at Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:01:51 GMT in <P32If.1402$U2.280@trndny08>,
(Janet Puistonen) wrote :

>Alex Rast wrote:
....
>
>Yes, my shells are definitely thinner than yours in that case.
>
>> I'm curious - what chocolate do you usually work with? I tend to be
>> using fairly fluid high-cocoa-butter formulations - generally in the
>> 40% cocoa butter range.
>
>For shells that will be filled, I use El Rey Mijao almost exclusively.
>It's a 61%.

38.92 % cocoa butter. A little less than what I usually use, although Mijao
is definitely designed for fluidity.

>The one preparation where I always do at least two coats--often
>three--is bonbonnieres. I make a heart for Valentine's Day, and an egg
>at Easter. I find that those require a buildup of layers in order to
>achieve a strong shell, especially at the edge.

Especially with the bigger pieces, whose weight can in fact collapse a
shell that's too thin.

>> A white chocolate ganache is a good neutral base, if that's what
>> you're looking for.
>
>I'm interested in how you would make a white chocolate ganache. I have
>tried several different approaches, but always find the texture not what
>I would wish.

I use the same approach I use for dark ganache. I grate the chocolate with
a box grater, heat the cream, and pour the hot cream over the grated
chocolate. With white chocolate the cream should be really quite cool, in
relative terms. That's what I've found is critical - if you heat it up to
the high temperatures you might use with a dark chocolate, the ganache
immediately becomes grainy.

Are you melting the chocolate before adding the cream? This is the biggest
mistake. If dark chocolate is already sensitive with this technique, white
chocolate just won't work.

Chopping the chocolate also doesn't work very well, because you can't get a
good fine particle size, and with the cream being only moderately hot, it
can't melt through the chocolate.

I use very heavy cream - 43%+ milkfat. I fold the cream into the chocolate
pretty carefully, using the minimum number of strokes and a very gentle
movement. Like you I use El Rey Icoa (really, is there any other white
chocolate to use?)

There's a certain minimum amount you have to make in order for the white
chocolate ganache to work well. I've found that 1 kg (2/3 kg chocolate, 1/3
kg cream), is about the minimum. Not that this is that big of an amount,
though. One final "trick" - if you want to make a white chocolate truffle
that's like the classic dark chocolate truffle - ganache coated with cocoa,
no shell, you can use non-instant powdered milk for the coating. Works
great.

One of my favourite uses for white chocolate ganache is as a filling for
Oreo-style cookies. With a good cocoa biscuit recipe, it just blows away
the standard Oreo.

--
Alex Rast

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