pastrygirl

lol, I haven't even plugged it in yet!

What is the consistency of your pate, can you make it more liquid? Air bubbles seem bad from a food safety standpoint.

@JeanneCake bonbon inventory management and production flow are things I'm still wrapping my head around. I hadn't been making a whole lot of bonbons due to shelf life concerns, but they've been selling so well at holidays and online that I'm focusing much more attention on them. With my truffles or bars, I'll make a big batch of a single flavor and package them right away. With the assorted bonbon boxes there are 9 or more flavors so I've been making a few flavors at a time and chilling or freezing until I have them all ready to box up, then boxing and usually re-freezing until I get an order. But now I'm wondering if repeated freezing and thawing is a bad idea. I would like to get a cold display case so people can build their own boxes, I just had a customer today who would have enjoyed that. I have a retail window at my production kitchen, it's in an industrial area so not much foot traffic so far but business is growing and people are finding me. I'm doing direct retail and some wholesale of the pre-packed boxes, plus I have two customers who order bulk bonbons by the dozen, so I'm trying to stay ahead enough to fill those orders quickly. And now I'm trying to stock up for summer, I have at least 1000 bulk bonbons in the freezer plus several hundred boxed or trayed and ready to go in boxes. I admit that I've been kind of scattered with them, one box has nuts, one has wheat, one doesn't but will all the fruit flavors offend someone? And I've been doing some hearts and some domes in the same flavors which is just ridiculous to keep track of. I need to figure out a better way, I'm making myself crazy - one shape, 12 flavors, one version of the flavor guide for all sizes of box. I guess that's my summer project

I had a fairly smooth day of bonbon-ing today, 12 molds (CW2295, 32 cavity dome) start to finish (but not fully packaged/put away). I took notes on the timing, just in case it helps. I planned ahead and put my colors in a melter overnight, otherwise I'd microwave them while polishing molds polishing molds: 30 minutes airbrushing molds, meanwhile melting ganaches in the microwave: 1 hour tempering chocolate, casting shells: 45 min tempering & piping fillings: 1 hour making one more layer on the hazelnut, re-tempering what's in the melter, and lunch break: 45 min capping all molds: 45 min packaging & etc: 2 hours plus So 5 hours of production, probably 4 hours of packaging for 384 pieces. I did lose a few, say at the end of the day I have 40 bonbons per hour made and in the box. If labor costs $20/hr, that's 50 cents a piece in labor. I'll make a little at wholesale, do better at retail, and would do even better if I can produce more in less time Or I could charge more, I did raise prices recently but am still far from the most expensive in town. Retail is around $2.50 a piece.

😂 I got the Color EX, definitely an investment at $10k, but when I think if I had to pay a helper $20/hr it seems like a bargain.

Yes, I usually do a few flavors start to finish. Polish, paint, shell, fill, cap. I would hate to have a day that was all polishing 😆 Today I made 2 flavors, 7 molds total. I had extra ganache in the freezer so I melted that down rather than start from scratch but I don't know if that really saves any time. I worked about 5.5 hours today but not very hard, I feel like I spend so much time waiting for cocoa butter to either melt or cool. I also ran to the post office, put away the 4 molds of cardamom from yesterday, made lunch ... I've been working out of melters and I find maintaining working temp takes a lot of time and energy, so I just bought a Selmi. Haven't used it yet, but I hope it will do that maintenance for me. What is your airbrush setup? A larger nozzle or compressor could help get more color on in less time. I agree, 60 molds a week is getting towards max for 1 person.

How long do you leave them to dry? Could there have been a few tiny droplets of water still in the mold? I let my molds air dry overnight, then polish them with cotton balls.

Oh sorry, you wanted all the other, cheaper wholesale suppliers? 😆 Talking to the manufacturer or their sales rep directly might yield some leads, and ideally samples 😋 Does anyone know a Barry Callebaut rep on the east coast ... ?

