Desiderio

I know my sounds silly , but I would like to know what kind of standard some of you guys use to priced your products( chocolates in this case). I have been selling most of them in a small circle ( growing faster ) of people,and I always try to keep my price fare and square.I am not aiming at the profit at the moment since I am starting and I am more concerned with having people know me and create a market ( and see if there is one after all ).All the entrance from the chocolates ofcourse go back to the chocolates, and if I can make enough for me to reinvest in what I spend I am happy with that. The question is,how do you really price your products once you getting more business?I am trying to do a standard price ,but should i price them by the lb or by the number?Should I price the chocolates and then add the costs of the packagings ( boxes ,ribbons , candy cups etc.)?Do a standard price for all the chocolates without differences ( to avoid to go crazy )no matter the ingredients ( like nuts ,liquors etc that are more expensive). If there is any source I can look up into please let me know, I really would appreaciate it Thank you

Wow, they're much cheaper than chocosphere! Like 30% cheaper on the few items I checked. For instance, Assouline and Ting has 3kg Valrhona Guanaja Feves for $54.96. Chocosphere sells the same thing for $79.95. ← I can't find their chocolate products or chocolate prices on their site. Am I missing something obvious or did they remove it? ← Here see if you can see it if you didnt already.I bought form them couple of time and Iam please , package isnt fancy ,lots of shredded paper , but the chocolate got here in 3 days with no trouble .Definally good price including the shipping .For a 36 lb shipping was 18.00 usually its pretty standard around the 22 lb etc. http://www.icaviar.com/Store/Scripts/prodL...?idCategory=387

Ok I dont want to start another thred because its bread making /flour question anyway. Ok I just bought some more flour ( arthur king ) and a 25 lb bag of "Bronze Chief" Hard read spring wheat,it has 5gr of protein per serving ( 30gr) so high protein indeed.Now my question how to mill it with my home appliances?just with a regula food processor little bit at the time?Or I need a specialized wheat mill.Never done it before if any of you have any experience or advice please dont esitate . Thank you

Thank you Kerry for the expalnations , always so patience

this is very interesting thread , I have been thinking of dragees making for a while , but ofcourse without a candy coating pan would be kinda hard . I see Kerry you have said that the attachment for the kitchen aid that you have it doesnt fit properly, now my question is ,is the one that Whitetrufflegirl linked would have the same trouble ,or its made to fit a kitchen aid ? Its a good investment so would like to be sure it work properly.I also have a friend thats very interested in this so I would like to know more so I can let her know. Thank you as always for all your great input and advice and patience .

Ahhh Eden you are honoring me !! I wish they were even close to something coming out of Campania I can understand ,want to marry someone that can make Basil ice cream!!!!!!!!Lucky Girl

Oh I love mini tarts,those are sooo beautiful!

Hahaha yes gotta get more flour , I cant believe I am using that much I had 25 lb downstairs ,I do eat a lot of my experiment ( i am nuts for bread ). I ,like Devlin like my sourdough just right, I cant stand a very sour bread,and I dont like bread like pullman bread made out of sour , dont know why , umm maybe because I dont like crumb , I am all crust ! . I gotta some more dough in the fridge waiting maybe till tomorrow morning , I want to go to bed after work ,Making more ciabatta bread , ummm yummy.

Alana I know you might not be satisfiyed 100% , but thye really look good , thats a heck of work! And remeber one thing ,you are working form a home kitchen with the limits of one ,I work form my home kitchen atm as well and its hard to pop out 1000 chocolates for the weekend , but I think we do have a little craziness inside otherwise we wouldnt be here right?! Great work thank you for sharing Did you use special insulate packagins?I was looking into it they are very nice a bit expensive when you dont have a business though .Well like you said maybe one day, maybe soon. Good luckk

Those look great Desiderio and I know that they are not easy to make. Almost as good as the ones I had in Italy. ← Thank you ,I am sure they are nothing like the one you had in Italy ,but its a start , the only thing is that you really need a long work surface or a rolling machine ,welll we do what we can right ?

Hehe thank you

Ysterday and today ( and probably tomorrow )Sfogliatelle with Lobster tail filling. Kinda hard to accomplish with no rolling machine for the dough so they are very rustic look.Maybe next investment will be a pasta rolling attachment for my KA .Hehe we have been muching on them so the filling went little bit everywhere ,oh well they taste good though, a taste I havent had for a while . Ahh and my PH chocolate dessert arrived today, cant wait to experiment something out of it .

umm that look yummy thank you for the link :-)

Those look terrific! What the specific use of the copper bowls will be?I meant the best usage , just as the other or more specific one? Thank you for showing these new items.

