lebowits
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Posts posted by lebowits
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Greweling also suggests refrigerating shelled molds for 5 minutes. It's not long enough to "chill" the molds, so condensation isn't a problem. I also put finished molds in to the refrigerator for up to an hour before tapping out the pieces. You can tell when the molds are ready by looking at the underside of the mold and looking for the pieces to pull away from the mold. It's easy to see when this happens. Condensation on the finished pieces can be a problem if the relative humidity is high. If so, then let the pieces come back up to room temp. Following this method gives me a consistently high shine.
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I've seen people use a "gun style" blow dryer to move unheated air into the pan while it's tumbling. If you need heat, you can turn on the heating elements in the gun. There are a number of flexible stands for these types of appliances which can be used to position the it as a free standing object.
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During our 2009 Candy Conference (thanks again Kerry), one of the attendees had a wonderful "Bananas Foster" in white chocolate that several of us really liked. I've not named him because I don't know if we wishes to contribute to this thread. I hope he chooses to.
In any case, I was intrigued with this flavor and put together my first attempt at getting a good banana flavor.
My formula is below. I need to tweak it a bit and I haven't decided how yet, but so far the results are good and the shelf life has been excellent. Pieces on my shelf for 4 weeks show no signs of deterioration or spoilage. If you try the formula, please let me know what you think.
2 medium ripe banans (should have a few spots on skin)
1 vanilla bean, scraped
150 g walnuts
325 g dark brown sugar
225 g white chocolate, melted
25 g butter, soft
80 g dark rum
1. Process the bananas and walnuts in a food processor until the fruit is smooth and the nuts well chopped
2. Melt the sugar in a pot with the scraped vanilla and bring to a boil
3. Add the banana and walnut mixture to the pot and continue to cook for several minutes, stirring to thoroughly combine
4. Take the pot off the heat and add the butter, stirring to combine
5. Add the sugar mixture to the melted chocolate and mix to combine
6. Allow the mixture to cool to about 100F
7. Add the rum and combine
8. Allow to cool to room temp
Pipe into molded white chocolate shells and seal.
Ok Steve, maybe I'm being an idiot here, but have been giving your banana ganache a go, and I'm perplexed by the boiling of the dark brown sugar. Are you adding any water to it? If not you are essentially doing a dry caramel, which when I try doesn't really boil it just starts to melt and then burns. Do you have the heat super low? And do you warm the banana/walnut mixture up any because it just seizes the sugar when I add it. Help!
yes, it is essentially a dry caramel method. If you have trouble with that, then add a bit of water to even out the heating. It will boil off. It simply adds to the cooking time.
On a personal note, I've not used this formula in a while. While I thought it tasted pretty good, it didn't sell very well. Maybe I should try it again. I've also had very good luck with the Boiron ganache and caramel formulas which can be downloaded from their web site. If this doesn't work for you, take a look there and see if they have a banana puree based formula.
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I make a ginger caramel replacing the water in my formula with "ginger water" from grating fresh ginger. The flavor persists through the cooking process and is deliciously spicy.
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Jenjcook - How long did it take you to place the strips in each cavity? Can you imagine doing that in production? Would you share the source for the food safe adhesive sheets? I'd like to try that!
The idea for the single strip came right from that discussion on this forum. I tried several ways to replicate it, including someone's suggestion of a qtip, which works, but the line isn't very clean. Ultimately I found some food safe plastic adhesive sheets in a local cake craft store. I cut a strip, stick it to the mold and airbrush my main color. After it sets I peal off the strip and paint the second color, or leave blank if I want the color if the chocolate to come through.-
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I'm not a big fan of alumimum bars, they oxidize in the dishwasher. I've never heard of anyone dying from "S/s poisoning" maybe with fine ground s/s filings, but not with bars. Polishing or surface grinding the s/s bars would involve a great deal of labour and money.
Plexi-glass.... Is not ideal. It chips easy, cracks easy, and will warp or melt if too warm. It does cut well on a tablesaw with a carbide tipped triple tooth pattern blade, but you have to "feed" it at the right speed, too slow will melt the plastic and clog up the blade, too fast will result in a very rough cut. Even so, it will still need to be "polished" with a propane torch and fine grits of sandpaper. The thicker sheets can be very expensive, and it can be glued with a very special glue. Best left to the plexiglass people, and they will charge.
