pastrygirl

Two days, but how much active time? Is it more than maybe a starter, a punch down, and shaping after a night in the fridge?

I, too was thinking a turkey fryer burner or wok burner would be much less expensive. I also found one for home-brewing designed to boil lots of liquid quickly that looked more stable than some of the others. You could probably use it indoors under an adequate hood. But for now, I'd just get a bigger pot. Something like this - Is a triple batch enough for now? http://a.co/03NmrKd

You mean like the large single-burners, like this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Savage-Bros-20-Candy-Stove-Model-20B-Very-Good-Condition/332476852558?hash=item4d692a294e:g:nyYAAOSwXPNaKFJC

I've found that you really do need to match your pot size to your heat source with caramel, as cold spots can crystallize so maybe taller rather than wider is better. And I don't think a double boiler would get hot enough to cook the sugar to caramelization temps. good luck!

No, if the meltaways are chocolate-based, they need a different fat to soften the cocoa butter that's already in there. Coconut oil, nut oils, clarified butter, etc, will all have a softening effect, making the candy melt in the mouth faster.

Did you check the decoration before filling with chocolate for the shells? Are you sure it wasn't already cracked, either from getting bumped or simply because chocolate contracts?

9 piece box assortment - made 60 of these for a special order of 45 plus some extras to sell, need to make more for another corporate gift of 60 x 12 piece boxes.

I know that makes a better finish, but oddly it's one of the tedious extra steps I haven't managed to adopt. It was a 14 hour baking day for holiday catering and I still didn't finish my prep list, that's why I'm just gonna live with Santa having one giant, awkwardly placed nostril

Here are my latest batch of Santas, I've decided airbrushing the bags & hats first then hand-painting the white details after gives a good result. This mold always seems to get a bubble in the nose, though

It could have been accidentally frozen at some point, that can interfere with whipping. Otherwise, if the issue is simply lack of butterfat (though 35% should whip fine), you can boost that with a little melted butter added to the cream.

So just a melter and an ez temper? Are people melting at 60c overnight then waiting until the chocolate cools to add silk, or melting lower like 35 or 40?

Fine to be a downer, that's a serious consideration. The kitchen is pretty cold in the winter and I wouldn't want to struggle with chocolate build-up. How do you like the TF20 with molding wheel from DR?

Has anyone used the chocolate pump that TCF offers? https://www.tcfsales.com/products/c115-mol-d'art-melters/ I'd like to increase both production and efficiency, so I'm looking at a 20-24kg melter, the pump, and possibly an EZ temper as an upgrade from a 6kg melter, a bunch of bowls and a ladle. What do other chocolatiers think? I doubt I'll jump right into 24kg at a time, but I figure might as well have the capacity since it is the same footprint as the 12kg melter. The pump would save a lot of time with molding, provided it doesn't clog up or over-temper the chocolate - is a stray chunk going to cause havoc? And if it is a full 24kg, that's a lot of chocolate to hand-temper, so much heavy stirring. Would the pump be able to mix in EZ Temper silk and make tempering virtually hands-free? thanks!

Work faster.

Are you saying you haven't eaten them all yet? But that's why I don't care for the ones with a bunch of CB sprayed on after, the thick layer of fat isn't enjoyable. CB isn't necessarily a bad flavor, just not as good as the rest of the bean. It's probably all deodorized, it would be fine if it had some chocolate flavor. You can add a little chocolate or white chocolate, depending on the color. Cacao Barry actually makes blue and orange white chocolate pistoles, and their fascination with the Ruby chocolate is all about color. It could also be interesting to add a drop of flavor oil - I use Lorann pure citrus and peppermint oils to flavor dark chocolate, you could flavor the CB instead. And customers are generally clueless to the subtleties of technique. For every person who actually knows what feuilletine is, there are hundreds who ask, "is that fudge?"

Yes, I had the 0.3 which could spray CB but was slow so I upgraded to the 0.5. I think compressor power is really crucial, so the bigger compressor and the 0.5 might work just fine. My compressor is only 0.5 hp, works but could be better.

What is their revolting glaze formula? Start with 1/4 c of syrup and see. A stickier, thicker syrup won’t soak in as much as a thin watery one.

Also, I'm not sure how many health nuts are in your neck of the woods, but around here there is a faction who wants soy-free chocolate because soy is one of the crops most associated with GMOs. One natural foods co-op I was talking to said if there was soy in my chocolate I had to provide certification that it was non-GMO soy. I believe Theo (my local large bean-to-bar maker) is completely soy free, and lots of other bean-to-bar makers are also proudly just cacao and sugar. Some of them may still suck (I can't get behind the gritty un-conched stuff) or not be couverture, but soy lecithin is far from essential.

I use Felchlin's Arriba 72% which doesn't have soy lecithin, and I also just got some of their Madagascar 64% that is also additive-free. My understanding is these are both conched for 72 hours. The Arriba is plenty liquid, I haven't tried molding with the 64 yet. So I don't think you should assume you need to add lecithin just because it's not already in there. If it's too thick, thin with CB as needed. If those scraps are blended with new, adjust that to your liking. Or if you don't want to add anything at all and it is too viscous for shell molding, use it in ganache. You may be over-thinking it

There were food trucks? Guess I gotta leave my booth to find them Know that I have a stash of snacks - apples, almonds, baby carrots, luna bars, cheese, etc -and am happy to share. I still follow the restaurant tradition of staff meal and a shift intoxicant!

Can you pinpoint what's taking so much time? Lisa suggested a robot coupe - if you're hand-chopping everything, definitely try to speed that up!

Huh, I think unsweetened IS "regular" or "plain". Can't get much plainer than just nuts!

A tiny little wedding cake for a chef colleague and his bride. I wanted them to get off to an extra-sweet start, since the holidays are almost upon us and she probably won't see much of him until January Gluten free chocolate cake, chocolate caramel ganache, white chocolate vanilla butter cream, fondant flowers. I used the Steve's GF cake flour, and was very happy with the results - scraps were a tiny bit crumbly, but we'll call that "tender" and be happy that it seemed like "real" cake.

Here are some thoughts on the subject from Tom Colicchio: https://medium.com/@tcolicchio/an-open-letter-to-male-chefs-742ca722e8f2

After doing a little shopping, I found that not only are they beyond my budget, but almost 200 lb! (I knew they were heavy and expensive, but not to that degree) Maybe I'll settle for an 8qt KA if/when my existing KA needs replacement.