pastrygirl

If there is enough acid, you can boil it without it scrambling. You probably still want to strain out any little bits that may occur, but I have brought lemon-curd type mixtures to a boil without issue. As for gelatin, if you have leaves then weigh them and see if that number makes sense. I have bronze leaves, not at my kitchen right now so I can't weigh them, but I'd guess 4 or 5 grams per leaf? What type(s) of gelatin do you have available?

Hooray!

There's another thread on here extolling the virtues of early, made in Japan Cuisinarts. Maybe the OP should look for a vintage one. I used a Black & Decker processor at a job last week and hated it. Super loud, small bowl, and weird design that made the blade hard to remove. I have a small 7 cup cuisinart from the mid or late 90's that has a good power to bowl size ratio, but my new 13 cup one sucks in that department. Fine if I want to shred a lot of carrots, but won't mix too much heavy, sticky stuff (peanut butter in my case).

So the half recipe is 500 g flour, 150 ml fat and 225 ml water? Yeah, you could probably use a whole egg, just look for the smallest one in the carton And a bit more flour or touch less water if needed, though I'm not sure how roti prata dough is supposed to feel, your guess is as good as mine.

Gotta admit, these more restrained ones still look amazing - proof you don't always need 4 colors on everything. As for keeping the stamp cold, maybe a bit of dry ice would help, as long as it doesn't get too cold.

Agreed, robot coupes are workhorses but may be overkill for home use. What brand/size do you have now and what do you use it for? What makes it ‘terrible’?

I like any meal that includes a cheese delivery system!

Agreed, you can still temper it but you may have to find stable CB crystals in the form of some new white chocolate or cocoa butter if you want to seed it. Or you can use it in a ganache, mousse, or glaze where it will be melted but doesn't need to be tempered.

Ha, no, that says enough. I was hoping since the plastic is so thin it would be easier, but it's always $$$$ for the tooling and dies.

@Jim D. and everyone, what about custom candy trays? Who can you recommend? Thanks!

The print can be pretty small, 6 or 7 point depending on the font. You can download the food labeling guide here: https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm2006828.htm Basically you have to say what it is, net weight, who made it, list ingredients, and declare allergens. Tree nuts should be specified - contains almonds, hazelnuts, etc. That insurance policy looks like a good deal, I pay around $500/yr, went with a local company who was known to work with small businesses. The nice thing about commissaries is having a community of other small businesses facing the same issues.

A trial run is a good idea. You may need to pay for a day of use, maybe you can offer to pay and have it applied to rent if you take the space? A couple more things to consider - if you have melters, temperers, etc will you be able to leave them plugged in overnight without being disturbed or in the way? Will your refrigeration be shared with savory companies, like one big walk-in, or do you get your own reach-in? If shared, consider an enclosed speed rack to try to keep odors out. Where will you store your finished product? I make bars, truffles, and caramels, all of my bars and caramels usually live in my back bedroom but they are in the basement for the summer. I keep my truffles and bonbons refrigerated or frozen to extend shelf life. Keeping things at home is not technically legal, I should have a separate fridge and an inspection as a 'food storage facility' but hey, things are wrapped and I live alone, and it's much more convenient to not have to run to the kitchen and grab two chocolate bars to fill a website order. I promise there's no raw chicken dripping on anything Do you already have all your licenses, insurance, packaging and labeling? The kitchen will want you to have liability insurance so you don't burn the place down, and some events will also ask for a certificate of insurance. Packaging and labeling are a whole other nightmare job. Where are you? In the US, you need to label for the top 8 allergens (wheat, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish, shellfish) and you can't claim 'gluten free' if it is not a certified gluten free facility (that may be a local city or county rule but it makes sense). You don't need nutrition labeling under (IIRC) 100k units/yr, and you don't need barcodes unless retailers ask for them. But you may want to consider now where they'll fit on your packaging should you decide to add them later.

Nice overall, but the overnight lows in there are upper 70's and it gets into the 90's on a sunny day. I tried to stock up before I moved but I may very well run out of product and not be able to make more for several weeks.

