pastrygirl

Do you buy colors by the kg? Do you attempt to scrape off and save the excess or is the time savings still greater than the cost of the CB?

These are all dark chocolate shells. These are all dark except for the square one. However these particular jewel colors aren't available in the EU & I can't speak for the non-jewel, EU safe colors.

I meant the nozzle size. 1.0 mm?

You keep saying that, but I'm not convinced. How big is the Fuji? I just got a sagola 0.8mm, the spray pattern is 3-4". So far I've only tried it on larger molds, not my small bonbons.

😂 If you're spraying so much CB that wiping off over-spray is a whole necessary thing and that's all the color you get, that is super weak. Is it natural or just lame? Welcome to the dark side. The CB should set up more quickly than that, still within 2-5 min like regular chocolate, though sometimes it doesn't and they still turn out fine. I don't actually temp my CB, just go with 'warm but not hot' on the inside of my arm. Like a baby's bottle. And I shake it a lot.

Sportsball! https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39472309/mexico-avocado-industry-prepares-own-super-bowl-ultimate-guacamole-recipe

Valentine's box, this year I went with all of my flavors that were already pink and red instead of re-inventing the wheel. Ginger, vanilla bean, raspberry, passion fruit, and earl grey.

@Vojta what brand of colors are you currently using? I've been happy with Roxy & Rich's Gemstone collection, though the titanium dioxide free gemstone collection for the EU does not look to be as vibrant. Only a few of the colors I use specify titanium dioxide as an ingredient, but maybe it is also a component of 'mica based pearlescent pigment'? https://roxyandrich.com/e171-free-food-colours I don't generally back with white.

It gets scraped again and more thoroughly when casting the shells. I'm with Kerry on warmer CB, try 93-95F. Once you've blown cold air through it and it has hit the chocolate mold it'll be a few degrees cooler.

Another layer of CB is another layer of unpredictability The white has to stick to the orange and the chocolate has to pick them both up. Has it been particularly cold? I think I have more issues with CB sticking when it's cold. As for cleaning, I do a cursory swipe with my stainless scraper and don't really worry about it.

I don't know if those two issues are necessarily related. In the pic, was the orange CB backed with another layer of white, or is the white the chocolate shell?

At first I thought you were cooking a lot of bratwurst, but I googled it and that's a tilt skillet for anyone else who didn't know . Have you looked at steam jacketed kettles for soups and broth-y curries? They might not be induction per se but electric options exist.

Not exactly, but since my gas oven stays warm from the pilot light, I've melted lots of chocolate and cocoa butter in there by leaving it overnight. I think it's about 95F? How high can your 'proof' function be set? I think if you have silk then don't worry about keeping the chocolate below a certain temp, especially of it's not fluid enough to work with at that temp. Go ahead and melt it at 93 or 95 and let it cool a bit before adding silk to temper. Agree that you can leave it melted for days, though the fats and solids can separate after a while. Also agree with covering. Dust exists, and it just seems like best practice. There is no water in pure chocolate so no condensation will form.

I've never seen empty shells spontaneously crack, that's wacky. How long after shelling did this happen? Was the room extra cold?

I do have one induction burner, I brought it out & will turn off the gas for a while and see if I miss gas. This is my commercial chocolate kitchen, I have one large gas burner and a 5 burner range with oven but I don't use them much. All my chocolate melters etc are electric. I also use the microwave a lot. But I'm not trying to get an even sear on anything, I'm browning butter, warming cream, making toffee. It's hard to picture any restaurant I've worked in going all induction, though. Line cooks would have to be much more careful about banging saute pans

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I, too, am contemplating a switch from natural gas to induction but am thinking my larger candy/stock burner would be hard to replace. Maybe I'll keep that for large batches of caramel and go electric for all the small stuff.

Strawberry is a delicate flavor - Valrhona has a strawberry 'inspiration' but I found it to be one of their weaker forrmulae. I think a white chocolate butter ganache made with strawberry jam & liqueur might work better. Sorry, no recipe but Greweling covers butter ganache if you have his book.

Was the carrier FedEx by chance? I'm waiting on a package that's currently a week behind schedule.

It's totally acceptable to use a different or no frosting/icing. You do you. Except for raisins, don't do raisins. 😜😂

Yes, and silicone doesn't seem like the ideal material for a double boiler since it doesn't transfer heat as well as metal. This thing seems like a solution in search of a problem. Is the rim stabilized with something sturdy, at least? The last thing I want is a flexible/floppy/shapeshifting bowl of hot goo. That said, if you have a specific bowl and specific pot that you want to use as a double boiler but they don't quite fit as desired, use aluminum foil to build a ring around the pot rim to decrease diameter and hold the bowl higher.

How would you prefer to describe the de-solidification of cheese?

Eggs only need to reach 75-80C to set. Your custard has those bubbles because it is overcooked.

Welcome. 175C is a bit high for custard, try 150-160C.

I think so. What are the cheap alternatives? I wouldn't bother with anything less than 0.5mm. Yes* *in my experience, no guarantees

30 seconds? I airbrush frequently so I keep the compressor on a wheeled cart that fits under a prep table. Making sure I have all the right colors melted takes longer. Go for it! I'm currently using a grex 0.7mm and a california air tools 1hp/2gal compressor, have made tens of thousands of bonbons. I did just order a spanish 0.8mm airbrush in hopes of making things go a little faster. Was debating the grex 1.0 mm spray gun but am worried it'd be overkill.