Temper, temper!
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News & New Product Press (Read-Only)
As someone who enjoys chocolate, but is not an expert, and decided to start making my own with very mixed results I feel your pain. I can share what I have 'learned' in my attempts to temper dark chocolate. I have been eating Valrhona Quanaja every day for years. I recently lost my inexpensive source for finished product here in Hawaii and started buying the Le Feves by the 3 kg bag to make my own. I am also using Des Alphes 72% because Vahrhona is sometimes difficult to buy here.As Ms. Boudar says, each manufacturer gives their recommended temperatures for tempering and working their product. I have found this info on the package or online. I read a couple books and was very careful in what I thought was the correct technique for tempering. Living in Hawaii, even in air conditioned comfort, may contribute to my past issues of sugar and/or fat blooming. I had very limited success going with the books. I'm sure it was my shortcomings and not the books.Here's what I do now that works for me. I put the chocolate I'm heating in a glass bowl. I put another quantity of chocolate which weighs approximately 1/4 of the quantity in the bowl on the side....chopped. I put the bowl in the micro.....this was actually recommended by someone on this site and I poopooed it until I tried it......and begin heating it somewhat slowly. I zap it for 30 seconds, stir a little, zap it again stir it and measure the temperature, zap it again, etc. It usually takes 4 or 5 zaps to get it at the right temperature as recommended by the manufacturer. Working with a micro you have to be a little careful as the temperature will keep rising if you're not careful because the bowl gets too hot. I find Pyrex works best for the bowl. I keep a sheet of ice pack close if I want to stop the temperature peak in an emergency. When the temperature is correct .......I find that it's ok to go over the temperature 2 or 3 degrees.....I throw in the chopped chocolate and stir a little. I let it sit as the chopped chocolate melts into the heated chocolate.....it takes quite awhile for the chocolate to cool to working temperature. I stir a little more. Don't over stir. I used to stir constantly, but I think over stirring disturbs the little crystals that are trying to form. Keep measuring the temperature until it comes down to the working temperature as listed by the manufacturer.... I find working with the chocolate at a temperature a couple degrees higher than recommended is ok. Do whatever you want to do with the chocolate. Then, I put it in the refrigerator on a cookie sheet. Yeah, I know.....the refrigerator??.....but here in Hawaii even in air conditioning I get sugar bloom if I leave it out to cool. I think it's a combination of humidity and temperature.I make chocolate covered mac nuts and plain chocolate pieces this way and it works every time. Go figure yeah? I hope this helps, at least until you can find a better way.Aloha
