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at Fri, 16 Dec 2005 17:03:07 GMT in
>,
(Amaryllia J Liu) wrote :

>Hi everyone,
>
>I'm not a regular reader of this newsgroup and thought this would be the
>appropriate place to ask for some advice.
>
>While looking for Christmas presents, I found chocolate coated brownies
>(pastries section) and chocolate coated cheesecake petits fours. I don't
>have much experience with chocolate besides melting it over a double
>boiler for dipping cookies. What I'm wondering is, can I make chocolate
>coated brownies/cakes at home (to give as gifts) without buying really
>expensive enrobing equipment? What would be my best bet to try at home
>or should I even attempt it? Lastly, is there anything I should add to
>the chocolate to prevent it from melting in people's hands when it's
>picked up (for the brownie example)? I've heard of adding a wax of some
>sort to make chocolates appear shinier, but wouldn't that taste kind of
>gross?

The key thing is that you're going to need to temper the chocolate. There
are several ways this can be done. The classic technique is, after the
you've melted the chocolate, you dump about 1/2 out onto a marble slab,
spade it around with a metal spatula until it just begins to solidfy, then
quickly scrape it in with the rest of the melted chocolate and stir.

The second method you do all in the pot - here what you do is you pull some
of the chocolate up the sides of the pot, off the heat, stir it until that
top "rim solidifies, then stir all together again.

The third method is that you reserve a small amount of chocolate unmelted,
and when the melted chocolate has cooled to lukewarm, dump that chocolate
in and mix around.

The marble slab method is the most foolproof, but also does require some
large, cold nonporous surface - it doesn't have to be marble but a plastic
cutting board doesn't work - and I'm guessing that this falls into the
category of "special equipment". The third method - "seeding" is also
pretty reliable, but for best results getting an accurate thermometer with
high precision in the range of 120-80 F (50-25 C) is a wise investment and
not at all expensive. You can get tempering thermometers for about $10.
Also, a good mercury-bulb medical thermometer will work pretty well,
although you need to be careful about putting it in melted chocolate that's
actually hot.

Use a fork to dip the brownies, and multiple passes to get a smooth, thick
coat without pinholes.

It may sound like a lot of work, but it's really not at all bad.

You need also to make sure that your chocolate is "couverture" - that is,
with a high percentage of cocoa butter or it will not melt or coat well.
Most eating chocolate bars qualify, but chocolate chips do NOT, and neither
does "baking chocolate" of the format that comes in those blocks - the
classic example being Baker's - whose use in *any* application is in any
case very questionable. (See my many posts on this) However, Ghirardelli's
bars are often labelled "for baking" but they're couverture-grade chocolate
suitable for your purposes. I might add that if your brownie recipe calls
for chocolate, Ghirardelli's chocolates at all grades are quite good and an
excellent choice for the brownies themselves.

There's no really easy way to avoid the melt-in-your-hands issue, if you
are using pure chocolate. If you are determined to avoid it, then you need
to use "compound coating". Compound coating replaces the cocoa butter with
another fat, typically palm kernel oil, and doesn't need to be tempered.
This does make it more convenient, but as you might expect, there's a
tradeoff. Compound coating tastes worse, having a flat, somewhat cardboardy
taste, and has much poorer texture, being filmy and almost slimy in how it
melts (most people react to the texture much more than the taste).

You'll have better dipping results if your brownie recipe leans towards the
fudgy. Fudgy brownies have a dense texture that doesn't crumble in the
chocolate when you're dipping. Cakey brownies are the worst. Large numbers
of air pockets in the latter create pinholes, and the lack of a smooth
surface means adhesion to the surface isn't as good. You'll probably end
up, with cakey brownies, with a coating that cracks and has pinholes.

>I've also considered buying a tempering machine. What's the smallest
>size I should look for that would be appropriate for home use but still
>produce somewhat reliable results? I guess my price range is anything
>less than $1000 for now.

I've not seen any consumer machine that is truly good. The most well-known
brand, Chocovision, sells a semi-professional machine, the X3210, which is
perhaps passable, but I'm not impressed with it, really.

However, you have to think hard about how often you will *really* use a
machine like this. Be very realistic and don't fall for the giddy-greedy
impulse. Very few people are really going to need a tempering machine in a
non-professional environment enough to justify its expense. Using the
marble-slab method is about the highest level of investment that you'll
need and is very reliable, especially when you're making in home
quantities. A tempering machine is really about holding chocolate in stable
temper for long periods of time, when you're making a lot of pieces. That's
not the typical situation you'll have at home.

--
Alex Rast

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