chocofoodie

Thank you so much Teo, this is extremely helpful. I'm using Cocoa Barry Extra Brute Cocoa Powder. It says 22/24% M.G./ Fat on the cover so I understand from that that the cocoa butter is 24%. Using your equation, with my very slightly higher cocoa butter percentage of 0.24, it means I should go for 0.53 Cocoa Powder and 0.47 Cocoa Butter, correct? If I was aiming to make a regular chocolate bar for eating, not a couverture, what percentages should I aim for?

I've never tempered it at all. I just heat it and mix it in a baine marie and pour into molds and pop in the fridge. I'm not entirely sure why, but when you use a 2:1 ratio of cocoa butter to solids it sets up like it's tempered. It's shiny, has a nice snap, is stable at room temperature.. the only issue is how quickly it melts when you touch it. But when you inverse the ratio, the lack of temper shows through as a real problem. Will try to table it and see what happens. Sorry, I've been out of the chocolate making game for over two years now so I'm very rusty, trying to incorporate again with sugar free chocolate 🙂

Update: I've changed the ratio as per @PastryGirl recommendation. The result was a liquid that was a lot more like regular melted dark chocolate. It was much thicker and sat in the molds better. The good news is, after taking it out of the fridge it was very promising. It seemed tempered and it didn't melt as quickly when I touched it. The only trouble is that after it sat on the counter it completely wilted. I actually had both bars on the counter at the same time, the original with the double fat and the modified. The original remained solid at room temperature. So I guess the large amount of fat somehow helped it to be in temper. Now that I need to modify the recipe to halve the fat, should I table it to temper it before pouring into molds? If so, what temperatures should I use? Would it be the same as for dark chocolate couverture (heating to 45 and cooling to 33)?

It felt tempered, as in it snapped nicely and it was shiny but I didn't do anything, I was wondering if I should.. I'll try it with modified cocoa butter ratio, it seemed way to much to me as well. I don't have access to unsweetened chocolate right now to try that. Yes, it was super thin and liquidy.

Hi, I was just playing with making some sugar free chocolate bars and I tried combining cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and erythritol. I didn't have a clumping problem though there is that cooling effect. The other problem I have is that they are melting very quickly when you touch them. I was thinking to add lecithin to help stabilise but not sure what else should be done. I used a 2:1 ratio of cocoa butter to cocoa powder. Should I try less cocoa butter?

And I should add glucose syrup.. I never knew why it was added so I just don't bother. I'll go back to bothering ;-) AND I'll give the immersion blender another go... first attempt with that didn't work out well so I abandoned it. I figured it would work better when you're making a large quantity. hmm what about using the actual blender?

"Don't worry be happy" love it! lol! But I'm an amateur trying to learn and trying not to be dissuaded by every little thing going wrong. I guess I should look at the bright side, this batch showcased the best tempering I've ever managed

By hand. I heated the cream, added to the chocolate, waited one minute and then mixed by hand. It didn't seem broken when I piped it.

It was 5 oz cream, 9 oz dark chocolate 64%

Dear all wonderfully knowledgeable egulleters, Something strange happened with my molded chocolates. When they were freshly made, the ganache inside was smooth. After a week the inside was grainy. Any ideas why? Any suggestions for how to avoid this? Thank you all so much!

When Wybauw lists Praline in a recipe (like on page 85 for Dulce de leche) does he mean a ready made one or does he mean one that he includes a recipe for?

It also broke when I used a 2:1 chocolate to cream ratio... that's why I initially thought there was to much fat in the recipe because the cream vs chocolate proportion doesn't seem to matter. Yes, I also don't melt the butter before adding to the ganache but I thought you have to melt cocoa butter first, right?

I usually mix in a figure 8 pattern. I did worry that adding the cocoa butter to the cream might be a problem. So should I melt it and add it in after the emulsion has formed, like I do with butter? The chocolate was fresh from the box, in temper pellets. The stick blender didn't work maybe because there wasn't enough in the bowl, it was having trouble. Or maybe it's because it's a bad quality stick blender :-) I don't have a food processor. So I'm stuck with perfecting this by hand. The ganache looks grainy, it's not smooth and shiny.

it's 64% cocoa barry

Hi guys, So I'm still trying to improve the above and still no luck. It's still not a smooth emulsion. I made it today as below. I used gfron's method. I added the glucose syrup and cocoa butter to the cream and stirred it continuously as it simmered for less than a minute. I used a stick blender but it didn't work out that well so I stirred with a spatula. I have no idea what's wrong! 250g dark chocolate 250g double cream .5 ounce cocoa butter .25 ounce butter .5 ounce glucose syrup

Wow you are all so knowledgeable! I don't even know where to begin to wrap my head around the things you're saying lol... I need to google before I can post back!

Hi all! I had a question... Could I use 100% chocolate to create a chocolate bar (or chips) with my own desired sugar level? And could I use a different sweetener like for example honey? Thanks!

Thanks! I think maybe it's supposed to be unsweetened because there is invert sugar and confectioner's sugar in the recipe. I guess I'll taste it and go from there :-)

Hi everyone, When a chocolate ganache recipe calls for fruit puree, is it supposed to be sweetened or unsweetened? I want to try Ewald Notter's raspberry truffle recipe but I couldn't find raspberry puree in the supermarket so I bought frozen raspberries with the intention of making my own puree but I'm not sure if I should sweeten it or not? Thanks!!

Great! Thanks everyone!!

Kerry I'll be in NJ for the summer and I'm trying to get myself setup in advance for chocolate making... don't want to get lazy! (And don't want to lug everything from London when I KNOW I can get it all in the US) Any place to get packaging? Friends and relatives want samples lol! Amazon seems rather pricey and quantities are small.

Thank you pastry girl! Excellent tips I had no idea! I'm hesitant about using cream because like Jim said I don't want to dilute the flavor so maybe peanut oil is the way to go. I'm going to follow Jim's advice and experiment with small batches.

I'd probably want to order Cocoa Barry because that's what I'm used to in London

What are some sources you guys use for chocolate making supplies in the US?

Ok cool thanks! The only trouble is that it's not apparent right away! When I first unmold them and bite in they are soft but after a day or two it gets considerably firmer.