pastrygirl

Don't worry there's an expensive machine for that 😉 here, this one looks nice: https://www.brunner-anliker.com/en/food-industry/nut-and-cheese-graters/ir-250/

Another small biz owner temporarily talked some sense into me, he asked if I wanted it or if I needed it. Don't actually need it, I'm sure I can manage with my 2 Kitchen-aids a while longer.

@JeanneCake I know what you mean about the collar thing to hold the smaller bowl, we had a 60 qt mixer with a 40 qt set at my last restaurant. This is either missing a piece or it simply has extra-long tabs on the sides and back to hold it in place. Maybe at the smaller sizes the difference is small enough to not need the extra piece. I did stop by one of our local used equipment shops and they have three 20 qts to choose from, now it’s just a matter of managing my temptation.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hobart-A200-reduction-20-to-12-quart-bowl-and-3-attachment-complete-set-OEM/292736343955?hash=item4428721f93:g:CJMAAOSwXy1bo-iB Looks like there is a 12 qt bowl option for the 20 qt Hobart ...

92-93 f is rather high, I aim for 90-91 with dark chocolate.

Baby steps! I'm still always amazed when I get to the bottom of a stack of 1000 candy foils or caramel wrappers.

I’m considering a mixer upgrade to a 20 qt tabletop model and would like to hear thoughts on Hobart vs Globe, Volrath, and other brands. I know and trust Hobart but I don’t want to go too much over $2-3k so that means a used one. Is an old Hobart of uncertain provenance still as good or better than a new, lesser known brand? How about Berkel, there was a Berkel mixer on eBay that looked cool but I’ve only heard of them for their meat slicers. @gfron1, did you find if a smaller bowl can go on your 20 qt, or have you found yourself using it more? I’d still use my 6 qt kitchenAid for lots of small things but a bigger mixer would be so nice for large batches of cake batter and buttercream during wedding and holiday catering seasons.

Cacao butter itself can get pretty hot, it's the milk and sugar that make white & milk chocolates scorch so easily. The machine seems fine as well. I figure, the Premier I have is made for the Indian market, and it gets really hot in India - flawless logic, I am sure!

I've broken many a guitar string on gianduja. 😆 I find it helps to cut it as soon as you can, there's a point at which it is set and firm enough to handle but not yet as hard as it will get. Since you're doing two layers, try pouring the softer one in the frame first and letting it set, then add the firmer one. Once the firmer one is just set, flip it so it's on the bottom and cut the slab.

So it's too hard to cut with a guitar and the layers come apart from each other and crack when you cut them with a knife? I think you still want to temper it but you do need a softer gianduja. Add a higher proportion of nut paste, or some nut oil, or even browned butter or coconut oil to soften them.

Wow, so not everyone cooks up a batch of sugar then works it on a marble table? I had no idea you could make fudge with bags of powders! https://www.calicocottage.com/make-kettle-fudge/how-to/how-to-make-fudge Anyway, I'd say the "base" of fudge is sugar And it usually has some milk and/or butter, did you (OP) mean non-chocolate flavors?

I don't know, it's confusing so you're making up a recipe based on the suggested ratios of sugar, fat, solids, liquids, etc on the previous page and he has the example of the 8kg batch first you figure out how much of the base is total solids (fat, sugar, egg yolk, stabilizers) and how much is liquid. The nonfat solids are not included in the total solids, so the 'liquid' portion is the water and nonfat solids in the milk but the fat in the milk gets counted as solids. The second equation is figuring out how much nonfat solids are in that amount of skim milk and how much more (in the form of nonfat dry milk) you need to add to reach the target % in the recipe. But then how do you calculate the fat? There isn't 720 g of fat in 6034 g of whole or skim milk ... Now I'm more confused! Makes tempering chocolate seem easy

@BenA I'm not sure I can decipher it any better than you, but what page is that on?

those look like proper tacos

Yes, it sounds like the white in the glaze is interfering with you getting a good green color.

Can you mix the glaze but set aside a portion that will be colored green before adding the titanium dioxide? One glaze, two (or more) colors.

Plated dessert for a wine dinner - dark chocolate dome, chocolate mousse, flourless chocolate cake, roasted plum panna cotta, plum-blackberry gellee, raspberry coulis, ginger meringue

My mom had offered to get me the precise heat mixing bowl for chocolate tempering but after looking into it I thought it wouldn't be useful for me, but that was probably just due to size. I'm trying to remember the name of a guy who would do the Portland, OR chocolate fest and offered his own version of a tempering machine, you might be able to glean a few things ... aha! here he is: http://www.chocolatedude.net/

Time for an updated edition!

So OP not only needs to find a rental with gas in the kitchen, s/he also needs to convince the landlord to remove and store the existing range and possibly request electrical work be done? I can't imagine landlords being too excited about that.

That sounds like a major pain.

If you’re buying a house, presumably you can do whatever you like, though not all homes have natural gas already connected and you may need to run a line from the street to the house. If you’ll be renting, most US rentals include major appliances. Where are you moving to? Gas availability will also vary by region. Here in the Northwest we have relatively inexpensive hydropower electricity and gas is not as common, especially in rental apartments.

How about a pistachio ganduja with white chocolate?

@Jim D. see what you made me do? There goes all the money I saved by shopping Canadian last time 😂 are you sure you don’t need more hearts? They had a wide one that might be up your alley ... 😈 @jrshaul and anyone else looking for used molds, I will vouch that they all look super clean and in good condition. I bought 5 of the turban/beehive/devo hat and six medium eggs, not that I need them but ... They do have a lot of shorter molds, shorter domes and squares that would fit in shallow ‘artisan depth’ boxes. The store is Chocolopolis in Seattle, via the link at The Chocolate Life that Jim shared above.

Candy the pistachios then grind or chop fine?