Oh, it's frustrating, for sure. My last kitchen was a restaurant and was generally fine in the morning but my back prep area would heat up 10 degrees F plus if any hot cooking was on. But it got sold and I had to move. My new kitchen doesn't cool down as easily because there is so much refrigeration - the walk-in vents into the room instead of to outside, and there are 2 more reach-in fridges, a blast chiller, and like 8 freezers. But it is convenient to home, a reasonable price for more space than other commissaries, there are no stinky savory companies, and the main tenant is an ice cream maker who shuts down over the winter. So it should be cool enough and I should have the place almost to myself October-April. Not perfect, but seemed like the best option for now. We negotiated a summer price and a winter price, so I can break even doing a few weddings in the summer and he'll get a nice winter bonus when I'm busy.

During summer I plan my chocolate production around the coolest days of the week and start early so I can work while the kitchen is coolest. Get in by 5 or 6 am and be done by noon. Look for some remnants of marble or granite that are about the size of a sheet pan and will fit in your fridge to chill. Having a cold surface to work on can really help. Also use the fridge to cool molds rapidly. In shared kitchens you have to work around others. Is someone going to turn on all the ovens, the fryer, and a big pot of blanching water right next to your workstation? Try to avoid that!

So that means there is not enough water in the egg yolks alone to emulsify with all of the fat in the butter and chocolate. There's a little water in butter too but not enough. So I think you need to either add the melted chocolate last (after folding in the egg whites, which have a lot of water), add enough water to the yolks to keep things from separating, or even try beating whole eggs with sugar until fluffy then stirring in chocolate, cocoa, and butter.

Hmm, that is ambiguous. I think I'd add everything to the egg yolks - whisk in cocoa, then butter, then melted chocolate, then fold in the whipped whites.

Agree that all the single origin chocolates don't always have wide appeal. We chefs tend to geek out on origins and varietals but how much of the general public does? How niche do you want to be? Yes, there are the avid consumers who get excited by high percentages and single origins but there are many more who just want milk chocolate and don't know the difference between truffles and fudge. I like the Felchlin 60% because it's a good all-around blend that tastes like chocolate. No raisins, no tobacco, no woodsy notes or berry acidity, just chocolate so it goes with a lot of other flavors. So I think there's a place for exotic bars, but for a bonbon business I'd pick more neutral chocolates for the shells and focus on fillings and decorations.

Several months ago I was visited by a guy trying to sell me an aW meter. The most convenient substance I had at room temperature that day was some salted caramel Swiss meringue buttercream with which I was icing cupcakes, so we measured a sample of that and it came out as 0.78, which in theory could have a shelf life of a few months. I know that when you go to See's, the "buttercreams" are not meringue buttercream icing, but this made me wonder about the possibilities.

I've tried grinding coffee beans in with chocolate a couple of times and it's still on my to-do list because I haven't gotten it right yet. I drink coffee every day but my attempts have come out too intense. I think your 25/800 sounds like a good starting point, I'm eager to see how this turns out.

Why? Because they're better. Smoother, more consistent, in a variety of flavor profiles. The way I see it, those European chocolate makers have been doing it for 100 years and have it pretty well figured out. While I like to play with grinding things together, and understand having limited options, I would not expect to make anything rivaling the commercial couvertures out of Hershey's cocoa powder. Can you get Callebaut or any other brands?

I believe this is the idea behind Valrhona's amande inspirations, though it's not chocolate, it's just almond. But it has almonds and enough cacao butter to act like couverture, so adding actual chocolate sholdn't get in the way. You can do whatever you want! 1:1 pure (unsweetened) nut paste and chocolate may be too soft to shell mold, I think you'd have better luck either getting your nut butter to separate so you can pour off some oil - got a centrifuge? - or try 3:2 (60/40), 2:1, 3:1 ... or yes, add extra CB.

Regarding the Pur colors mentioned above https://colorblendcreations.com/artisan-colored-cocoa-butter the colors don't look awesome, and they contain soy. Which is worse, red #40 or soy lecithin? There will be people who don't want the dye but also people who don't want the soy, and you also have to label for soy since it is one of the top 8 food allergens. Chef Rubber has a natural line, organic & kosher. The colors are also not as bright, but that's what you're going to get with all natural. https://shop.chefrubber.com/products/18/Natural-Cocoa-Butter/

The Lindt appears to have 40% hazelnuts which is a plus, but it does not appear to have cacao or chocolate. So you may need to spread it on your favorite chocolate bar ...

I like lemon and cherry. But not raisins. Weirdos unite! 🤗