Cooking For Engineers

[mck]

can unsweetened chocolate be used for tempering? i love daaaark chocolate, like 90+% for general consumption. however, i dont eat sugar, and the darkest sugar free dark chocolate i have found is about 53%, which is totally unacceptable. so i have endeavored to make my own. i have been mixing unsweetened chocolate with the 53% dark chocolate (sweetened with maltitol) and am confident with my precise tempering technique, but have not been able to hold a temper for more than 24 hours. please help me!

[Dilbert]

first, I am not a tempering expert.

but next, the entire theory behind tempering chocolate involves controlling the crystalline structure of chocolate by controlled heating/cooling - temps and time.

to the extent that fat/sugar content varies, that will affect the temperatures used for tempering and how the crystalline structure forms.

going to low sugar / sugar free chocolate will likely take some experimenting or at best some research into how that may be accomplished. bottom line is, you'll need to toss all the usual and customary advice / temps / times / conditions and seek out advice on low sugar chocolates.

artificial sweeteners are another wildcard in the mix - they will likely not behave as predicted by the normal coca butter / sugar experience.

[mck]

thanks fro your nice reply. i understand that the melting and tempering temperatures are higher for dark chocolate. i guess i gotta keep trying! anyone else have some hints?

[yaruigon]

gotta try your dark choco recipe there ...

[tocoti]

You can temper chocolate without any sugar at all. If you're new to it I would recommend the seed method. Heat to about 106 F cool to 90. Using a fine grater, grate some tempered chocolate on top. not too much. stirr. keep the temp so it does not fall below 87 for about 20 min. and never go above 92. give it a gentle stirr and check it on some parchment or similar surface. Mold. Cool quickly. oh and get a IR thermometer.