One option that might be workable is nylon cutting boards sliced up into strips. The boards are quite cheap, and can be cut easily (no special blade needed) with a tablesaw, and can be smoothed to a very slick surface with handplanes.
I have both aluminum and stainless steel bars. I wash all my bars by hand which effectively cuts the corrosion (for the aluminum) to zero. Stainless steel is rather heavy, but it also stays in place. I hold aluminum bars in place by using a bit of tempered chocolate to "glue" them down to my "board" which is also an aluminum sheet cut to size with either parchment or an acetate guitar sheet on top. I also "glue" bars to each other to stack them so they don't move.
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I'm not sure whether this will help, but this page on Zurich's Ecole Chocolat site must include at least some makers who are located in Zurich: http://www.ecolechocolat.com/chocolate-maker.php
Thanks Mjx!
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I was doing some experimenting a while back doing ganaches with straight cocoa butter instead of chocolate to get pure flavors and savory ganaches. I don't know if they would technically be considered ganaches and it would get a bit pricey large-scale but I was getting some promising results that just needed some tweaking and fine-tuning... then I kinda strayed from the project and haven't got back to it.
I was doing some experimenting a while back doing ganaches with straight cocoa butter instead of chocolate to get pure flavors and savory ganaches. I don't know if they would technically be considered ganaches and it would get a bit pricey large-scale but I was getting some promising results that just needed some tweaking and fine-tuning... then I kinda strayed from the project and haven't got back to it.
Straight cocoa butter would probably have too strong a "fat" flavor. I suggest that you find some dried, unsweetened coconut and use it to infuse cream. This should give you a very prominent coconut flavor. If that doesn't do the trick, maybe add a bit of coconut puree to the ganache. I'll leave the choice of chocolate up to you. ;-)
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Hi Steve,
I go to Zurich regularly for business. I like the cru sauvage truffles at Sprüngli which are made from wild cocoa beans (I've tried all their dark chocolate truffles and these are my favorites). Sprüngli also has this delicious pastry called an amaretti which is like a little meringue topped with cherry-flavored cream and covered in dark chocolate; really lovely. (For non chocolate items, they make a killer Bircher Muesli). Läderach has a nice assortment of dark chocolate truffles and a large selection of barks. Tschirren has fabulous pastries and chocolates but they are in Bern. They have a shop inside the train station which is about an hour from Zurich.
I always make sure to hit the chocolate shops at the airport before leaving - although the selection is limited, they typically have a lot of free samples!
Thanks for the tips FrogPrincesse! Sprungli is likely going to get a visit. I won't have time to get to Bern this trip.
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I find myself heading to Zurich next week on business and will have about 72 hours in the city. So between client meetings, dinner, etc, I will be on a mission to find excellent chocolate products. Does anyone have any recommendations? There are a few threads going back to about 2006, but nothing recently.
Have you been to Zurich? What made you swoon?
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Here is a formula/method from a course I took some years ago...
Yeast Raised Doughnuts (World's Fair)
Water (75F - 80F) 16 oz
Yeast 1 oz
Eggs 4 oz
Sugar 2 oz
Milk Powder 2 oz
Bread flour 20 oz
Pastry flour 12 oz
Baking powder 0.5 oz
Salt 0.5 oz
Nutmeg pinch
Emulsified shortening 6 oz
Method: Straight dough (prep and mixing time - 15 minutes)
- Dissolve the yeast in the water, eggs and sugar. Stir to mix.
- Add the flours, milk powder, baking powder, salt and nutmeg and mix on speed #1 with the dough hook until incorporated.
- Add shortening and mix on speed #2 for 8 minutes
- Remove and bulk proof for 30 minutes (proof time will vary according to the amount of yeast used)
- Cut off a large piece of dough and roll to 1/2 inch thickness.
- Cut into doughnuts 1.5 oz each
- Roll out the remaining dough with scraps; let rest, proof 50% (15 - 20 minutes)
- Fry at 360F - 375F for 4- 5 minutes or until golden brown on both sides
- Drain, ice with fondant or doughnut glaze (optional)
Variation: Jelly doughnuts - use 3 lb. 8 oz. presses
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I suspect that this confection is more like a taffy than anything else. The difficulty will be in "pulling" the product before sizing and cutting.
