pastrygirl

Make the items with the fewest allergens first to avoid cross contamination.

Then are you building a separate kitchen or hoping to use your existing? I’ve had gas stoves in apartments with a tiny home exhaust fan but when you get into commercial ranges you need a commercial hood. Type 1 with fire suppression if you’re doing any deep frying but type 2 should be ok for light duty. (Type 1 is heavy duty to withstand a grease fire). Here, electric ovens 6kw or lower don’t need to be under a hood, but a gas oven might need one or at least a dedicated vent to outside . Check with your health department (to see what is required) and your homeowners insurance (to see what they’ll allow). And your fire dept & building codes while you’re at it. And you might need to upgrade gas lines & connections for higher volume.

You have commercial zoning but do you have a commercial kitchen? 3 compartment sink, grease trap, possibly a hood depending on your oven power and if you're cooking with gas. The bus stop sounds promising, lots of people would grab a coffee or a bite while waiting. Is there parking and easy access to/from the main street?

Were you not already on the Valrhona Dulcey bandwagon? If you have tried them both, I'd be interested in how they compare. And since I just made pretzel blondies with Dulcey today, my suggestion is a caramel and pretzel or peanut butter, pretzel, and caramelized white combo. Apricot sounds good but they are not always that subtle. How about apple or pear - good ol' caramel apple!

Being president (of anything) and having good taste do not always coincide.

@akonsu I meant are you dipping individual pieces into the chocolate or are you using molds? Molds get tricky, if the temper is not close to perfect the chocolate will stick in the molds. Yes, 73f is warm for chocolate work. Especially if humidity is high, that makes it even worse. Most of us prefer mid 60’s with humidity below 50%.

I think your temper is off. Merely cooling and stirring in a bowl over 15 min might not be enough to create the stable cocoa butter crystals. My understanding is that tabling on marble cools it so rapidly that it creates crystals, a bowl isn’t going to be that fast. Sounds like you’re dipping centers. How long do they take to set? How warm is your room? It might help to refrigerate the pieces for 5-10 min to help them solidify and cool quickly. Or lower your chocolate working temp by a degree or two, streaky pieces can mean the chocolate was too warm.

I buy it! The 2.5kg/5.5 lb box from cacao barry is around $35-40 ish.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who could benefit from picking up a few basic skills with you, I think it would be great of you to share your knowledge. But will that help people who don't have access to fresh veg? Before you can cook the fresh cabbage, you have to be able to get the cabbage! The neighborhood I work in is semi-industrial but gentrifying, with a large pocket of residential and no grocery store within walking distance. (Well, there used to be a little neighborhood grocery but it went out of business and now it's a cake shop. Let them eat cake!) If I run out of eggs mid-day I have to go about 4 miles to cash & carry. Also, consider culture. In the US, there's the example of poor Black people in the South who want to eat their traditional foods, not quiche and baby kale salad. In Canada, maybe you have more Asian immigrants or First Peoples with different culinary traditions. So for some it's not only a question of getting any fresh food and cooking it, its getting fresh food that they want to eat then figuring out how to make it easier or healthier but still recognizable and comforting. If I went to the grocery store and all they had was okra and chitterlings or durian and Japanese mountain yam I'd get junk food instead! More food for thought: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-people-food_n_5b75c270e4b0df9b093dadbb?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003

I was using a gravity feed Grex with a 0.5 needle at about 60 psi. More heat worked for me, your mileage may vary. Part of what makes chocolate so much fun! 😉

Another vote for giving up on "months". I mean, I might hope for 2 or 3 but I'm not usually going for 6 plus. I am making bonbons for Valentine's, and along the lines of what Kerry said, they are all caramel based. Plain old sugar is still a good preservative!

@RJ23 how are you keeping the airbrush warm? The metal parts all need to be above 85f-90f so the cocoa butter stays melted and can drip down. I’ve been spraying molds the last few days with similar issues, used a hairdryer aimed at the bottom of the paint cup to make sure everything was flowing.

Nice work!

@Kerry Beal, next project: a high-temp version of the EZ Temper?

They also have this decarb box, not exactly sure how it works ... https://store.magicalbutter.com/decarbox-thermometer-combo-pack.html#Tablist3|ProductTabListVertical1

I haven’t tried it, but there is a gadget designed specifically for this - check out magicalbutter.com

I've never used a wood grain tool, but here's a guy using one with chocolate: https://youtu.be/kT5bTVVa5eE Another option is to go ahead and back your transfer with a thin layer of chocolate and cut that into shapes to fit your pieces. Probably what the guy in the video is doing, actually

to get a thinner layer of solid color, you might try a smooth paint roller or rubber brayer for print making https://www.amazon.com/Speedball-4121-Deluxe-Rubber-Brayer/dp/B000BYVMFC/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1547922236&sr=8-5&keywords=brayer+rollers

@gfron1 have you made any progress on this? Now that the holidays are over and I have time to revisit packaging, I'm trying to find a better solution for my chocolate bars. Since 10 versions of custom is so expensive, a nicer printer and the custom die cutter is one option. Do you have a printer that you recommend for high volume heavy paper?

A mistake was made with my Albert Uster order this week and I received it twice. Since it's shipped from CA, doesn't go bad, and I'll use it eventually, I'm not going to mess with trying to return the second delivery. But now I have a huge amount of inventory so I thought I'd see if anyone here was looking for Felchlin by the bag. Each bag is 2kg (4# 7oz) in the following varieties and prices: Maracaibo Creole 49%, $48 Sao Palme 60%, $30 Arriba 72%, $46 As for shipping, I can fit 2 bags in a medium flat rate box for $14 or 3 bags in a large box for $19 to go anywhere in the USA. If you'd like some, PM me with your selection, email, and shipping address. I'll invoice you via Square and you can pay securely online with a credit card. Thanks for reading!

If it's a small farm, maybe they didn't sort and separate the different sizes and you got a cross-section of the entire crop. https://driftaway.coffee/coffee-grades/

A lot of people are into simple or rustic cakes so there’s a market. Not everything requires fondant or tortured piping and sugar flowers. Think of the farmhouse weddings with jelly jars and burlap - those brides will be happy with simple swipes of buttercream and their own fresh flowers. My policy is that cake with one flavor each cake, filling, and frosting with simple buttercream is one price per person and it goes up from there. Additional flavors, fondant, sculpting, or elaborate themes cost extra.

You know what, go ahead and take the hearts. I was trying to get a shiny shell out of the mold I was going to trade, but nothing came out very well. I think they were too abused when I got them

You're on the right track, it does help to have some sort of warmer. Depending on your budget and ambition, try either an inexpensive warming pad set on low or medium or a larger chocolate melter. https://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-UltraHeat-Technology-Heat-Settings-Washable/dp/B00075M1T6/ref=sr_1_6_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1547585225&sr=1-6&keywords=heating+pad https://www.dr.ca/moldart-table-top-chocolate-tempering-machine-6kg.html

I'd call ganache an emulsification of the water in (usually) cream and the fat in chocolate. Cream is water, fat, and a few solids. Chocolate and nuts are both all fat and solids, no water. So the nut paste will act like more chocolate in terms of needing more liquid to emulsify but without the hardening effect of cocoa butter.