pastrygirl

You need your city/state business licenses and and approved kitchen to whatever degree your state requires. Here in WA we also have the cottage food law, but it specifically says no chocolate. I don't know why. Pretty much only dry baked goods can be made in home kitchens here - granola, cookies, bread. If you sell more than either 25% or 50% (I don't recall) wholesale you're supposed to be licensed by the state dept of Agriculture. If you sell mostly direct to consumers, the county public health dept licensing is fine. I have a commissary agreement with a restaurant kitchen, but each company in a commissary is inspected separately. My permit was $650 this year. I believe my state's permit is much less expensive, but there is a lot more paperwork, HACCP plan type stuff. As Jim said, you need to list the ingredients in descending order by weight, the net weight of product, and specify any of the top 8 food allergens (milk, wheat, peanuts, soy, egg, tree nuts (specify), fish, & shellfish) that may be present. You also need to list the producer's name and location. @Jim D., how close is this guy to opening? Are there any windows you can peek into and see what kind of display he has? People who order whole cakes or are looking for locally made gifts may well want a larger box. If he can't take care of your product or it's not worth selling by the piece, you can always say no. I had a woman who owned a French bakery (but was not a baker) who wanted to buy caramels in bulk and pack them in her own bags. I said no because I hate wrapping caramels, her place is at least 45 minutes drive away, and it seemed like more trouble than it would be worth

Efficiency? - it is pre-cut and pre-washed, saving time and labor Lack of other options? Maybe there just aren't many sources for local baby lettuces and they buy what Sysco has to offer. Is there much of a farmers market scene or farm-to-table hoopla where you are? I haven't been to MT in several years, but it seemed very meat and potatoes at the time.

Possibly too much fat, or too little sugar, or over-churning. Is it more icy or more buttery? Yes, definitely. Over-churned ice cream turns to sweet, egg-y butter. Yes. I think more depends on the machine and the recipe than on how thick the custard is. Thin sorbet bases can spin into smooth frozen delights. @paulraphael is right, ice cream is a complex mystery that isn't fully understood. I've never cooked custard sous vide so can't speak to that. What kind of machine do you have for churning?

Sorry to hear that, but I wouldn't blame the cuisine, I'd blame the culture of the other diners at your table.

Another Hello Kitty cake! I made a Hello Kitty wedding cake for this couple last summer, the bride just graduated with her MBA and hubby wanted to surprise her with another one. I tried to keep it simple with fondant on the top only, but it still took all day.

So then I watched some marshmallow videos and a few mentioned honey as being the original, historical sweetener. Ya learn something every day!

Honey is not crucial to marshmallows.

I had to look at a map, but maybe the Persian Gulf is relatively protected by the Gulf of Oman and geography. My first thought was rising sea levels and how low those islands look. People in the Maldives are afraid their country will be underwater in a few hundred years. Do the Emirati developers not care because they can afford to rebuild it all later?

Your website looks great! Was it custom built from scratch or did you use a template? I think that could work. Does it have to be sugar? Try microlane-ing white chocolate over your stencil and see how it sticks and how it looks. I suppose you could also decorate with almond flour or a mix of almond flour, powdered sugar, and/or cocoa butter/white chocolate. You can even get a white cocoa butter such as Chef Rubber white diamond if you prefer the pure white look of powdered sugar.

True, the shape does have distinct advantages. And I'm not pretending to be an expert, I've barely played with my airbrush because I got frustrated that coverage wasn't better. But could buy a whoooooole lot of cocoa butter to practice with! Melissa's airbrush set-up seemed like overkill, but maybe you really need to get more cocoa butter in there than you think? Lay it on thick, just not so thick that it drips? Anyway, good luck!

CW1433 looks good http://shop.tomric.com/Product/I-1433/Dome_Mold.aspx https://www.pastrychefsboutique.com/chocolate-world/648986-chocolate-world-cw1433-polycarbonate-chocolate-dome-mold29x25-mm-24-cavity-15g-modern-shaped-molds.html also 1157 & 2116: http://www.chocolateworld.be/en/add.asp?g=praline+moulds&cat=Spheres I mean, if it's worth it to you to pay extra to get exactly what you want, I don't want to discourage you, and you may very well be able to sell the extra molds. I'm doing custom bar molds because I didn't find anything in the right weight range that felt special enough yet not a nightmare to polish. I'm going to focus on acquiring new wholesale accounts in the fall with the new bars in new packaging plus nutrition info, so hopefully the investment will pay off. But I don't buy those $50 chocolate molds you speak of, I much prefer $20-25 so I can get more of them, or other toys, like a large stone remnant for the kitchen that I need to figure out how to lift onto the table without breaking ... today's challenge!

