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digigirl

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  1. Yes Chris - do elaborate! That is a great tip - I made a huge mess when I was doing hand dipped last week. I'd love to hear more about your wire technique. That sounds like a good one!
  2. You saying I'm not glamorous? Just kidding - I was working on a book, then Greweling came along - and I just felt so totally inadequate! ← There's always room for another excellent chocolate reference! I'd totally buy it.
  3. The number one thing I've learned from my recent forays into making truffles and bon bons is that chocolate gets EVERYWHERE! I don't know how everybody in these demos and pictures does it so neatly. So I thought it might be useful for newbies like me if some of the more experienced chocolatiers on egullet would share some of the tips they've learned during their experiences with chocolate. Are there certain procedures or techniques you use that help you stay neat? Particular tools you've found that help you work cleanly? Any info would be helpful. About the only things I've found so far, in my *very* limited experience, is to use a MUCH larger bowl than I really need for the tempered chocolate, as it wants to get all over the sides of the bowl, the edge, etc. If I use a big bowl, I seem to have more luck keeping it down inside the bowl. Also, wearing latex or vinyl gloves seems to help me keep it off of myself. I can wipe the chocolate off of my gloved hands, whereas when it's my bare skin, I'm tempted to lick too often or I end up washing my hands about a thousand times. What are your tried and true tips and techniques?
  4. So, if anybody is still checking out this thread... Now that I've gotten a chance to work with the glucose syrup... Is there some kind of trick to it? This stuff is THICK! Is there some easy way to measure it out, get it off the spoon? I had a very hard time with it. Should it be heated before trying to dispense it? Surely there must be a better way than dirtying 3 spoons and having my scale turn itself off while I'm struggling to get the syrup to come off the spoon!
  5. I used Callebaut white for the ganache and Guittard 61% for enrobing. The cream was just the regular grocery store brand of cream. Do you find different brands of cream taste significantly different? I'll admit I haven't done any comparison shopping in that area. The glucose I got is corn syrup, so hopefully will work out well and be neutral flavored. Water activity isn't important right now as I am just learning. Later it may become more so. I just ordered some Felchlin Maracaibo Clasificado 65%, some Guittard Ornico 41% and some Weiss White Nevea 29% to experiment with while I'm learning the techniques of fine chocolate making. When I get better at it (and stop wasting so much chocolate), I'll get some Valrhona, maybe some Michel Cluizel to try! It's funny - I brought the Dark & Stormies into work to help spread the calories around and people are either afraid to try it (ooh, ginger & rum = scary and different) or they are going "Wow! When are you starting your own chocolate shop?" Which is so funny because this is literally my first attempt at hand dipping and it shows. It looks like my enrobing chocolate lost its temper on the last few pieces and they show streaks, all of them have major feet and puddles, and the little fork marks on the top are a mess! It's sad that so many people don't even know what a good chocolate should look like! Hopefully soon I'll be able to show them.
  6. At least here in the US, grocery store corn syrup also contains high-fructose corn syrup, which is - as someone mentioned above - sweeter than regular glucose. ← When I bought some corn syrup recently, I specifically checked the ingredients on a couple of them. The store brand (Wal-Mart) did include high fructose corn syrup, but the Karo brand did not list it in the ingredients, just corn syrup, salt and vanilla. So I bought that. When I went to their website just now, though, it does show high fructose corn syrup. So I don't know if they've recently changed their formulation and the bottle was updated but not yet the website, or if they are allowed to not list the high-fructose part on the label.
  7. Agreed and understood. I just got my hands on some glucose syrup yesterday, so I can go forward with full compliance to the recipes. I did the Dark & Stormies with corn syrup instead of glucose syrup and they came out well, but I would rather use the correct ingredient. So I'm happy I got some. Thanks everyone for the helpful info! Valerie
  8. Thanks John. I did know I could use corn syrup, but I kept seeing the powdered glucose and thought that would be convenient if it could be used. Now I know! Thanks! Valerie
  9. Thanks Kerry. I'll try an art supply store. Valerie
  10. Kerry, where did you get those rubber tipped tools? I went looking for those today and couldn't find them. The hobby store had no idea what I was talking about. I like the effects you got with those and would love to try them. Let me know what they're called! Thanks! Valerie
  11. While looking to stock up my pantry for chocolate and confection making, I have been comparison shopping at various online sources. I keep running across powdered or atomized glucose, which is significantly cheaper than glucose syrup. Can powdered glucose be used when a recipe calls for glucose syrup (as in Peter Greweling's Chocolates & Confections book)? And if so, how?
  12. Another question! Greweling says, in recipes, to "massage the butter into the chocolate." What exactly does that mean? I took a chocolate class at Sur la Table last year and when we made the ganache, we poured the hot cream over the chocolate wafers, let it sit for a little bit, then stirred gently with a rubber spatula in concentric circles starting at the center. After it was emulsified, we added the liquor and then the very soft butter, which was also stirred in. Greweling wants the butter massaged into melted chocolate before adding the cream. Is massaging the same as stirring? Or is there some technique here I'm not getting? I'd like to try the method described elsewhere on this board by SteveKlc (I think - hope I got that right!) of pouring the melted chocolate into the cream (instead of vice versa). And I think the butter is added at the end of that procedure also. Any input from y'all who have done some of these Greweling recipes already?
  13. I'd take a full pastry arts (or maybe even the full cooking arts) culinary program somewhere, then go to the Valrhona school and some of the other specific chocolate programs out there. Get as much knowledge, training and hands-on experience crammed into my pointy head as possible!
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