ejw50

I buy my molds from jbprince.com, which also sells other pastry stuff. Another advantage for beginners (besides transfer sheet that John mentioned) is that if you haven't gotten the hang of tempering chocolate and cooling molds, magnetic molds can be more forgiving when popping out chocolates (because you can physically go in the backside and pop them out). THe magnetic molds that I use (round and square) are somewhat smaller than the nonmagnetic ones I use (dome, kugelhopf, geodesic dome and so on). So what Kerry said is also true, you have to be careful about sizes.

I have this book, but can't compare it to other chocolate decoration books. It is a different subject matter than the chocolate candy books (such Wybauw's other book, Schotts's book, and Grewling's book) or pastry books (like Bau's or Herme's). I can at least tell you the contents 1. Frozen materials (meaning freeze a marble slab, pour chocolate, make design) straws, lattice, horns, nest, knots, curls (these look like 'courdoroy'), fans, designs on rods, designs on spheres, spirals 2. piping decorations lattices, piping in sugar, palm trees, piping in cocoa, 2d trees, 3. molds This one you know already if you do chocolate candies, but he shows some nice designs on eggs 4. flowers some simple some complicated 5. showpieces (nothing too spectacular here) 6. various techniques, some of which you know already from chocolate curls, and so on. I like this book but my chocolate decoration technique is next to zero so I am not qualified to judge the quality of the technique or decorations. I have to admit that I don't really use this book. The pictures are nice, showing the techniques pretty well. Somebody else is probably more qualified to give a real review. I think David also has this book.

Please post a review when it comes in!

thanks for the vid, always fun to watch others work

Just want to confirm David's technique. I use the same technique, except w/foodsaver bags and packed closer (my freezer is probably smaller than his). Using this sealing technique, I was able to transport ~700 chocolates to a wedding through carryon. I put bubblewrap on the outside, but otherwise it was bags on bags of chocolate. I also tried about ~350 with small bubblewrap in between each bag, doing successfully through checked luggage. The only chocolates that lost some finish were those with a lesser vacuum where the chocolates were able to bang into each other within the seal. So I agree with his idea that it is the tightness of the pack that preserves the finish. I think this is also true within the suitcase (assume some bubblewrap). Does this not mar the shine on the chocolates? ← I pack them only after they have a chance to fully set and I didn't notice any problem. My take on it is that it actually prevents the damage you would get with the pieces banging into each other if they were packed loose in a container. Take a look at the shells in the gift box. ←

Very nice, Tammy, David, Kerry, and Vanessa! Tammy, do you have more for sale? I am coming home for Christmas to Ann Arbor, I noticed you are around there? These are the ones I did, the dark ones anyway (2/3 of total)

Right. My foodsaver vacuum was too weak to get the air out of the ganache. You need something stronger. I was a little disappointed because I purchased the foodsaver containers just for testing that. Is JPW's new book out? I remember that you mentioned he would have one. Is it widely available yet?

"But then I'm not sure you need to blend in a vacuum anyway. If you use an immersion blender so as not to add any air in the blending process and apply a vacuum after the blending you should be able to draw any existing air out fairly cheaply. I know that relatively thick silicone rubber is treated this way for mold making and that is as thick or thicker than any ganache. I spotted a webpage detailing the use of a pump with ridgid Rival™ vacuum food containers for just such a project." I've tried this with a foodsaver. In my experiment, I accidently incorporated air into my ganache, which was better for the experiment anyway. It didn't work so well for me because the foodsaver vacuum wasn't strong enough. That is, I was able to get a few bubbles to the surface, but the bubbles did not 'pop' because vacuum was too weak. Maybe the experiment would have worked with agitation or a stronger vacuum. I have tried chocolates made under vacuum,and thought they tasted great. Torres uses a vacuum mixer. ON the web somewhere, Pierre Herme has a recipe for Ispahan ganache. He uses a Stephan mixer and specifies to cool the outside with cold water while mixing (much as you would do for a Creme Anglaise or pastry cream + ice cube water bath). I suspect the speed of cooling is a plus of doing things this way. I would also suspect some of the reason some pros use it is what schneich said - immersion blending but without fear of accidently blending in a ton of air.

I have no idea how much longer your vacuum mixed ganaches would live, but I've seen the vacuum mixers on e-bay for a more reasonable price than 3 grand. ← A lot of the ones I see (dental mixers) have only 500 mL capacities. Only a few of them have 1500 mL capacities. The blades look different from the Stephan mixer blades. I guess I"m a little hesitant to spend 1k on a vacuum mixer without knowing for sure it's better. I mean if I bought a real Stephan mixer it would probably be better, but not sure about the lower-cost dental alternatives.

