pastrygirl

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! 🤗

Something cocktail related? Bitters or a tincture you were lacking?

One chocolatier not using a lot of color is Milla in LA: https://www.instagram.com/millachocolates/ Looks like they use a lot of gold dust and the occasional bit of black CB but otherwise minimal decoration. I appreciate their bucking the trend

I agree the "pills" are rather cringe-y. If it's a party for a doctor, nurse, or pharmacist, fine. Alice in Wonderland, maybe. Making light of necessary or oft-abused medications, not so much.

I agree with that ethos too, but have been making exceptions for CB colors. Like those restaurants who say ‘we buy organic when possible’ ... I use fair trade chocolate, no corn syrup in anything, and grind my own hazelnut paste instead of buying the ones with hydrogenated oils. But colorful Easter eggs and multicolor bonbons get so many positive reactions. They are fun to do and I accept mortality so don't personally worry about a few micrograms of titanium dioxide. My problem with adding colorants to labeling is that there’s never enough space! I appreciate this discussion because maybe there is a better way. Last winter I made sure to order the approved-as edible luster dust. Will I now throw out all my chef rubber colors? Probably not, but OP has a good point. edited to add: also, the colored pieces are a small minority of what I sell so that's another reason why I don't worry more about being 100% pure and natural. Cocoa-dusted truffles and solid bars are my main products, colorful stuff is only at big holidays.

You know, 10 or so years ago when I first started making molded bonbons I thought brown was just fine and I scoffed at colored CB. Then I got some colors and everything had to have at least one, now everyone's doing 3 colors with tape and airbrush. Maybe there's something to be said for keeping it simple, but restraint can be hard. Once I get out the box of finger-paints I want to use all the colors!

I totally agree, but OP is in CA, where they've determined that pretty much everything may cause cancer - aren't they putting warning labels on coffee now? Also, this is where Valrhona's Inspirations could come in handy. (Or similar concoctions of CB and freeze dried fruit powder.) Between white, blond, passion fruit, and strawberry, you could get a decently colorful box. Even throw in Callebaut's Ruby if you must have pink 😂

I've done the blanket statement thing. Does this inspector work for the FDA, CA dept of Ag, or just in the packaging industry? I suppose you don't have to list each color separately but could consolidate as "colored cacao butter (cacao butter, red 40, blue 1, blue 2, yellow 6, and/or titanium dioxide)"

I've never been that into bread so hopefully someone more familiar with hydration % will have more info on how that affects things. I've made plenty, just have more love for the sweeter things. I'd think the main issue would be the softer dough sticking to the rollers, otherwise I don't see why your dough shouldn't get as thin as you want it. If you didn't have the sheeter, you'd use a rolling pin, right? If a dough keeps shrinking back and refusing to roll thin, it usually just needs to rest before you attack it again. A freshly mixed dough will be "tight" and spring back when you poke it, if you're going to roll it thin the gluten needs to relax, no matter what tool you're using. What's your plan for service? Will you bake all the bread earlier in the day or bake to order? If you make and portion the dough early in the day and let it chill in the fridge for several hours, it will be a little firmer but well rested for easy rolling. I've had to make pizza dough for a few restaurant jobs, the dough balls were good for 2 days. To save cost, you can recycle old dough and mix a little into the new batch as a sort of 'starter' if you like that extra flavor.

So sad. I tried babi guling twice in Bali and it was amazing, so many flavors in a multitude of porky samples and accompaniments. But of course the pig is ready when the pig is ready, so your driver may have been right. Next time!

The new dough might have needed a longer rest before sheeting. If a dough resists rolling or shaping, a 15+ minute rest to allow the gluten to relax often helps.

There are “Artisan” chicharronnes out there, I recently tried 4505 brand, they were light and crispy but I haven’t tried the less expensive ones so I can’t compare.

The Felchlin grand crus are up there with Valrhona but they have some non-grand crus that are more reasonable. Blends, I guess. I like their Sao Palme 60%, which does have soy if we're still concerned. For white, I like Callebaut Zephyr. Again, it has soy, but is moderately priced and not achingly sweet.