pastrygirl

This was the first I'd heard of it. I'm not clear on what it actually is - it's dark chocolate made from cacao but pink in color and fruity tasting? Does it taste like chocolate, though? I think the color is ugly, so that's not a selling point for me

Maybe something like Birds Custard Powder? A U.K. product, but I know I've seen it in the U.S.

No, not so far. I'm partial to the jewel line - white diamond and black onyx are on the square mold a few posts above. I did have some bronze that seemed more viscous, but I think my issues that day were from dropping my new needle first thing and bending it or maybe a bit of debris. Things were all sputtery and unsatisfying. This was the larger nozzle that I was hoping would be a game-changer - we're not there yet - for now I'm blaming operator error. You can thin with plain cocoa butter if needed. The 'airbrush colors' aren't cocoa butter, they're for cake decoration, I would think they are water-based.

That's one way to put it. I have another. Yeah, I was thinking much less ... polite Mostly because salad isn't crafted, it's a bunch of ingredients. Putting quinoa, edamame, activated charcoal, acai, and whatever other "superfoods" are trending on a salad bar isn't crafting anything. Curating, maybe, but that would still be silly. Unless they bake their own bread from scratch, maybe they have hand-cut croutons. To me, craft requires transformation. Pouring bags of spring mix and cheese crumbles into hotel pans for people to serve themselves ain't it.

I do want to do more bonbons - hence the airbrush upgrade - but not for wholesale because shelf life. I think bonbons online or in person only.

Locally, Theo is the largest, I believe they distribute nationally, they also do various inclusions and some caramels and stuff. They are everywhere now so not seen as special anymore. Definitely can't match their pricing. Couple smaller bean-to-bar folks too but lots of confectioners. Fran's is the big fancy-ish but mass market confectioner, they are mostly known for chocolate covered salted caramels and their stuff is $40-50/lb. I feel like their quality has gone down as they've gotten bigger but is still pretty high. And Seattle Chocolates, which I think are gross, they do "truffle" bars that have coconut oil meltaway fillings. So those 3 local companies are everywhere. The nicer grocery stores do carry $6-9 artisan bars - Dick Taylor, Raaka, Manao, Chuao, Valrhona, etc. I talked to someone at a wholesale show recently about what the large markets require - there's a bunch of 3rd party certification that I don't have yet. I figure getting into 10 or 20 small boutique or specialty stores that don't need all the extra stuff is the first step, then I can scale up from there. Packaging design isn't finished but here's the work in progress, package is about 3 x 4-1/2":

@Teo, I see what you're saying about plain, maybe I can do a unique blend or a really fine inclusion that will mix in for one-shot depositing.

Since we're being unhealthy, can I get a side of nacho cheese sauce with mine?

For basics on bread shaping, here's a nice demo: I think 3-4 oz of dough should be enough for a 6" sandwich. Make the baguette shape but 6". They will rise up and out when proofing and baking but length won't really change.

How strange. Maybe we are getting different things? Or is a perfect demisphere somehow so highly technical that they have to farm it out to CW? If I upgrade it's $500 to re-do the tooling in metal, not sure what it was done in for this round. The chocolate life continues to provide us with mysteries! But thanks to all for the enabling, I'm just about convinced to go big. I've been trying so hard the past few years to keep my spending super tight, especially in the summer when sales tank, but this is probably actually worth it.

Can't say I've heard of anyone doing that around Seattle. Is it widespread in SD or one shop's specialty/gimmick?

Yes, they all have layers of filling, I don't do anything plain. Since I'm not making bean to bar but using already made chocolate, I feel like I have to add something special. It would be much easier to just fill it up and be done, but nooooo, that's not my style Thanks for the link, though - some beautiful packaging!

Interesting, I had not gotten that impression, and was just quoted this when I asked about volume price breaks: For the .125” polycarbonate: $19.95/mould for 10-49 moulds $17.95/mould for 50-99 moulds $16.15/mould for 100 -199 moulds $14.50/mould for 200+ moulds Maybe the .125" is still not actually injection, just thicker? Do you know the thickness on the molds you're getting? This is exactly my concern. I think I'll be happier in the long run if I go with the heavier, just sort of kicking myself for my indecision costing me extra.