Nice looking work, and as I increase bonbon production I am also interested in this question. What mold do you use or how many cavities does it have? How many molds of the same flavor do yo usually do at once? I mostly use CW2295 with 32 cavities, usually 3 or 4 molds per flavor. Assuming everything goes well, 12-15 molds is a good day, maybe up to 20 if I push myself and stay late. So I think 400-500 pieces a day is reasonable for one person, 600+ is more of a stretch. I think 6-8000 is possible in 3 or 4 production days per week (gotta leave time for packaging etc). It would be a little faster if they're all one flavor instead of tempering multiple colors and ganaches. I disagree on transfer sheets always coming out perfectly. They save time but can still have poor results. What brand of cocoa butter do you use, and do you usually back with white?

@Kerry Beal send him to Peterson for Valrhona and Barry Callebaut, Albert Uster for Felchlin. https://petersoncheese.com/products/catalogpage.asp?tagID=179&tsID=26&catID=17#t https://secure.auifinefoods.com/felchlin

Toffee is going to be pretty darn sweet. You could cut that slightly by adding as much butter as possible, extra salt, or something bitter or spicy like espresso or ginger. or cook the toffee darker ...

You should not need to oil the rings, fat in the dough is usually enough.

What did you use to flavor them? Do look at Valrhona, the raspberry and yuzu are particularly intense.

Yeah I'm not clear on where the article got the 10 billion number. Have you seen how many shares they are offering and at what price? If Blackstone bought 8% for $200 million, isn't that a $2.5 billion valuation? I just think if they went onto Shark Tank asking for investment at a valuation of 20x sales they'd get laughed at. edited to add: share price expected to debut around $16 https://seekingalpha.com/news/3697153-hedgeye-oatly-could-be-next-chipotle-lululemon-or-under-armour-after-this-weeks-ipo

roll your dough and cut the desired sized circles then keep them refrigerated and work from the fridge, forming a few tartlets at a time

They sold $420 million last year and now value themselves as equal to the entire $10 billion global market? That sounds insane. The market may be growing, but they'd have to utterly dominate all of the competition, which is considerable.

You don't want to use dark chocolate, trying to keep it dairy free, or ... ? Valrhona's Inspirations are worth exploring - cocoa-butter based so they act more or less like chocolate, but with freeze dried fruit replacing cacao solids. Otherwise you'd need a ton of sugar, like a fondant-based filling, thick caramel sauce or jam/jelly. Or maybe a liquor syrup that crystallizes would work?

I think that's not unusual for Europeans ... it's a practice I'd certainly like to adopt!

@EvgenyP when chocolate crystallizes it contracts slightly, which allows it to come out of the mold, but which also means there is a tiny gap between the shell and the mold that chocolate can get forced into when you add the bottom layer. How to avoid? Not sure. Do you usually shell, fill, and cap the same day? The bottom photo looks like a shape that can easily come loose from the mold and slide side to side while capping, increasing the risk of more chocolate getting down (up?) the sides of the mold.

You could make custom candy sprinkles. A small amount of fondant or gum paste pushed through and sliced thin would make a decent number of decorative sprinkles.

Maybe he lost a bet 😂

It's not the cost so much (but for those of us actually trying to make a profit/living, every dollar counts) as how much more plastic waste do I really need to create? Between gloves, plastic wrap, bonbon trays, clear boxes to show them off, and more trays & bags to keep truffles fresh, all the bubble wrap for shipping ... I think I make enough already How many customers even look at the bottoms? Sure, having your logo or another design on the bottom can make it extra special, but I think chocolatiers are just doing it to impress each other on Insta 🤣

Yes, any extra step takes time. I guess whether the bottoms end up too thick depends on how full the cavities are to begin with. Maybe I've been more worried about leaks? I blame Paul Kennedy at Savour for the idea of the "beauty coat". I use guitar sheets in certain circumstances, but to use them all the time seems wasteful.

No. I ladle chocolate on & scrape off the mold as usual to seal the bonbons. After they've set and contracted a bit, I do it again to fill in that little concave spot. And usually again, because I'm obsessive 🙄

Fish mold for @Rajala (or is this you & you already found it? 😂) https://www.instagram.com/p/COf47jzjn4Z/?igshid=jifavrvn6vgm