pastrygirl

True, zephyr is only about halfway there. Use it as a base and grind in more milk powder in your melanger?

I like Cacao Barry Zephyr. Not quite as thick as Opalys, medium viscosity & opacity, and under $7/lb wholesale vs $10+ for Valrhona. it might be a little sweeter than Opalys but not crazy sweet.

now I know what I want for my last meal

You can also blend your own - take a super sweet milk and add a splash of dark to taste.

Sorry.

Available in retail bars or for professional use? Bahibe is good, but my favorite milk is Felchlin Maracaibo Creole 49%, just slightly darker and similarly priced. Theo makes a 45% milk that’s good, or Dick Taylor just launched a dark milk bar that I haven’t tried. I think dark milk is trending among bean-to-bar makers and we’ll be seeing more.

You can learn!

Agreed, 2x3’ is probably enough area. Do you want to be able to move it around, or will it have a permanent spot in your kitchen? If you want to move it, you may prefer a smaller piece or at least a thinner slab of stone. If it will have a permanent spot, might be worth finding a remnant you like and having it cut to fit. I have a piece of stone that is thinner (1”) and about the size of a sheet pan (18 x 24” approx), I do move it around but it must be at least 30 lb. Any larger or thicker approaches difficult for one person to move.

You’ve heard enough ‘no’s on the skinny wood handles, but I’ll also suggest that wood doesn’t hold up as well over time if it’s going to be soaking in a tub during service then run through a commercial dishwasher.

Good point- without stabilizers, ice cream can get icy over time. The solid hunk of dark chocolate has a much longer shelf life than anything you’d make with it, so saving it as-is for future projects works too.

Chop some into chunks and mix into your banana bread batter, then make ganache with some and drizzle or spread it on top of the finished loaf. Or if you're feeling fancy, bake the banana bread as cake rounds and make a banana layer cake with chocolate ganache filling.

Those don't look big, but it's hard to tell. You also don't want thin and flimsy, or small handles that are hard to hold on to. Do you have Crate & barrel near you? I think they're good for stylish basics.

In theory, you could add a lot of cocoa butter and end up with something that could be tempered. The problem is you can’t take those other fats out of the compound “chocolate”, so they will have a softening effect on the cocoa butter that may prevent a nice crisp shell, and you’ll also dilute the chocolate flavor and end up with something really fatty and not very chocolatey.

I have to add, you get what you pay for. Can you get great chocolate or cocoa for $6/lb or less retail? All the chocolates I use are more than that wholesale. Yes there are less expensive chocolates but I'm trying to make a premium product and I'm willing to pay $10/lb for certain couvertures. I'll try to remember to look at chocolate next time I'm at Trader Joe's and see what looks good. Also check cash & carry restaurant supply stores, they might have guittard, calleabaut, or ghirardelli but probably in large (11 lb) blocks. Natural foods stores and stores with good bulk sections might have broken-up blocks of decent chocolate at a good price point.

What is Oreo level cocoa? i agree with Chris and Kerry, fruitiness may be found in particular blends or origins, but there are plenty of chocolates without strong berry or raisin notes. Where are you and what brands are available? I, too like Felchlin but it’s not readily available to retail consumers. I prefer valrhona cocoa powder, also not sure if you can find that retail.

I think Guittard is relatively inexpensive, but like Kerry I'm accustomed to bulk/wholesale pricing. I guess any decent bar is going to be relatively high by the pound.

Guittard is decent if you can get that, or try the super dark bars at TJ. I know they have a Valrhona 85%, maybe even something darker.

I have two scrapers similar to the one linked just above. When one gets solidified chocolate build-up on the blade, I scrape it off with the other one and carry on.

@Chocolot is the tempered chocolate in your dominant hand? I’m right handed. We’re using Guittard and it is thicker than the Felchlin I use in my own business, so I also have to get used to the consistency of different chocolate. The milk chocolate is particularly thick, i thinned it with some cocoa butter and that helped when using the fork.

Yes, basically anything you want to keep dry and crunchy next to ganache needs a fatty raincoat of cocoa butter or chocolate to repel water.

Who here hand dips chocolates, either with their actual hand, or with a fork? I have a side job working with a woman who hand dips everything with her fingers in a puddle of chocolate on a sheet of parchment. She's super fast at it, I tried it but it felt so messy and awkward. I have done a little fork-dipping, so today dipped 300+ cookies with a fork and remembered why I hate fork dipping. So, anyone have any pointers, tricks, or favorite dipping forks that don't make your hand go numb? Today I used a dinner fork, I didn't have my actual chocolate dipping forks, but they have really thin metal handles that are hard to hold onto and horrible. I need like the Good Grips version for people with arthritis and pastry chefs who have done too much piping ...

Also, your room is quite warm. I prefer around 64-66F, or 18-19C when possible.

So he says it’s over-crystalized but tells you to spray cooler? 🤔

Use less liquid (or more chocolate) in your ganache to make it firm enough to handle at room temp. Or use a mold and pipe the filling into chocolate shells.

@brooksms this is what we have, a moffat turbofan, electric and no hood required. Good oven though not the biggest. I haven’t had to change anything significantly vs baking in an old gas Wolf oven. Moffat and Blodget are both good brands for bakers ovens.