at Wed, 19 Jan 2005 17:50:06 GMT in <1106157006.749657.313400
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>, (SC) wrote :

>Hello everyone.
>
>I finally found some time to practice tempering chocolate yesterday ...
>
>Now, I do wonder about a few things...
>
>First off, I used the seeding technique. The chocolate I used was
>Guittard. ...
>all I found was the chocolate chips. I know that chips usually have
>stabilizers, etc. in them that make them different than just plain
>chocolate, but after reading the label of the bag and not seeing any
>additives, I thought I'd use these.... The problem is, I know that
>good professional chocolate is sold already in temper, but what about
>chocolate chips ...

Chocolate chips aren't the best test for tempering, because they have a
lower cocoa butter content. In fact, it's not any additives that make chips
different from couverture, it's, if you like, "subtractives" - the less
cocoa butter. As a result, chocolate chips are usually much more well-
behaved and don't require the same attention to detail in tempering. You
really do need to get a good chocolate to test tempering. However, as I've
pointed out, that shouldn't be difficult to do. Ghirardelli bittersweet
bars are available almost everywhere and are a great place to start. You
can get Guittard couverture on-line through Chocosphere. If you *really*
want to test your tempering expertise, buy the high-cocoa-butter Coucher du
Soleil variety.

FWIW, chocolate chips are always delivered to retailers in temper. It
wouldn't make much sense for a factory already set up with the production
equipment designed to temper each batch of chocolate to change that setup
for chips, and furthermore, it wouldn't make for good chip performance,
either. Some retailers are rather cavalier about storage, so it's possible
to get chips out of temper, but then again, if you have that problem with
the chips, any couverture bought through the same source will have that
problem, probably magnified. It doesn't matter, of course, because you're
going to retemper anyway. But I'd stay away from stores like that in any
case because you don't know what other hostile environments they might have
subjected the chocolate to.
>
>Also, I noticed one major frustration in the tempering process is
>keeping the chocolate that is already poured into molds, etc. in
>temper. I made the mistake of coating nuts using my fingers.

I'm not clear exactly what you did. Are you saying you sort of smeared
chocolate on the nuts with fingers? Or dipped the nuts into the tempered
chocolate using your fingers? Or something else? The first is *definitely*
a no-no. To cover nuts you want to dip them, using multiple passes to get a
smooth coat. Dipping using fingers isn't the best choice, either. Tweezers
are the best implements to use for dipping. It's a good idea to grab the
tweezers wearing latex gloves, to minimise heat transfer. In fact, it's
always a good idea when making chocolates to wear latex gloves, so that
oils, dirt, etc. from your hands don't contaminate the chocolate. You'll
find that professionals use hair nets and gloves.

>I used some new cheapish metal molds and they worked great except for
>one thing. When I unmolded everything, the shapes were pocked marked
>by air bubble holes. I also noticed these when I bit into some of my
>other chocolate. I assume I needed to be more careful while stirring
>the tempering chocolate.

No, you need to tap and jiggle the moulds, after filling them, to let the
chocolate settle. This should get rid of air pockets. Be fairly thorough
with the process - it can take a couple of seconds for the bubbles to come
out. You're not going to get total removal - even the pros usually have
some bubbles, but you'll prevent the worst of the problem.

--
Alex Rast

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