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Kerry - Thanks for organizing another fantastic weekend! I always have fun with this group and it I'm never surprised that there are so many things to learn from each other. I do however want to register a complaint that nobody used the "thin" filter on their cameras. I'm going to have to change my name to "Fat Bastard".
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Any chance I can still come? Just saw this and it sounds like a blast!
umm, also where? As in, what city lol.
I'm sure you would be most welcome. The event itself will be held at Niagara College at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Hotel information (though the room block is closed) can be found here -> http://forums.egullet.org/topic/142323-planning-2013-candy-and-confection-workshop-april-27-28/page-6#entry1908296
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Things to bring aside from all the usual chocolate stuff like molds, melters etc - an apron and containers suitable for taking finished chocolate back home. Also bring along any books you want recipes from or just copies of the recipes you want to try.
If you have a particular scraper you prefer - probably a good idea to bring it along.
I accidentally ordered far too many scrapers for cleaning excess chocolate off of molds when shelling. I'll bring my extras and if anyone would like one (or more) I'll happily sell them. Cheap. They're actually pretty nice with a wide, slightly flexible blade. In the few weeks I've had them, I've really enjoyed using them.
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Fuji is still around - but in the process of playing with young Kyle's compressor and Badger airbrush I decided I needed a regular compressor (read quiet) for quick work. I found two identical, very quiet compressors on Kijiji, both well away from where I live, and e-mailed to ask if they would consider shipping figuring neither would answer. Both responded within a few minutes of each other! So dhardy123 has one of them now and I the other.
It is an Iwata Studio Series Smart Jet - really quiet and demand triggered. Now to work around the frustration of a blocking badger - I've had coloured cocoa butter under my nails for a week.
If you have a dehydrator, put the Badger in there for a while and let it all melt. Then attach it to the compressor and blow it clean. Works like a charm.
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Steve, how did you decorate your lemongrass & coconut pieces? My best guess is that you are using templates and masking off section and then airbrushing but I'd like to know what you are really doing to get those effects.
No masking in involved. I first spray the green down on one end of the cavity. That is a short burst just to give a small area of color. Then I spray the yellow moving from behind the green towards the center of the cavity. Finally, I spray the white over the whole area. I need to make sure that I cover the rest of the cavity down the sides more completely, but I also don't want to waste cocoa butter given how expensive it is (and not nice tasting).
Oh, and the "stripe" is just milk chocolate that I piped across the mold, dropping some in a line through each cavity. I rather like the semi-random nature of the path it takes.
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Two pieces to round out my menu for the next few weeks...
Bailey's Irish Cream
and Lemongrass & Coconut (I need to work on the decoration here a bit, but you get the idea)
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Frappe is marshmallow cream essentially. Do you have chocolot's book Candymaking? It's called Mazetta in there.I've used frappe in creams - but don't recall ever adding it to a ganache.
To be honest - I had never heard of frappe. I'm not a coffee person and I'm assuming it's a coffee thing?? Can you tell me what it is? ...what the ingredients are? I looked at the ingredients list on the Maison du Chocolat website. None of the ingredients Wybauw listed in his frappe recipes were listed...
Greweling also gives a formula for frappe (in addition to the Wybauw reference already given). In a pinch, commercial marshmallow "fluff" will do.
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Those are just beautiful! I'd love to know how you get that application of metallic - so you mix it with something, I assume a cocoa butter based colour, finger apply then spray over it with the second colour?
cheers
Chris
Actually, it IS the cocoa butter. Gold, in fact (has that nice shiny flake).
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OK. Here they are... Guiness bon bons!
Sooo... do you ship to Canada?
No, I don't ship to Canada, but I will be at the Niagara workshop in late April. If you're nice, maybe I'll bring some. ;-)
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OK. Here they are... Guiness bon bons!
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Guess I need to figure out how to attach the image in the new software.
Guiness bon bons! Of course, one of these things doesn't look like the others!
G
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Guiness bon bons! Of course, one of these things doesn't look like the others!
Pâte de Fruits (Fruit Paste/Fruit Jellies) (Part 2)
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
I've used both apple pectin and so called "yellow" pectin. Have you diluted the tartaric acid with an equal weight of water and added the proper amount at the end?