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Kitchen Notes: Tempering Chocolate
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Mikeldad
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 2:35 am    Post subject: Easier Tempering Method? Reply with quote

Excellent stuff--thanks! A question, please: If you take tempered chocolate, and simply melt it (albeit carefully and accurately) to the correct temperatures:
Dark 88-90°F (31-32°C)
Milk 86-88°F (30-31°C)
White 80-82°F (27-28°C)
wouldn't that work just as well? In other words, if you never take it out of temper (i.e. go higher), wouldn't that keep it at a working temperature? I guess the trick would be to have some type of super-accurate (digital?) electric skillet? Is this do-able?
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

long story short, tempering produces specific physical changes in the chocolate that makes it appear nice, keep well, and set up crisp.

inherent to that process is heating it up and carefully cooling it to specific temperatures.

here's a good description:
http://chocolatetempering.net/abouttempering.htm
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Mikeldad
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 1:50 am    Post subject: Tempering Shortcut Reply with quote

I understand if you're starting from scratch, but I'm talking about this shortcut referred to here: http://candy.about.com/od/workingwithchocolate/a/tempershortcut.htm

Could you please read that and let me know what you think? I'm intrigued and thought that if there was an extremely accurate way of controlled-temperature melting, that this method might work. I just don't know how to do the melting accurately without the tedious microwave-it-and-keep-checking method. Thoughts, please?

Dilbert wrote:
long story short, tempering produces specific physical changes in the chocolate that makes it appear nice, keep well, and set up crisp.

inherent to that process is heating it up and carefully cooling it to specific temperatures.

here's a good description:
http://chocolatetempering.net/abouttempering.htm
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Michael Chu



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1654
Location: Austin, TX (USA)

PostPosted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you have chocolate that is already tempered, you can melt it without taking it out of temper as long as you don't exceed the melting temperature of the Form V crystals (below 89°F). To do that, you will need fairly precise heat control. One way to do it is to melt it in a large water bath (fill up a water cooler with warm water and add cold or hot water and mix until the bath is just at the high end of the temperature range you need. Then bag the chocolate and put it into the water. The large volume of water should have enough heat energy stored up to warm up the chocolate and melt it without dropping in temperature by a measurable amount.

Alternatively, I've used a temperature controlled water bath (a rice cooker hooked up to a PID temperature controller such as this one which regulates the temperature within 1 C°) to melt chocolate that I've put into ziploc bags. After melting, the bag can be snipped in the corner and the chocolate squeezed out (or it can be opened up and scooped out).
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Mikeldad
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 2:47 pm    Post subject: Tempering Shortcut Reply with quote

Michael, that is an awesome resource, and exactly what I was looking for. I will give it a try. Thanks so much for getting back to me!

--Michael
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jeraco



Joined: 08 Oct 2010
Posts: 1
Location: Charlotte, NC

PostPosted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 6:52 pm    Post subject: Tempering in Sous Vide Reply with quote

I was experimenting with chocolate this week and tempered it using a circulator cooker. I put 1.5# chocolate in sous vide- very tight- and set the temperature to 110F. Once melted, I turned it the temperature down to 89F, and let it hang out.

I cut the tip off the bag and filled the molds- the end product was spectacular! While this method was by no means fast, it didn't take any effort.
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JH1515
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 7:27 pm    Post subject: Tempering Peanut Butter Reply with quote

Does anyone know anything about tempering peanut butter? I need peanut butter as a coating and need it to harden a little. Any ideas?

Thanks!
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Seeker
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:33 pm    Post subject: Callebaut Milk Chocolate Reply with quote

I have dipped using alot of different chocolates including Ghiradelli, Guitard, Merkens, Peters and Foley's. Now I have Callebaut milk and it seems a bit temperamental. I let the temperer use the default setting(melt to 108* then cool to 86.8* to then dip), I added the seed at the right time. I have a Revolation X3210. the chocolate pooled a bit so I reduced the dipping temp 5 tenths of a degree. It was still not quite right. I then re-tempered the chocolate melting to 115* AND bringing it back to 86*. It is a little better, but not as stiff as I like.