Since this is the custom mold topic - I've gone through a couple of design stages with Tomric and have the pretty bar without too many corners I was looking for. I've been doing the cheaper thermo-formed molds instead of the injection polycarbonate that we are used to in professional molds because of price, but now I'm so torn. I've been trying to convince myself I can make them work, and I'm sure I can, but I also want durability and what can I say, I like nice toys. I usually hold molds in my left hand and scrape with my right. These feel unstable for that, I'll try a bar or rack over my melter to rest them on while scraping. If I stay with the cheap ones, total project is around $1800 for 60 molds. If I switch now, it's another $800. Which isn't that much if I sell tens of thousands of chocolate bars over the next few years, which of course is the plan. Will I be happier making them all with heavier molds? Hmmm. What would you do? Stay cheap or go big?

za'atar chevre log was a yay for me, nice savory combo

Thanks for the links, that guy is where I learned that splatter technique In the first video, I paused it when the brush gets close and you can see the two rings on the nozzle that denotes it is the 0.5. http://grexusa.com/grexairbrush/products.php5?id=TK-5 Martone looks to be getting a lot more CB into his molds, I think the 0.5 will be fine for now. I'll see how it works before upgrading the compressor. Flow rate is not linear - a 3/4" pipe will put through 3x the flow of a 1/2" pipe at the same psi even thought its only 1-1/2x diameter. You must really need more pressure for 1mm- is it the compressor that slows you down, struggling to keep up?

Hey, @Jim D. I had some time to re-read the instructions and play with my airbrush today. Turns out I have the TG3, so the 0.3 mm nozzle. I will be looking into a larger one soon. It is adjustable in that the farther back you pull the trigger, the wider the spray stream. There is a screw on the back end you adjust to stop the trigger being pulled past a certain point. If you want to keep a narrower line, tighten it. Since this is the smaller nozzle, I've been using it wide open for maximum coverage, which is about an inch wide. The instructions say lower the pressure or taking the tip off would lead to splattering, but I couldn't get the effect. At 30 psi, nothing came out. I'm thinking the larger nozzle would allow splatter - easier for the CB to move through at lower pressure? About 50-60 psi seems to work for regular spray. So I did the drip-and-blow splatter instead, works OK but not as precise: https://youtu.be/YpQzZg-wA7s Then for the cavities I have to get really up close & personal. Not unbearably slow, but if the larger nozzle goes faster, I'm in: https://youtu.be/WtoqXcZVugE Here's one more from the user viewpoint. I guess you might think the top gravity feed gets in the way, less so if you're holding the mold in your other hand and can adjust. And I assume hand-eye coordination will improve with practice. https://youtu.be/Tg2szyz6Kug The finished bonbons - The squared ones were sprayed white & black into opposite corners, both 60% dark shells. . So now I'm not sure if the 0.5 or the 0.7 would be better. They do warn that you need more compression capacity for the 0.7, but I wonder if the 0.5 will be enough to make a difference. What size is your airbrush?

It's not exactly tomato sauce with vegetables if you strain them out ...

I'm watching The Sweet Makers on BBC - four British pastry chefs & confectioners recreate Tudor, Georgian, and Victorian sweets with petiod ingredients and equipment. A little British Baking Show, a little Downton Abbey. Check it it out for a slice of pastry history. BBC viewer only available to the U.K., but on this side of the pond where there's a will, there's a way.

I think that is the holy grail, not being able to tell something made with alternative flours is GF. Maybe I'm a picky pastry chef, but the few things I've had from this bakery always make me want to go and offer consultation. I think there must be a better way, but if these bakers and their clientele are happy ... One of my SILs is GF, I'll have to find some of that cake flour so I can make something she can eat for holiday desserts. I don't mind a bran muffin, or cornmeal. I made some banana bread with 1/3 graham flour (relatively coarse WW) yesterday and it was still perfectly soft when baked. I wonder about the "more natural" theory - you may be correct, after all gritty, un-conched chocolate seems to have found a place in the less-processed foods market. Thanks for your input!

Thanks, @teonzo, sounds like it may be the sorghum adding coarseness in both flours I've tasted. That's what I was wondering, if some grains are just harder to mill to fine, soft flour. Usually when people order GF desserts I give them truffles, French macaron, or flourless chocolate cake to avoid disappointing flour substitutions.

I was cooking for a party last night at which a gluten free cake was served for dessert. I had a few bites and aside from the cake being dry and the frosting very sweet, there was that tell-tale grittiness that GF baked goods seem to have. This particular bakery uses a blend of millet, sorghum, tapioca and potato flours. I used some Bob's Red Mill GF flour to satisfy a customer request for GF shortbread and found the same grittiness - they use garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, whole grain white sorghum flour, tapioca flour and fava bean flour. Obviously some sacrifices of flavor and texture are made when trying to replicate the magic of gluten, but why can't these flour blends be softer? Can't they be milled more finely? Or is it just the way the particular starches or proteins in those other flours are felt on the tongue? It's like that chalky cold cooked rice texture, do you know what I mean? Why can't it be better? Almost every time I eat something made with substitute flours, it makes me sad and want to fix it.

How hot does it need to be to melt fat, though? 200F? Maybe gentler heat is worth considering.

D'oh! Even better!

But does it have thumbs to hold the spatula?