Edward J

You don't really need a temperer, a good melter, 6kg is too small for any prodction work, bigger is better. A microwave is a must, but the cheapest trick up your sleeve is electric heating blankets. You can buy these cheeeep at drug stores, and you can easily set a 1/2 or2/3 hotel pan on these overnight, or to keep "ready" at temps around 37-38c.

To the original question, "why not simply pre ferment the whole thing"? Space constraints. For the home baker or someone who's only doing a few loaves, sure, why not?! You have space in your fridge. For the baker who is doing dozens of loaves, there is no space, as many bread only bakeries have very limited refrigeration, and no walk ins. Also, yeast gasses are very harsh on refrigeration components and will corrode the coils. This happens frequently with pizza places.

Regarding clamps for molds, it depends. For seasonal figures ( santas, bunnies) 4-6 per mold. If the mold is warped you may need more. I've got a few huge molds ( 22 inch high santa) where I use a different type of clamp. Packing tape. I start at the bottom of the mold and wrap tightly, working my up to the top.

If you read my post on this thread, I explained how mycryo is made and the differences betweeb mycryo and regular cocoa butter. How then can you endorse "tempering" by merely grating a bit of regular cocoa butter--which may be, or may not be, in temper itself?

The flip side of this is, can you think of any other country that expects 20% tip for its servers? Europe isn't just one country, its many countries, as is S. America or Asia. We N. americans have the expression" the squeaky wheel is the one that gets oil" the Japanese equivelent is " the nail that sticks out is the one that gets pounded". Again, how many other countries in the world expect its serves to get a 20% tip?

In response to Jaymes rather lenghty post, "why don't servers take it to the streets, raise awareness etc.?" The simple fact is that no one really takes serving seriously. Jaymes writes that neither himself or any of his family is currently serving, but have in the past. In other words serving is a Mc job, an excuse to earn money in a tranition phase ( going to school, inbetween jobs, quick way to save up for traveling, etc.) but not to be taken seriously. And it isn't. What body of knowledge should a server posses? What skills should a server posses? Then how can you base a salary on a job with no qualifications? The hospitality and tourisim industry is one of the largest in any country. Many countries have the foresight to provide infrastructure to this industry with Gov't qualifications for workers. I.e. qulifications for cooks, bakers, butchers, servers, restaurant owners. With this in place, a salary ladder can be constructed. If anyone has information on how many foreign visitors come to the U.S. per year and what they spend on meals, and if they are comfortable with the current tipping "system" , it would be welcome information to this thread.

Not really, before I go home, I turn up the melters to 45, when I come in the mornings I turn them down to 35-ish, do something for twenty minutes, come back, toss in a few handfulls of pellets, give it a stir , do something for five minutes, dip a piece of paper in each melter for a probe, and see where I'm at. I have the wheel in the dark, so this almost always tempers quicker than the milk or white. After a while this just becomes second nature.

I've got 3 of the D&R melters, two are 20kg size and one 10 kg size, and one wheel. I go through 60-70 kgs couverture per month, mostly bars. I'm in Vancouver, B.C.

[quote name="Jie. Eddy Van Damme suggests microplaning a block of cocoa butter, producing a finer-grained product (and less money spent for Mycryo). .

That's exactly my point. How do you get the couverture to precisely 35 C? It takes the same amount of effort and time to get the couverture to any precise temperature--31 C or 35 C. I dunno... I've been seeding 20 kgs of each variety (dark, milk, and white) every day with excellent results for almost 8 years now. If there are lumps, I just fish them out with a dipping fork I've got issues with stick blenders too. It's not a ruber spatula or a ladle that can been cleaned off, or let harden and then chip off excess cuverture. The stick blender needs to be washed off, and at least 100 grams of chocolate will go down the drain.

Yes it works well, and the temper holds if you keep it in the temp zone. But for me, it doesn't make sense. Why? To properly use it, you need to get your choc. at a very specific temp, which escapes me at the moment and then seed it with mycryo. To temper choc without mycryo, you need to to get the couverture to a very specific temp (31 c) and then seed it with virgin couverture. So why bother with mycro? The stuff is expensive and not necessary. What it is, is 100% cocoa butter that has gone through temperature changes. Once you melt it, all the magical tempering qualities have gone. You can deepfry with regular cocoa butter..

I've dealt with Chef rubber for about 5 years now, but I've never had "split" deliveries before. A few weeks ago I ordered a handfull of items: 1 Red fat soluable colour, 1 glitter powder, 1 can freeze spray, 2 replacement Matfer thermometers, and 3 chocolate molds. I ordered by phone and the service was polite and professional. I asked if there was any issues with shipping the freeze spray, no none. I chose regular ground shipping, and my Mastercard was debited. Tuesday I get a package from Chefrubber and right away I noticed two things. The first was that the package was sent from Fredicksberg Texas, and the second was that the package contained only the colour and freeze spray. No invoice was included, and no information other than US customs information. Today I get another package from Chef Rubber, from Las Vegas, This contained the other items and the invoice plus a label on the box declaring it a "split shipment". The box was large enough to cantain all the items, but was stuffed with paper. Without knowing CHefrubber had a warehouse in Texas, I couldn't know that the shipment would be split, and I couldn't request for NO split shipments. This information--or the possibility of split shipments was never offered in my phone conversation when I ordered. The thing that peeves me off is that I got dinged twice for shipping, and when that package goes over the border, the cost goes up dramatically. Has anyone else ever experienced this?

Oops looked at the wrong picture! My apologies....

Uh-huh.... And which end do we blow into, and which end is immersed into the liquid you want to atomize? The solid wood end, or the solid pointy steel end? Don't get me wrong, I use a mouth atomizer almost every day at work to spray coloured cocoa butter, the hinge looks the same, but it is made of two hollow tubes....

Regarding the p.o.s., and tipping, it's very simple: Customer purchases say, $10.00 worth of goods, and selects either, say, 15% or $1.50 for a tipping amount. (you can chose any % or amount, but 15% is the first prompt....) The system debits the customer $11.50. Around here "They" (p.o.s systems) take 2% for their cut. That's 2% from the $11.50, not from the $10.00 No one says you have to tip when you use the key pad, but the system is programmed to p[rompt you to tip before you can complete the transaction. You can bypass the tipping, on the keypad, but it takes a bit of effort......