WhiteTruffleGirl

There is a very simple way to get rid of your air bubbles. Once you've poured your mixture into your ramekins take your blow torch and very lightly go over the top of each one. Voila...no more air bubbles.

Yahoo! That's great Randall. Do let me know how you find them. The price is more reasonable than I would have expected. Expensive, yes, but oh those nuts are divine.

Randall, Thanks for the update. I think the Piemontese hoard these for themselves (as I would), so I admire your tenacity in trying to find them!

Mark, I'm not sure what dehumidifiers you've been looking at (you obviously have, as you have prices), however, I'll give you my home experience if it helps. I have a very large living room with a vaulted ceiling. It's approximately 800 sq. ft. and I can't estimate the cubic feet because of the pitch of the ceiling. It was an addition to a very old farm house that cannot have central air put in. The room opens to a parlor which cannot be closed off. The doorway opening is approximately 5'8" x 4". A few summers ago we started to have some major problems because of humidity. (We live in a heavily wooded area and so 80% humidity outside became 90% humidity inside our house.) My husband purchased what I would have considered a "too small" dehumidifier to combat the problem. Thing is...it works. While it's not bone dry in my living room, it is certainly comfortable, and a lot lower humidity than much of the rest of the house and outside. Yesterday (a very humid day) I emptied the reservoir (65 pt. capacity) three times. And, it only cost $167 at WalMart. I'm not saying it's the answer, but it's another way to think about it. Here's a link to the unit we bought, in case you're interested. The heat is another thing altogether. I'm likely going to buy a portable air conditioner since I can't install a window unit in my kitchen, and I need to be able to both cool and dehumidify in order to make any confections at home during the summer months. They've come down tremendously in price, and this site has given me some pretty good guidance as to what I'll likely be buying. Good luck.

What kind of quantities are you looking for? If you're looking at volume then Qzina or Chocosphere or Surfas Online are all good resources, although given it's summer, you'll pay extra for shipping. And Qzina does have minimums (I believe), so you'll need to take that into consideration. NY Cake's prices for chocolate absolutely floor me. I don't know what they charge for Valrhona, but I was in there one day, happened to pass by their Callebaut and glanced at the price...you practically had to pick up my jaw off the floor. I have found that Fairway's prices are relatively decent (at least on some chocolate), so if/when you need to buy locally, I'd at least price comparison shop there.

Steve, The 6kg units (along with the 3, 12 and 24kg units) are not 'tempering' units with a wheel. They are melters where you hand seed and hand agitate your chocolate in order to temper it. This means that you must continue to agitate your chocolate and adjust the temperature as you work to keep it in temper, so it is a bit more work than a tempering unit with a wheel. For those that like the Mol d'Art, this is no big deal. You're working anyway, so stirring your chocolate is something you're naturally going to do. They cost about $675 and you can purchase them from Qzina or from Technobake for about the same price (although S/H may be different...I don't know). I bought my 6kg unit from Qzina and happened to luck into a deal. They had a "used" unit (used once) so I got a $100 discount.

Good question choux. I've never really turned the unit below working temperature.

I know all of you who own the 3210 really seem to like it, and since I don’t have one--and have never used it--I can’t really comment on it. I do own a Rev2--which I bought when I first started working with chocolate--to ‘get my feet wet’ and it served me well. But I outgrew it very quickly. And, it had some design features I didn’t really like--which its bigger sibling shared--so while I considered the 3210, I ultimately decided against it. If you can bear, I’ll quickly and quietly make my pitch for the Mol d’Art, and then not hijack this thread any further. And I don’t really offer many of these comparisons in opposition to the 3210 specifically (although some are)…just a different perspective on a different way to go. One of the things I like best about this machine is I can dump my molds directly back into the unit as I work. I do not have to dump my molds onto a separate work surface then scrape the chocolate back into the tempering unit. For me, I see two advantages. First, it’s much more time efficient, which is incredibly important when you’re talking volume. And second, I don’t worry about the potential of the chocolate having cooled off too much to risk throwing my chocolate out of temper. I also like that I am in complete control of every aspect of the tempering process, from temperature, to amount of seed, to agitation. Yes, it is more work, but well tempered chocolate is as much about the look and feel of your chocolate as anything else. Every day is different, and as we all know chocolate behaves differently every day. One of my biggest complaints about my Rev2 is what it calls ‘tempered chocolate’ is not what I would call well tempered chocolate on many occasions. I like the control I get with the Mol d’Art. And the heating elements in the Mol d’Art are unbelievable. They respond on a dime, are incredibly even and react in very small increments. I can also dip my chocolates directly into the unit without having to remove chocolate to a separate bowl. (I will remove chocolate if what I’m dipping is likely to leave ‘residue’ in my chocolate.) Again, this is time saving, but I also don’t have to be concerned about keeping a side bowl of chocolate in temper. I can store my chocolate directly in the pan (unless it’s going to be for long periods of time), the Mol d’Art is completely silent (something I treasure, particularly after the incredible noise factor of the Rev2), and it’s very cost effective. Just my $.02.

