pastrygirl

Speaking of multiple canisters, @Kerry Beal, how many of the size that are included can you fit at once and still have it function as intended? Bakon seems to be after a higher volume customer, have you determined a max capacity for the EZ? The option of larger canisters could be attractive at higher volumes - I'm picturing Indian tiffin lunch boxes that are 4-6" diameter or a round bain marie insert that could hold 1 - 2 kg. And can containers be plastic or glass? It could be handy to have smaller, pre-measured amounts of silk - if I'm making 5 batches that need 100 g of silk each, could I stack 5 plastic deli containers in there and skip weighing to order?

Huh, I’m getting a ‘user not found’ message when looking for kriss’ original post on Instagram. I mean, he may have blocked me after I told him his new tattoo was all wrong, but he should still show up, right? Weird. And I agree, only one canister seems less useful, with multiple canisters you can have one ready to go and a back up working for continuous supply.

And that is a luxury not everyone has. My cooking habits have definitely changed since giving up a salaried job to be self-employed. Cooking is easy when the sky’s the limit. But when its not, those expensive diver scallops, 24 month prosciutto, foraged mushrooms and fancy cheeses don’t make it into my basket anymore. I find it harder to get inspired to cook on a budget, it can be depressing when you have good taste but no cash. Sometimes money is an object - for students, single parents, retirees on social security, etc. Broke folks are welcome here, too.

I don't see ignoring quality anywhere in the challenge. Don't you think he's posting here precisely because we are the sort of people who won't ignore quality?

@cakewalk, thank you for your rationality I have no idea how much a Big Mac costs, but I can see that the OP is in Silicon Valley, so I believe that a $5 meal might feel more challenging there than other places. Maybe it would be interesting to see what you can make for $5 around the world. Those in Asia will have a feast, those in Alaska may be sharing a pot of beans.

Thanks for the tip on the wire connectors - 48 cents, one small blister (from getting those cursed screws apart), and a little help from my friends later, and the melter powers up fine again. Hooray!

Ok, with a little determination, I got the bottom off. No signs of smoke or anything, it's just that the wires have broken where the cord enters the machine, weakened from being bent back and forth. Video on You Tube says cut out the bad part, strip the wires a bit, twist together, making sure it's the same side (one half of cord is grooved, one is smooth), wrap with electrical tape. Sounds easy enough, right? I went to college, now I just need wire strippers and electrical tape. No husband required!

Note it’s a repost from Monde du Chocolat in Toronto. Her page has a lot of similar water-painterly pieces. Do any of our favorite Canadians know her?

OK, we're headed towards redemption, no thanks to Felchlin and their non-melting cocoa butter. The CB that fully melted and fully cooled before spending a night in the EZ was good, sort of a mayonnaise texture - or Miracle Whip if you prefer Now I realize that the one time before that I got good silk was after I'd turned it up and the CB melted completely. Made 5 molds of coconut bars, the white chocolate coconut layer being one of my more maddening formulations, but with a good dollop of silk it set better than it did last time. The coconut oil makes it thin and reluctant to crystallize, so better is a good step. And I guess I'll have to make a list of tare weights; I measure precisely in all my other pastry endeavors, but amounts of chocolate melted or seed added has always been by eye. I think if I'm doing a lot of production I'll want to melt lots of chocolate in the 24kg and hold it slightly warm, then transfer batches to the 6kg and temper as needed.

Yes, it’s an innie, not outie, and flush with the surface so there’s nothing to grab. It really looks round, but I’ll see if I can find a tiny hex key that will work.

So it’s a nut & bolt type situation, but the bolt head has a round hole. What tool does one use to hold that in place while disengaging the nut? Otherwise they turn together.

And waiting tables isn't laborious? Less than some jobs, but still on your feet all day, and multiple plates can be heavy. I don't know about wages or taxes in the UK, but good luck!

So if I send it to your husband can he do a rush order and have it back by October for busy season?

@Kerry Beal loose at the machine end. I think the bottom unscrews, didn't actually look!

Has anyone successfully replaced the power cord on a mol d' art melter? Is it easy or do I have to send it somewhere, and if so, where? Thought I'd check here for DIY info before contacting TCF. My 6kg melter has reached the point where the cord has to be in that just right position to conduct power, and just right can be elusive. I've had it for several years so it's seen some use, am hoping it's a simple repair, i.e. can be done with a screwdriver or passed off to one of my handier brothers in exchange for candy. thanks!

