW!
I used John’s formulation of:
33% Cocoa liquor
22% Cocoa butter
28% Sugar
17% full cream milk powder
0.5% Total weight lecithin.
I used 2 6oz bags of nibs, which yielded 238g of cocoa liquor after running through the Champion. To this I added158g cocoa butter, 201g caster sugar 122g milk powder, 3.6g granulated lecithin and ΒΌ vanilla bean for a total yield of 721g.
I threw the whole lot in the Santha which was a mistake as it became very dry and actually stalled the Santha a few times. I probably should have let the liquor & butter come up to temperature then slowly added the dry ingredients. However after a bit of prodding to get the grinder going again and a lot of scraping down the sides of the bowl to get the mass to run under the rollers it started to liquefy. I refined for about 10 hours (not long enough as it turns out) as I started the process a little late in the day and could not let the grinder run overnight. The following day I tempered and molded the chocolate I used the electric frypan method which I must say worked quite well. I heated the chocolate to 120f stirring well to ensure an even heat then turned the frypan off, walked away and let the whole lot set. Once set I heated to 90f, again stirring well. I used ice cube trays as my molds and initially tried using a syringe to transfer the chocolate into the molds. This was less than successful as the hole in the syringe was too small and the chocolate too viscous. (I have since discovered I need a catheter syringe, not a normal one.) I ended up using a teaspoon to ladle the chocolate into the ice cube trays, which worked but was laborious. I then let the chocolate set on the bench before transferring to the fridge for an hour prior to de-moulding.
The end product was surprisingly good considering the rushed manufacture. It had good gloss and snap, the only temper problem I had was whitish swirls on the outside of the blocks. I don’t know if this was due to insufficient stirring when re-melting the chocolate, over vigorous stirring introducing air, or my molding method creating layers of air bubbles as it took several spoons to fill each cavity. The overall taste was a rich almost dark tasting chocolate with some sharp overtones and a slightly astringent aftertaste. I don’t know if this was caused by too light a roast (out of my hands) or just insufficient refining/conching time. I am guessing probably a combination of the two. Mouth feel in my opinion was quite good. Certainly much better than the mass produced chocolate available locally which to me seems to have a bit of a gummy or sticky finish.
I now have some beans on order from John so am looking forward to having control of the whole process from start to finish. I think it will also be easier working with larger quantities as I found my batch quite fiddly and was worried about the amount I was loosing in the champion and the Santha.
All the best.
Paul.