Thank you for keeping us update on the matter.I am very very interested on new source for boxes.By the way I did browse ( spelling sorry ) their catalog and they ahve a really gourgeus boxes , unique for sure ( I did had a crash on those empire you got they are stunning ).I am thinking of making an order later on the year ,when I will go to visit my family in Italy , I am thinking that might be cheaper for shipping .Right now I am not in a business ( only testing my market that is ) so if in a soon future I will get a real business I want some real different boxes , mean something unique and bold . Thank you I am looking foward to see those boxes , I hope everything works great

I think I am going to get an air brush compressor anyway, I want something not too big that I can move around . Now A questrion to you WTGirl , do I still have to purchase a moisture trap for this type of compressor ? Thank you

I personally keep all my baked bread in plastic ( ziplock type ) bags , or paper bags and plastic grocerie bags ,usually sourdough it really tastes better after I would say one or two days from baking, i think it does increse in flavor. For freezing I would probaly put in a freeze ziplock bag so it doeast get any frezer burns.Well and ofcourse just make sure its nice and cool before putting it in to any type of bag expecially plastic. Oh and by the way , I have to thank you all very very much , its soo satisfying been able to eat and offer a fresh made sourdough bread , that is actually a very good bread ( cant find anything like this around here I swear ). Thank you ))

Hamelman goes around 76F for the dough and the proofing. I dont check the inside temperature, and when I do bulk fermentation I dont put it in any particular heating /warming device.My baskets are too big dont fit into the oven for now .I just kept them out side the kitchen usually is warm expecially nowdays ( house temperature goes between 70 and 74 F ). I didnt have any problem proofing the dough this way , I always noticed it usually proof very good so I didnt bother with other complications. In my idea I want to make this bread making as easy as it can be because if it have to be a routin ( I bake at least twice a week ) it needs to be doable , with family and a full time job ,I reaaly want to bring it down to my level of life , if it makes sense . Going back to the sourdough ciabatta , I baked the other half today ( the dough was in the fridge ) and I shaped ( or try to ) in a big round loaf ( didnt have any patience and wanted to get it out of the fridge ).It turn out very nice , complitely different form the ciabattas , weird how the same dough shaped and proofed differently come out a different bread. Well I am pleased with the result I think form now on I am going to try a very wet dough it might suit my taste better , even though its a pain to deal with , I will try to find some banneton for it though. Happy baking

HI Devlin , I personally not paying attention to the dough temperature , even if in the book ,like you said he ( hamelman ) says to check the temp. I am currently using water that I leave overnight out in a container so I would say room temperature, more or less. Maybe leter when I have more time and room to work with I will try to check temperature, but for now is already too much work as it is and the results are very satisfying ( but I am not seeling it its just for home consuming ).

Ok I am looking to buy an air compressor for air brush, how much should I spend? I mean if its used ( badger brand) or brand new .What would you spend for it?

Yes very tasty indeed , the crust is very cryspy very nice. The proofing , about the same a sfor the other bread then in the fridge for 12 hours or so. When I came home form work I got the basket out of the fridge got half of the dough ( put the other half back in ) and I divided in 5 large stripes on a well floured surface.Let them stand while I was heating the oven for apporx 40 mins.The just slide them in the hot oven with usual steam ( got the steam out after they started to get color) Ciabatta bread dont need support cause has no shape to hold its just a striped of extremely wet dough , I think the normal its around 75% or more for this bread. It doeas oven srping a lot in the oven so dont worry if you have a pancake .I did use a higher ratio of starter but it didnt seems to alter the taste .

Tonight I have baked some sourdough ciabatta bread , and they turn out very very nice. I made the same base more or less but the dough was extremely wet , I mean very very hard to work with, but the ciabatta's came great. I was very courious to try to make ciabatta becasue I really like them , so now I can have them with my sourdough

What kind of compressor you guys use? Air brush type ( small type just for hobbyes etc ) or a regular heavy duty one with an adaptor? A freidn of mine told me not to bother with a little one , if my husband gets a regular one to work on his progect , I can ude that with an adaptor. What is you experience, I am behind couple of badger compressor ,on is the cyclone II the other is the whirlwind II .

Yup love them as well ,I don t use the tip in them I used them mostly for my chocolates and they are just great for fillings etc .

I haven't used the aerograph airbrush but I went to the site and it sounds like they make a very high quality airbrush which may not be meant for spraying dust particles through it, or for using a thicker medium like cocoa butter, for that matter. I have 2 airbrushes, an airmaster and a badger, and I can tell you the airmaster is meant for very fine work as well and I cannot get lustre dusts to go through so I'd never attempt cocoa butter because it'd just clog for sure. The badger works great for spraying the cocoa butter because the sprayed medium never actually runs through the tip. A badger will cost you about $25 in the US and is well worth it, plus I'm pretty sure you can't wreck it! (I've been pretty mean to mine and there's no way to clog it, really.) If I were you I'd save the expensive aerograph for other work and get a badger for chocolate work. As for using the propellant cans.... first it's not really air in there so I'm not sure you want to be spraying that stuff on food items. Second, it's not very cost effective to use them....they're designed to be used in remote locations if I'm not mistaken. I think you should see if you can get a compressor.....just make sure it's a compressor designer for an airbrush bcause they run a lot quieter than the compressors you can get at the hardware store. ← Thank you Sugarella , everything I needed to know.I have a really cheapy air brush , and I was contemplating to get the budger ,I am looking into ebay to get an air compressor for hobbyes airbrushing etc ,I think like you said is cos effective and yes the gas in the can is kinda dubious.Thank you for all the info soo much