pastrygirl

A few dozen pieces or a few dozen moulds? I love buying kitchen toys as much as anyone, but if you're only doing a few moulds at a time, I'd skip the melter/temperer, maybe rig up a heating pad if your kitchen is cold, and spend the money on a nice thermometer, more moulds, cool transfer sheets & colors, maybe an airbrush...

I have the 6kg, which I don't bother with unless I am filling a lot of molds and need at least 2kg, usually 3 or 4. Looks like the 3kg is bowl shaped, so would be better for smaller amounts. A temperer stirs the chocolate, a melter only melts it and holds it at your desired temp. With a melter you still have to hand temper, that is add seed chocolate and stir and check it for temper. Once your chocolate is where you want it, set the melter at the desired temp and it will keep it there while you're working with it. Good if you are hand-dipping or when you need the chocolate to stay workable for a while. If you're just going to temper 500g at a time and use it all for a bark, I wouldn't bother.

Well I have it and like it. Make me an offer I can't refuse.

Depends. How much is it worth to you? Natura, Albert's newer one (in English, even) is a mere $200 on Amazon.

Thanks for the link. I was looking for a panning thread, don't know why I didn't find it. Maybe the mods will want to merge. Some good info in your demo. I was using tempered chocolate on room temp nuts and adding a fair amount of chocolate at a time - doing it all wrong! Will keep practicing.

Oooh, looks very cool! One more thing for the wish list, once I get the technique down. Do you take the extra step of candying nuts before coating? I like the effect but not the labor. When I start selling these, they will either be really expensive or not very profitable, or both

Does anyone have experience using a confectionery coating pan? I got one from D&R over the summer, and have only had a few chances to play with it. When coating nuts with chocolate, how much chocolate is typically left on the pan? Last week I coated some hazelnuts, and about 1/3 of the chocolate that I used was left on the inside of the pan. Seems like a lot of waste. How much chocolate do you add at a time? Are more smaller additions better than fewer larger ones? Do you aim for a particular chocolate:nut ratio? Any tips for less spherical items like cashews? What do you use to cool the nuts as they are tumbling? I tried some cold spray, which seemed to help. Unfortunately I followed the cold spray with a hit of the propane torch to the outside to try to melt some of the chocolate on the pan, and managed to create a small fire ball, so I won't be doing that again! :0 Do you use a hair dryer to heat as needed, or something else?

I would argue that you shouldn't need refrigeration to get a properly set shell. Do you test the chocolate on paper before molding to make sure it is in good temper, or do you just trust the machine? In what position are your molds after casting the shells? Standing them on edge allows better air circulation than laying them flat on the table. I only use the fridge if the kitchen is particularly warm or if I'm molding thicker bars.

I use only hot water to clean, then polish with a tea towel before molding. Some people don't even wash their molds!

Caramels also have a very long shelf life. I make a few fillings that are a blend of caramel and chocolate, and they seem to hold up very well, probably because of all the sugar. I haven't had See's in quite a while, but aren't they mostly fondant, not so much cream ganache? Maybe you could create a special holiday collection with gianduja, butter ganache, caramels, and maybe some fondant or liqueur fillings. There is a reason why the explosion of artisan chocolate products in the grocery stores is limited to bars and caramels. Bars and bark might not be as sexy as filled pieces, but they would make great stocking stuffers or small gifts to sell at those pre-holiday events.

Just cook them to a higher temperature. If the candy is very soft after cooking to 250F, it will be fairly firm around 255F, and pretty hard at 260F.

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My impression is that not drying them enough leads to cracking. Has it been humid lately?

You're welcome. A guitar cutter is a pretty big splurge, but I'm happy I have mine. I use the strings as guidelines for cutting so many other things - cakes, bars, caramels.

30 seconds? Not more than a minute.

Seems like you'd have to be cutting an awful lot of ganache to make the double a big time saver, and if you were cutting that much ganache you'd want a bigger guitar. I have a single Dedy, and wouldn't say that picking the slab up and rotating it takes that much time or effort, but I usually only cut a few slabs at a time.

I make extra ganache and freeze it, too, seems to work fine for me. I thoroughly melt it then let it cool to room temp before filling the shells. Never tried making the shells in advance. They don't get stale or break?

Every time I have tried to re-cook jam, I have scorched it. It may be possible, but I have given up.

I've heard carageenan can be used for this, but haven't tried it. ChefSteps and Ideas in Food both have versions.

I was picturing piping chocolate into the hobby molds then adding the inclusions. You're right, they are not good for real chocolatiering.

Bark will go a lot faster than filled chocolates, but I'd still consider something like these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-OZ-CANDY-BAR-PIECES-mold-Chocolate-Candy-bars-ounce-/321206620335 http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-1-2-x-2-1-4-Candy-Bar-Chocolate-Mold-2-cavity-3-oz-/251249129224 http://www.ebay.com/itm/BREAK-APART-CANDY-BAR-mold-Chocolate-Candy-bars-hershey-size-here-she-is-he-is-/221290432088

How much bark are you making? The frustrating thing about polycarbonate bar molds is that you get so few units per mold, and have to either buy a lot of molds, which adds up, or do a lot of batches, which is tedious and time consuming. Since you are not filling and capping, maybe some inexpensive "hobby" molds would work? I would also suggest looking for a fairly deep mold. I have these: http://www.dr.ca/35g-half-cocoa-bean-bar-chocolate-mould.html which I like well enough, but have found that when I add bits to a bar, they are more likely to break. I recently made bars with a sprinkle of chopped cocoa nib brittle in the middle, and an unusually high number broke while unmolding & wrapping (like 10 out of 144, not a huge deal, but annoying). Not sure what minimum depth of chocolate is needed to hold inclusions together, (probably depends on size of inclusions) but I'd guess something at least 12 or 15mm deep would be better than 10.

Working on a couple of new menu items... favorites today are chevre panna cotta with huckleberry compote, rosemary infused honey, and pecan tuile. Also, dark chocolate cremeaux with Fernet Branca zabaglione and double chocolate cookies. Fernet & dark chocolate - try it!!!

I think the best way to not miss anything is to make a comprehensive list of all your components and tasks, print it out, and cross items off as you go. Room to make notes on batch sizes or special requests is helpful, too.