Vanessa, I know you're joking, or at least I hope you're joking. It really does sound like the space your hubby is willing to build your shop is ideal. Just heed the advice here and get the Board of Health involved early. The good news about this business is the BoH is going to be a pretty easy process, relatively speaking. You're not dealing with meat or other products that are highly pathogen-friendly (except butter and cream), so the BoH isn't going to be breathing down your neck the way they do other food service establishments. I don't know if Colorado requires food handler licenses, but even getting that will at least give you a head start on getting some of the basic understanding of what are considered 'good sanitary practices.' And if Colorado does require them, you'll need to get it anyway, so you might as well start there. A quick check of your county's website or a quick phone call should answer that. (I used to work in AZ and they do require them...Maricopa County's website has a study guide you can download...the laws would be different in CO, but they are all based on the same FDA guidelines, so not that different.) I know since English isn't your first language it can be a little intimidating to try and wade through government documentation that reads like it was written to confuse, but please don't let that stop you.

Kerry, I'd love to play on this thread, but I'm going to have to wait for the humidity to break...so until then...

Thanks...that's helpful. And I'm glad to know they got back to you about the transfer sheet. I sent them an email about three months ago with questions about custom colors for a transfer sheet, and I never received a reply. I since decided not to go that route for that job, however it is something I still want to pursue. I hope I don't have issues with them responding to future emails. I'm not too cheap to call them, but just don't want to until I exhaust email as 'first line' of communication.

Mark, How many sq. ft. would you say the kitchen is?

Yes, you can adjust your recipe and get good results. You'll also need to adjust your fat content as well (to account for the increased cocoa butter in the bittersweet chocolate), but it will work. Actually, if you have access to Alice Medrich's book Bittersweet, she goes through a number of conversion formulas in there that would be helpful to you. Otherwise, it might be helpful if you posted your recipe here so we could give you an idea of how you might adjust it.

Jeff, I'd be very curious to know the shipping charges and what those charges were for, i.e., what was the shipment weight/contents. Do you happen to recall whether they sent via parcel post? Obviously, it's going to be impossible to order any transfer sheets from them until Autumn, so for now, I'll continue to order from Qzina.

Vanessa, After my box experience, I'm certainly going to build in extra time for anything I order from Europe, unless it's coming DHL, or some other expidited shipping method. (But I doubt I'd ever be paying for that kind of shipping.) You have to call Qzina to order from them. They don't print their prices because their prices are really dictated by the size of customer you're going to be for them. Like any distributor, you can negotiate prices down if you can guarantee some level of volumes with them over the course of a year. I'm not yet in a position to do that, but hope to be soon. So, my prices with them are pretty much 'rack rate' for the time being. Don't be afraid to call them...they're nice people.

Mark, Why isn't a dehumidifer a workable solution?

I've never ordered directly from PCB just because I've always been too much in a hurry for my product to be willing to wait for it. As well, once you factor in shipping and exchange rate, I figure any cost difference wasn't worth quibbling about. But that's on a small scale. I think it matters a lot if you're talking larger volumes. I'd be curious to hear the experiences of anyone who has ordered from PCB directly. I'd like to know what kind of shipping charges to expect, time frames, etc. Their transfer sheets are simply the best out there, and I really do need to start watching my pennies and planning ahead.

Qzina's prices are a bit better, although I just received a letter from them indicating they are having price increases on some of the items I've bought from them in past...PCB transfer sheets among them.

Touchy subject for me. I HAD a 600 Series Professional KA. Lasted 3 months before the gears stripped and the housing cracked. Used it only for bread doughs. The claim is that it will handle 14 cups of flour. No it won't; 10 max. Also really, really poor at kneading dough; constantly overheated the dough, even with the so-called new design hook. Tried kneading 4 mins, relax for 20, knead for 4; still overheated, with poor gluten development. Difficult to get within the 77-81 F range and achieve a proper dough windowpane. The problem being experienced is overkneaded, overheated dough, that makes dense, tough bread. Replaced the KA with a larger and more expensive Esmach SP5. Made in Italy and purpose-designed for bread doughs, it will handle up to 8 pounds of flour (6 is best), doesn't overheat the dough and works like a charm. Got it through TMB Baking (tmbbaking.com), which is an adjunct of the San Francisco Baking Institute. Check it out. Kitchen Aid stoned me on a money-back return, saying they would repair it FREE. Didn't want it back at all. Had no ORIGINAL box, so the retailer would only give me an in-store credit. The KA is now a shiny new meat slicer. Jim ← Jim, I agree with you. I think KAs are lousy tools for kneading bread dough (I think they're lousy period), but it is tool most home bakers have at hand. And KA will tell you not to knead above speed 2 or so (I'm going by memory) so as to not tax their motors or gears. Yet this is a sub-optimal speed for trying to get any gluten development. So, I ignore KA's warnings and do turn the speed higher, but then as you say have problems with over-heated dough. So, I've learned the art of compromise. When my dough starts to get too hot (but I do not yet have full gluten development) I simply pull it out of the mixer and finish kneading the old-fashioned way...on the bench. One of these days I'm going to drop kick my KA straight out the window and get a proper mixer, but until I can afford to do that, I've just learned how to work around the KA's limitations. And I'm sorry if I've offended any KA lovers out there.