Well at least hemispheres should be super easy for design once someone does actually respond. It sucks to feel ignored, especially when there are so few options for this service. I found the soap guy I was thinking of, not what you need for this, but if you ever want to make your favorite pet/car/creature in chocolate ... I believe he hand-carves in clay then makes a silicone mold. https://sculpturesoap.com/ Anyway, are you stuck on hemispheres or do taller domes appeal? Sounds like you want 15 grams plus or minus 1 or 2? The CW 2295 is one I like, I just weighed a few pieces that came in at 12 grams. http://www.chocolat-chocolat.com/home/chocolate-molds/chocolate-molds-chocolate-world/cw2000-to-cw2400/p17532691.html

That sucks. Did you use the contact form on the website or just email? I've been working with Jennine - jTaberski@tomric dot com. Tell her Andrea at Dolcetta sent you. It's a little frustrating to work through a rep rather than directly with the designer, but we are getting close - I'm awaiting a cavity sample of the latest version. And I don't know where I got that "less than $10", maybe for very thin molds but I'm going heavier gauge and buying less than 100 so mine will be closer to $15 each plus around $700 total tooling & die making expenses. This is for the cheaper thermoformed molds, not the injection molds that we are used to from Chocolate World etc. I don't have the impression that you're doing very high volume so the overhead at tomric or micelli may be prohibitive if you only want 10 of something. Is there anyone in your area with a 3D printer that could help? Or experienced with silicone mold making? I met a soap maker at a holiday show who made all his own really detailed molds and does custom work, I'll see if I can find a name, might be worth contacting just to see your range of options. Can I ask what you're hoping to make?

Thanks for posting about these. I've always enjoyed Jacques Pepin, he seems so calm and makes everything look so simple, has such a pleasant voice. Though I'm confused, I could have sworn I watched JP on PBS in high school in the 80's but he didn't have his own shows until the 90's. I also enjoyed the Julia Child episode and the James Beard. JB sounds a bit sketchy in some ways but he knew how to party. I'll probably skip the Alice Waters one, I can't take too much of her.

I'll try actually watering them this year. It was a warm week, I've already watered them twice! A couple of bushes still look good and have fruit on them, a couple have some new green growth so maybe will survive. If I can be a responsible berry keeper all summer, maybe I'll get more raspberry canes in the fall.

Some things justify a trip to a bookstore and use of the camera on your smartphone.

Hooray! Those look like proper chocolate chip cookies

Let the dough come back to room temp, stir in 1/4 c more flour, scoop then chill. I usually prefer to scoop before chilling, unless it's super sticky and gooey I'd rather deal with that than super hard dough. The cookies will chill more quickly portioned than as a mass. They look still raw after 10 minutes. What baking temp is called for? Might up it by 25F.

@Chimayo Joe Thanks for the explanation. I love fried urad dal as a snack but I have no idea what the answer to your question is. Good luck!

What is 'tempering' in relation to dal? A dish, a method? I'm not familiar with the term.

Pipe the two colors of chocolate first then smush it down? Or dip into and stamp with the chocolate?

I don't know if instinct is the same as something being ingrained, making muscle memory with practice, and experience. If so, then yes There are things that I make without measuring - corn tortillas, cream scones when it's just for a snack and not a customer*, sorbets mixed to taste. Yeast breads are very forgiving so I'm less precise with measuring and go by how the dough looks that day. I weigh everything else and substitute or adjust recipes for different needs. You just have to understand how the ingredients work together *easiest ever: mix some flour, a little sugar, baking powder, salt & flavorings (spices or inclusions), add heavy cream until it forms dough. Portion & bake. Sometimes better than others, but always pretty good when warm from the oven.

Chocolat, do you know if Melissa has the enrobing line in a separate room on purpose, like for temperature control?

Or cook it all down with sauce and make sloppy Joe's.

I'm always having to remind myself that chocolate is easier to clean up once solidified - the one exception to 'clean as you go'!