Am I just not used to a better chocolate or do I need to lower the temp more to get a thicker coating on the fondant? The room is 65* and the humidity is at 46%.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.
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SciencyCook



Joined: 22 Oct 2010
Posts: 5

PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 7:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've never really worked with chocolate in the past, so this is definitely worth while information. It seems like utilizing chocolate for pretty much anything is a science in itself. Chocolate is fickle, so I suppose you have to be fickle right back at it.

Does this mean I'll be making any sort of confectionery items soon? Probably not. . but I'll hold onto this thread for references if I do. Smile
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 3:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What you'll want for coating with peanut butter is to make a sugar candy coating, but to include just enough peanut butter for taste. The fats in the peanut butter will interfere with the sugar crystal formation, so you'll want to err on the side of too little with it and aim for somewhere in the soft crack to hard crack range with the sugar so you get a consistency that sets up nice.
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 5:25 am    Post subject: FINALLY GOT A THERMOMETER YES!!! Reply with quote

I just want to say, thank you so much for posting this because this recipe is SO AWESOME.

I was a little nervous making the chocolate the first time because I had failed so many times before that I wasn't even sure if I COULD succeed. In a video I had watched on tempering chocolate, the instructor mentioned seeing a "shiny" characteristic to the chocolate once it was deemed "tempered" and ready for molding. This, by the way, was absolute nonsense because chocolate is shiny when it's melted, regardless of whether it's tempered or not. Minus points.

I'm SO happy now that I got the hang of it though!! It's like ochem lab, except I get to eat the product!!! Oh man, I love making confections, they're way more exciting to make than other foods.

So I made a dazzling set of chocolate-covered banana chunks, peanut butter-filled chocolates, and truffles. I'm so amazed by chocolate itself; it's just so good. So good. Sigh.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 4:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just when I think I understand tempering I read something else that confuses me!
So, basically the easiest way is to either heat the chocolate slowly so it doesn't lose it's temper (and neither do I!) or
Heat it in short bursts in the microwave until almost melted and then stir until all of the chocolate has melted through.
Am I oversimplifying it? Do I really have to do the temperatures? Please someone tell me "no"!
I am a simple person obviously!
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Michael Chu



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1654
Location: Austin, TX (USA)

PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 6:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anonymous wrote:
Just when I think I understand tempering I read something else that confuses me!
So, basically the easiest way is to either heat the chocolate slowly so it doesn't lose it's temper (and neither do I!) or
Heat it in short bursts in the microwave until almost melted and then stir until all of the chocolate has melted through.
Am I oversimplifying it? Do I really have to do the temperatures? Please someone tell me "no"!
I am a simple person obviously!

Both those techniques only work if the chocolate is already tempered (like bar chocolate). They both heat the chocolate just enough to melt, but not disturb the fat crystal structure. If you over heat, then you'll need to follow the temperatures to temper the chocolate again.
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lizzie
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:10 am    Post subject: melting chocolate Reply with quote

hi,
i dont have any malting choclate in the house however i do have normal eating chocolate, can you use your method with the pan of water and bowl when you are melting normal chocolate?

thankyou
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Michael Chu



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1654
Location: Austin, TX (USA)

PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:31 pm    Post subject: Re: melting chocolate Reply with quote

lizzie wrote:
hi,
i dont have any malting choclate in the house however i do have normal eating chocolate, can you use your method with the pan of water and bowl when you are melting normal chocolate?

thankyou

Normal eating chocolate is sometimes the best kind to use since it's typically tempered already. Take a quick look at the ingredients - it should just say: cocoa/cacao solids, cocoa/cacao butter, sugar, lecithin and vanilla. If it has other stuff in it, it's probably more chocolate candy bar than pure chocolate.
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