pastrygirl

It has been pretty cold, I always thought that was a good thing but maybe too much of a good thing.

it is kinda rusty and moist in the vapor trap or whatever you’d call this🤔

I feel like this is a question I should be answering, not asking, but I’m frustrated … my molds are clean, my chocolate is in temper, but I’m still getting entirely too many tiny patches of color flaking off. Could there be water getting through my airbrush? Is that a thing? or am I still just doing it wrong, despite years of practice, a Selmi, and an ez temper? ☹️

Thanks, I understand. I'm reading up on the risks. After 15 min, are the bananas warm? Would your light melt chocolate or butter? I hadn't thought about how hot it might be. I worry about whatever is floating around in the air while the bonbons sit and crystallize, but sounds like treating the kitchen as a whole when un-occupied would be safer than treating the items directly while I am working in the room.

@Jim D. good points. The doughnuts pass through on a conveyor belt, only getting a brief exposure so it must be super strong? @dcarch can you tell me what you use?

Recently I watched a visit to an Entemann's bakery where they ran all the doughnuts under a UV light to kill mold spores before packaging. A few days later I was at Staples, where they had 'room sanitizing' UV lights on clearance and I'm thinking it couldn't hurt to get one and shine it on my bonbons before I cap them. Also to sanitize the kitchen in general, especially the walk-in fridge. Does anyone have experience with UV lights in a food production setting? Will the cheap one from the office supply store help me at all? thanks!

Chef Rubber will start carrying Felchlin products soon. Looks like they will break cases & sell by the bag, prices are very slightly below Albert Uster's list price but shipping may be additional. Thought this might be useful for the smaller producers and hobbyists who don't have accounts with AUI. https://chefrubber.com/felchlin/

I agree, some fruit flavors get overwhelmed by the other ingredients in ganache. Try Valrhona Strawberry Inspirations if you can find it. It contains 14% freeze dried strawberry. Or add your own freeze dried strawberries.

Can we get a nanny-cam live stream set up at Jo's? Totally for her safety, not at all for our entertainment.

Yes

I've used non-perforated tart rings for cakes, a reasonably thick batter shouldn't run out the bottom. But I'm not sure about the side perforations. I'd be inclined to line with parchment rather than foil.

I don't know if there's much difference between brands. With either I usually go for the jewel/extra sparkly ones. I've switched to Roxy & Rich because I'm often ordering more molds from Chocolat-Chocolat anyway 😊 R&R has some really nice blues, like turquoise, aquamarine, & sapphire, and the fuchsia tourmaline is very pretty as well. List price is slightly higher on the 200g bottles but the exchange rate in our favor evens it out.

Solid bars should stay shiny, just keep them out of the sun. For filled items like bonbons, consider making solid chocolate versions for display. Or hollow, just without the extra fats and moisture that cause problems over time.

If you have one, use it! I don't spray directly under my hood because that would be working on top of my gas range, but it still sucks up most of the clouds of fine CB spray when working nearby. There is a dramatic difference if I spray without the hood on.

I don't know, but they make me think of pineapple tidbits.

You are on the right track. Your room temp is rather warm for chocolate work, most of us prefer 65-70F, 18-21C. Chocolate will crystallize more quickly at cooler temps, which also means you need to work more quickly and warm it back up more often as it sits and thickens in your work bowl. There is definitely such thing as too thin shell, I think the ideal is about 1.5 mm. I also think the relative translucency of white chocolate makes it even trickier to tell when the shell is right. You might be able to see CB colors through 1 mm white chocolate and freak out but it should still hold together.

@Yoda I'd consider Zephyr to be moderate fluidity compared to other white chocolates. But I too have been struggling with thickness on white chocolate shells. Instead of planning on double-shelling, try cooling and agitating the chocolate a little more and see how it thickens, and/or let it sit in the molds for a minute.

Thanks, I'm not familiar with self-rotating models or Doyon. I mean, I worked at a bakery with a rotating deck oven in the 90's but I don't think that's what OP is looking for. Blodgett is generally well regarded though.

On Project Bakeover (Food Network Canada, Hulu), Chef Steve Hodge makes madeleine sandwiches. I bring you the madeleine slicer aka bread knife https://fb.watch/aMAgnpHxsv/

check out Savour, looks more affordable with some intro classes https://savourschool.com.au/browse-classes/ I took an in-person class there years ago (2009?) and I believe a few other members here have enjoyed the online classes

I follow that guy on Insta, he def does nice work but I have not tried any of his classes. While it is helpful and inspiring to see how others do it, I think you have to put in the hours of practice to understand the material before getting into advanced decorating. It sounds like you're starting essentially from zero and budget is a factor, so I'd say learn as much as you can from those two books then see what your pain points are. What have you made so far? What chocolate are you using and how do you temper it? Do you already have an airbrush?

Totally agree. I'd add Valrhona Inspirations as needing help, they don't emulsify as easily.

You're welcome. Yes some people vacuum seal Check mod pac for trays. I think trying to fill assortments to order is a pain especially if everything is frozen. If people are sending a gift they don't necessarily know what the recipients favorites are, they just want a nice presentation and yumminess. You could offer a couple of different assortments - caramels, fruits & nuts, all dark, etc.

Welcome to eG and the exciting world of chocolate. Allow 1 day in the fridge to thaw frozen bonbons before bringing them to room temp. I store bulk pieces in rigid Ziploc boxes with layers of padding in between and boxed assortments in 2 gallon freezer bags with excess air sucked out. Packaging is a whole job in itself and there is a topic dedicated to packaging sources. The supply chain issues of late have affected candy packaging, many paper and plastic items have been in short supply and prices have increased. Packaging options can seem overwhelming. I'd say focus on a snug fit and not too tall for whatever size mold you choose, if you plan to mail/ship things you don't want them rattling around in the box. After that it's how much you want to spend and what you can actually get. Have you already bought your molds? Maybe someone here uses the same and can advise. I use a lot of CW2295, a nice basic dome that's easy to clean.

Since it's water-soluble it would probably not dissolve in fat-based chocolate but if the powder is fine enough it might not matter. Yes, you can use whatever, the stone wheels provide a different motion of smashing and smearing to make small pieces into smooth paste instead of endless chopping (like a food processor). I mostly use mine to make hazelnut butter.