Great, that'll help. I want to be able to use the silk instead of seeding and ending up with lumps, but do need time to work sometimes.

Has anyone found their silk-tempered chocolate setting up too fast? We all have those days where it feels like all we're doing is waiting for chocolate to melt or waiting for chocolate to set, so we usually want it to set as quickly as possible. However, when I'm making a big batch of molded bars or bonbons, the chocolate already has a tendency to over-crystallize. Especially if it's cold in the kitchen ... I also got a 24 kg melter in my after-holiday shopping spree, was so excited to have this big vat and the EZ Temper. But on cold days all that surface area cools and thickens, maybe I don't want 20 kg of chocolate setting any faster than it already does! And have we already covered if silk affects aW? If a ganache filling sets up more quickly/firmly, should that help shelf life?

They just have to go above & beyond, dont they!

Oh melt fully then harden fully, then ez temper? my melted cb from yesterday is still fully melted, but maybe it went in hot. I’ll take a canister out, let it solidify then put it back and see what happens tomorrow. Is form IV good?

OK, I'll admit it, I'm not as in love as I wanted to be. Probably user error ... I'm having a hard time getting consistent, smooth silk. I had been using Felchlin CB, which comes in random sized shards of 1-15 mm, upped the temp a bit then corrected it down and it was ok if the CB had already been fully melted. I just got some Cacao Barry CB that is in uniform mini chip size, and also decided to fully melt it before leaving it overnight. Hopefully that works, I'll go into the kitchen and check soon. The kitchen has wide temperature swings, it gets down to the 50's F on cold nights, then up to mid 70's when the other company has a lot of cooking or turns the heat on . Not sure if that's a factor. Once I have smooth silk consistently on demand I'll be more enthusiastic, hopefully it is as simple as pre-melting the CB. Cocoa butter is an added expense. The Cocoa Barry was about $10/lb from Peterson, not any worse than couverture chocolates, but it's also not adding flavor and its another ingredient to keep track of. Felchlin was considerably more $$ form Albert Uster. And chocolate can still be a pain and get over-crystallized or chunky as it does, but I guess you can more quickly melt it out and re-temper as needed if you have smooth silk. Getting the chocolate in temper is only half the battle, you still have to keep it there.

Don't slam so hard! I make a lot of bars, though not with protruding inclusions. Once the chocolate has set but before it has fully released from the mold, I invert the molds (so the bars are top-side up) onto sheet pans and let them continue crystallizing. It always amuses me to hear them snap-crackle-pop as they release. Then I can either just lift the mold off, or some need a gentle twist to release. My new bars that are more rounded & wavy release super quickly (sometimes too quickly), while my old bars with lots of corners more often need a little help. FWIW, I designed the new wavy ones to minimize polishing because I was tired of all the corners and crevices trapping CB and being hard to clean. But it seems the easier a mold is to clean, the more likely the shell is to come loose and slip around when you're adding fillings or bottoms - small hemispheres can have this problem as well. If I ever do another custom bar mold, I'll include a couple of corners to help keep things in place better. But those polygon/honeycomb bars look like a good shape - interesting yet not a polishing nightmare!

I know you already have the coco lopez, but have you tried coconut cream powder? Good when you don't want to add liquid and not sweetened, might work with the fondant. It comes in 2oz/60g -ish packets for a dollar or two.

Looks like chocolat-chocolat has two sizes of it, CW1445 & CW1129 This looks like a regular flat or 1 piece mold, no gluing together. Or are you concerned about the appendages?

Blasphemy! I was scared away by their description of licorice notes because I'm not a huge black licorice fan (though anise seed in biscotti is fine). Orelys is a little bit licorice but I think more molasses. See, this is why you need that stone grinder, so you can mill your own with brown sugar and cocoa butter.

for tiny cutters, at least of the round variety, a metal piping tip works have you tried Valrhona Orelys? It's made with muscovado sugar, so more of a brown sugar flavor compared to the dulce de leche flavor of Dulcey. "very sensual" https://www.valrhona-chocolate.com/orelys-35-blond-chocolate