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rowendrew

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Everything posted by rowendrew

  1. Thanks everyone, I had a long talk with Paul at Chef Rubber years ago where he talked about reworking chocolates into ganaches again and again for practice. I was having trouble with transfer sheets and wasting product. Never got his technique but I forgot about about the Black Devils. This could be the answer! WOO HOO!! Shelley
  2. I am trying to figure out how to remake ganache out of fully molded chocolates where the shells cracked. Does anyone have a formula or recipe or idea? I hate wasting them. Also maybe a caramel recipe that uses old chocolates? Something else? Your help is appreciated! Shelley
  3. Hello, I have had a run of bad luck recently with my chocolates cracking or popping out of the mold sans top. I am curious what others do with chocolates that don't come out of the mold and those that are cracked. Paul at Chef Rubber suggested to me to reuse them as ganache, but I use different percentages and chocolates in the ganache than the shells so that is a roadblock. I might just bite the bullet on that though. Another I saw once, and cannot find now, was to use them in caramels, as long as I don't use mint. I don't use mint but I do use other ingredients that I know wouldn't go together. I'm just curious how those that are willing to share recycle their damaged goods. Thank you! Shelley
  4. I tried brushing, leaving overnight, everything except for the higher temperature. I sampled the sheets with just chocolate at different temperatures to mke sure the transfers themselves worked and that went fine. But once in the molds, it's a no go.
  5. Transfer sheet manufacturer recommended the blast with the hair dryer (not a heat gun), but with out without that, it didn't matter. I heat the ganache up to liquid then cool to 70. Kerry, I though bringing it over 92 would bring it out of temper? I am willing to try though... I am willing to try anything at this point. I also bring up to 110-115 before bringing down to 86 then back to ~90. The other issue I am having is the bottoms are cracking off after about six days. Shelley
  6. Hello Everyone, I have been reading and learning for some time on here and appreciate all of the wonderful experience and sense of community. I have a question regarding transfer sheets. I am a chocolatier in Northern California and have a small four flavor assortment with a transfer sheet design on each. I use a small square magnetic mold, El Rey 73.5% couverture, adhere my transfer sheets to the metal mold backing with a damp rag (I wipe the metal with the damp rag and then press bubbles out with a piece of parchment paper as recommended by my transfer sheet manufacturer). The issue is that our of the four designs I have, two of them have a solid colored cocoa butter background and two have a simple design in the center and the designs without the colored backgrounds come out fine 90%+ of the time. However, the designs with the solid backgrounds do not. I am lucky if I get 25% out in usable shape. The ambient temperature in my kitchen is about 68 and less that 60& humidity on average. I do not normally hit my molds with a hairdryer, although I have tried it and it has not helped with the release. I fill, vibrate, dump, vibrate again, turn over, scrape, and have into the refrigerator within three minutes. I allow the molds to sit in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes, then remove and fill with ganache I have made the day before, which I then reheat just enough to be able to fill my molds, then allow to solidify again. They sit maybe an hour to become solid again, then I hit with a hair dryer to soften the edges and bottom. I return them to the refrigerator for a few minutes before unmolding. I have worked with the couverture at 88, 89, 90, and 91 and it makes no difference. I have tried leaving them overnight, slamming them out of the mold instead of popping the metal off the back (this normally makes the plastic pull off the chocolates and results often in the cocoa butter pulling off) however sometimes I can get the metal off without the plastic pulling off and then I can sometimes peel the plastic off slowly and get better results. I just feel like there has got to be a better way!Any advice you all can offer would be so appreciated. I am at the end of my rope... Shelley Fields www.wickedbonbon.com
  7. Dish soap will get chocolate out if it's fresh. I only have dark jackets as I don't look good in white Love the idea about the saran wrap in my melter and on the phone. I would suggest wrapping your ipod or stereo buttons too. I found chocolate on a plant in my bedroom once. Heat gun (cheap hair dryer?) will help clean messy molds too. Hit it with the gun and chocolate wipes right off/out.
  8. I know Vosges does a tobacco chocolate truffle by smoking the chocolate in a "smoke chamber". Or maybe smoke the cream? Youtube has several videos on making a cold smoker. Maybe using a nice pipe tobacco in place of wood pellets?
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