I agree with Schneich, I can't stand Nutella myself. But I think in her Pierre Herme books, Dorie Greenspan substitutes Nutella for Gianduja or chocolate/praline paste. You can see this by comparing Dorie's home version of the recipe with Pierre's professional version in his book. So I think it can be done.

To echo alanamoana's theme, I think the audience is important. In blind taste tests, I've found that Joe and Joanna Schmoe may not like the extra flavor that Valrhona or other high-end chocolate has. So to less "sophisticated" eaters, Callebaut may be the best choice.

BACON

Andrew Shotts freezes, and in his book he makes lots of pate de fruits. Maybe sote23 could answer for sure though, as he went to his class. I use a foodsaver to vacuum seal and buy the bags off ebay. Works great for me on the standard-type chocolates that I make. Same technique as you - stopping before 100% vacuum to prevent crushing. Works great, most useful for condensation control.

I have a 6kg , and second what Kerry, John, and David said about their techniques (except for the heat lamps, I just use the melter). The 6kg is nice because it's the right size to dump excess chocolates from molds back in. I have 2 trays one for dark one for milk. I also have a ACMC table top temperer. The temperature control is easier. It is very nice, but the capacity is much smaller (maybe 3-4 lbs) and you can't dump excess chocolate directly from the molds into the temperer. Cleanup is much harder, it is noisier, and it uses more electricity. And you aren't immune to overcrystallization so all that fancy temperature control still requires some manual intervention. The one thing the ACMC does better than the MolD'art is "filter' small pieces of semi-melted chocolate using the rotating bowl mechanism and plastic scraper. But other than that I like the Mol d'art. "If your room is above working temperature for the chocolate I think you could have problems with the dipped pieces not staying in temper unless you can get them into a cooler room pretty quickly?" I either put it right by the AC vent (summer) or right by an open window (winter).

If anybody lives in Boston area, Marty's liquors in Newton has Callebaut for $3.50 a pound. Valrhona for $10 (I think, it was a good price anyway).

awesome thanks for the description and pics!!

Doesn't Wybauw also recommend to use tempered chocolate in ganache? I like the tempered method because it's faster, but no side by side comparisons.

I agree with everybody else - just need a spatula. I found I needed special equipment only when I started making molded chocolates.

Looking at his book, Frederic Bau uses all sorts of chocolates for the centers. But for coating, he recommends something like Caraque (55-60%). His reasoning is that he is looking for a coating that works with all centers, and some centers do not benefit from "strong coatings".

If you find out, let us know. I am only able to buy "C" milk and sometimes "D" semisweet. I usually adjust a straight 3% for C (high side). For the backs of molded chocolates, adding too much cocoa butter matter doesn't for me too much. If anything it makes it easier. For the tops of molded chocolates though, it can screw with correct shrinkage. But this usually only happens if I add way more than the 3% I am supposed to.

For "dark" chocolate, Callebaut semisweet 811NV 54% Few reasons 1. I can buy it locally for $39.99 for 11 lbs. This is by far cheaper than anything else I can get. 2. My audience. For the most part, I bake for regular people. In my taste tests, they like semisweet more than bittersweet. They also find Callebaut to be more "generic" than Valrhona (for example). In other words, I buy what people like, but also avoid anything too distinctive that they won't like. For milk chocolate, I use Callebaut (mostly for price). I do not like Callebaut white (and neither did others in informal taste testing), so I buy either El Rey or Valrhona depending on what I am using it for and what is available at the store. I am definitely not a pro, but neither is my audience. So I buy something that works for me and them.

If you decide to get it, let us know how it works out! The Stephan mixers seem a lot more expensive.

Are you using it for ganache? As an experiment, I tried using my foodsaver to evacuate a container with ganache. The foodsaver doesn't work that great as the vacuum is strong enough to bring bubbles to the top, but not enough to pop them. But this looks like the vacuum might be potentially stronger.

If it's purely for chocolate marble is OK, but will etch in the presence of acid. So depending on if you think you will have other uses for it, you may prefer granite.

I've ordered from yourchocolateshop.com which has some of the PCB transfer sheets. I've had good lck with their service. Looks like 17 sheets for $41 (16''x10'')