I make a lot of bread (and used to make it professionally...oh, how I miss my Hobarts) and agree KitchenAids are not the greatest at mixing bread doughs. The biggest problem is the design of their "c-hook" which is bad design gone amok. Thankfully, KitchenAid has seen the light and is now making a spiral dough hook, but unfortunately it is only available for certain models. See the link below to determine if your mixer is one of them. It's worth the $20 if you make any amount of bread. KitchenAid Spiral Hook

That's interesting TruffleGirl...were you there specifically to learn regional cuisine? Was that primarily pastries or savoury? For that matter, out of curiousity, do you have a shop, do pastries, ...? ← Yes, it was to study regional cooking. My background is savory (as was the focus of my time in the Piedmont), but I've become increasingly more attracted to pastry over the years. I think I can actually trace my love of chocolate making to a visit to Guido Gobino's manufacturing operation below his shop in Turino. The smell and taste of his hazelnut chocolate was intoxicating, and his obvious passion for his work contagious. I'm in the late stages of development of my business plan for opening a shop focusing primarily on chocolate.

If you do find anything out, would you please post and let us know? I spent some time in culinary school in the Piedmont and absolutely fell in love with the hazelnuts in this region. If it's not too cost prohibitive, I'd use them in my chocolates. Actually, my moniker of 'WhiteTruffleGirl' speaks to my love of the fungi of this region...but, it doesn't work too badly for chocolates either...

Trish, The lime is a Norman Love recipe I got as a result of swapping books with a fellow eGulleteer. (I traded him a copy of my World Pastry Forum book for a copy of his book from another event he had attended. A practice that can yield you some pretty awesome recipes, assuming you've got something to trade!) It's pretty straightforward. You make a creme anglaise base (including butter), then add your lime zest and lime juice before pouring over your chopped chocolate. I really like it as it makes for a very soft (and very rich) ganache, which seems to work nicely with the lime. Flavors like lime can feel pretty cloying and dense, so this method really helps to balance them out. It tames the lime (without subduing it) by giving it a component of rich mouth feel. I've been meaning to try the same approach with other flavors like this, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. alanamoana...I'm not bricks and mortar yet...my business plan is in the works, so will be within the year, or at least I hope within the year. I'm trying to find a location, and that is a huge part of it. I'm not opening until I have exactly the location I want, and so far (I've been looking for over six months), nothing has opened up.

From left to right, the chocalates are: Gianduja caramel (they are whipped together to an almost mousse-like texture) molded in bittersweet chocolate. The mold is first decorated with piped milk chocolate (I use a paper cone and just randomly drizzle) and then white chocolate which I use an artist's brush to dab each mold. Fleur de sel caramel. (The bride's favorite). I use an artist's brush to paint the cocoa butter into the molds. White chocolate macadamia rum. The transfer sheet is PCB's. I love this particular sheet...it's one of my favorites, and it works particularly well with white. This is a Tomric magnetic mold which is a great size (1" square). Creme anglaise bittersweet lime. The mold is airbrushed with a fine tip aimed mostly in the corners of the pyramid to help concentrate the color. You can't really see it in the picture very well, but it shows nicely. Finally, bittersweet raspberry. (The groom's favorite.) Airbrushed with garnet jeweltone from Chef Rubber concentrated mostly in the crown of the mold, then with a little dusting of gold. As for the question regarding pricing, I did what is advised against and gave "friend" pricing. I must say, I can understand why people advise against this, but would do it again for her, but not for many others. I am not comfortable sharing what that was even in general, but I covered my costs (I'm not stupid), but I certainly do not feel compelled to buy them a wedding gift. Normally, I would prefer to do a combination of molded and enrobed, however the bride was very involved in the decision regarding flavors, and she just happened to prefer flavors that I prefer in molded. I've done the raspberry as an enrobed before, but I just find that making that particular ganache firmer in order to enrobe it, just isn't to my taste. And I've not tried any of the others as enrobed before, so wasn't about to start on this project.

As promised, here are pictures are of the favors I did for the wedding this weekend. Per the caveat in my earlier post, I am no photographer, so the pictures are not terribly good. The images are flat, the colors are not representative, etc., but they will give you a general idea of what the boxes look like, and that's the purpose of this thread. The first photo is of the chocolates in the box. If I see another candy cup for the next couple of days, it will be too soon. Here's a closeup of one box all by itself. I tied each box with organza ribbon (which I bought from Kroese-Exclusief), and then put in a wire-stemmed paper rose which I purchased from the bridal department at Michael's. You can't really see the shape of the box, which is too bad because it's so unique. (Chalk that up to my bad photography.) You can kind of get an idea if you look at the left corner of the top side. The last picture gives you an idea of what these boxes will look like all set out tomorrow evening on the guest table. I think they'll make a very elegant display. (The bride wholeheartedly agrees.) All in all, I'm very happy I went this route and plan on using Kroese-Exclusief boxes a lot in the future.