at Sat, 11 Feb 2006 18:18:08 GMT in <kt9su1t9qeclojjjs3g3o34uvlv9fm7vs2@
4ax.com>, (Debra Fritz) wrote :

>Hi all,
>
>I am going to try to do molded, filled chocolates for the first time.
>I have made truffles for years, but wanted to try something new.
>
>I'm going to use some Callebaut dark & bitter 60.3% chocolate that I
>have for the shells. I bought 2 inexpensive molds to play around with.
>Any tips for using that particular chocolate for the shells?

Callebaut 6040 - which is I believe what you've got, is excellent for
moulding. But you do need to temper it. I've posted many times the
instructions for chocolate tempering so it should be easy enough to look it
up on DejaNews.

It's best to fill shells with multiple, thin coatings instead of trying to
get all the chocolate for the shells in at once. 6040 is pretty low
viscosity, and as with any low-viscosity couverture, if you put too much in
a shell at any one time, the excess will pool down at the bottom. Result:
very thick top, very thin sidewalls. Also, you will need to temper each
batch for each coating separately. Tempered chocolate solidifies fast, so
work quickly.

Be sure to tap and shake your moulds carefully with each pass, to get rid
of any bubbles and make sure the chocolate fills all the crevices. This is
particularly critical on the first pass.

For the bottom, there are 2 possible approaches:

Either you can make a template of the bottom, pour a thin sheet of
couverture, and cut to the template, then, once the bottom is solid, *very
carefully* warm the edges of the chocolate shell and press lightly
together.

Or you can pour over tempered chocolate directly onto the filled shells.

The first way does leave a noticeable seam but tends to yield a better
temper and doesn't risk slightly melting the filling.

The second way gives you a seamless chocolate - very pretty - but it can
start to melt the filling, not to mention the sidewalls.

Whichever method you use, chilling the centres is a good precaution.
However, beware of condensation when you do this.

>
>I also need some help with the fillings. I want to start with a soft
>center that I can flavor as I please. Something about the consistency
>of a "butter cream" that you'd buy at a candy store.

The classic filling base is ganache. The standard firm ganache is simply
hot cream mixed with grated chocolate at a ratio of 1 part cream to 2 parts
chocolate. You can go softer by upping the cream amount - 2:3 will be
considerably softer, almost like peanut butter, and 1:1 is very soft -
enough that it will need to be piped in with a pastry bag. I've also
written numerous times on the subject of ganache, look up under both this
word and truffles. Not so long ago there was also a good discussion as to
how to flavour it with various ingredients - different items call for
different tactics.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)