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curls

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Posts posted by curls

    Selling chocolate products online - what comes first?

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted · Edited by curls (log)

    Just curious, in your area what regulations do you need to comply with to sell online?
     

    Issues that I would have are sales tax collection, approved labeling for my product, working in a licensed kitchen, etc.. 

     

    Did you build your own website? How many flavors do you plan to have available? Are you supplying flavor guides? What sort of packaging are you using for your chocolates?

     

    Interested in how this works in your area. I’m in Virginia and working under the cottage food laws of my county and Commonwealth. This limits me to in person sales but also means that I can work out of my home and don’t need extensive ingredient labelling. So far this works for me. If I want to expand, I’ll need to move beyond the cottage law rules and comply with additional regulations.

    • Like 1

    Production volume - how many filled chocolates can you make?

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Anthony C said:

    At the moment I am in discussions with a potential client who is talking about buying approx 2400 bonbons (600 boxes of 4) every 15 days. On the plus side, I might actually make some money... on the negative side, will it kill me making nearly 10,000 bonbons a month? 😶 I was wondering what other people think a reasonable number of bonbons to produce is? How many can you guys churn out in a month? Maybe I am just really slow and inefficient, but would love to know how many bonbons others can produce before I consider employing help.

     

    Hi Anthony and welcome to eGullet. Pretty looking display and bonbons.

     

    As for your questions, I think you need to look a little bit larger picture than can I produce more. It is concerning that you mention that if you increase production by an additional 4,800 bonbons per month that you might actually make some money.  So, some questions to ask yourself (and share with us if you feel comfortable). Is your current business profitable? What are your current bottleneck areas? Would it help to add additional staff or equipment to your business? Would having more moulds make your more efficient? Would having more tempered chocolate available each day help or do you have more than enough each day? Do all of your pieces need to be airbrushed? Would adding some other decorative techniques be helpful to your efficiency/cost? How about selling additional products that are not as labor intensive and/or have higher profit margins (barks, pate de fruit, enrobed bonbons (assuming you purchase a guitar & enrober), other enrobed product, bars, panned items). Can you make more product and keep some frozen inventory? I would suggest that you be more strategic. Constantly working long hours on highly repetitive tasks is going to wear you down.

    • Like 2

    EZtemper - The Help You Need to Achieve Perfectly Tempered Chocolate FAST!

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted · Edited by curls (log)

    EZTemper seen and mentioned in a tour of the Modernist Kitchen!!! 

     

    referenced at about the 23 minute mark

     


     

    They also show a homemade spray booth that looks interesting. 

    I have an EZtemper, wish I had some of the other equipment that is in the Modernist Kitchen. If I win the lottery… enrober, freeze dryer, vacuum sealer, and who knows what else!

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 1

    Need help with eclairs, please

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted · Edited by curls (log)

    19 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

    Well, in spite of having a good, tried and true recipe and doing my best, my choux was a massive fail.  This was how the eclairs turned out after cooling:

    IMG_5792.thumb.jpg.1c4b7905c03fbe416851eb827bf5a20c.jpg

    I wouldn't have the slightest idea what was wrong - whether it was my method, my oven, etc., but we had another baking fail right after that, so I'm going to post a request for ideas.  I'll keep track of the recipe and try again later.  So discouraging! 

    Did they puff and then collapse or did they never puff at all?

     

    Nevermind, I see you posted in another topic with more details and are getting some potential solutions.

     

    • Like 1

    Incorporating too much air during tempering

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    6 hours ago, cc.canuck said:

     

    I tend to need to warm it back up to work with it after getting it into temper. Truest most of the dark chocolate.


    What are your temperature ranges? It is starting to sound like your chocolate may be overtempered or too cold when you are molding and working with it. Pictures and/or a more detailed description of your process would help with troubleshooting.

    Troubleshooting Tempering

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Altay.Oro said:

     

    No, I'm just asking out of curiosity ... if not all, what type of tempering machines can provide perfectly tempered chocolate all along the day without any intervention?

    I would recommend looking at the automatic tempering machines. If you were in the USA then, you would probably be working with Tomric for a Selmi machine (https://tomric.com/confectionery-equipment/tempering/) or TCF Sales for a temperer from one of the other manufacturers (https://www.tcfsales.com/products/c248-automatic-continuous-tempering-moulding-and-enrobing/). 

    • Like 1

    The Bread Topic (2016–)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    21 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

     

    Thanks to the suggestions from others on this site I have started baking bread in the CSO on the bread setting and finishing them in my regular oven.

    Yup, I keep seeing that advice... I just have to follow it!  🙂

    • Like 1

    What should I upgrade first in my chocolate shop?

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted · Edited by curls
    added links to eGullet topics (log)

    3 hours ago, Jonathan said:

    On the vibrating table note, you could try a vibrating platform used for dental stone, you can get cheap-ish ones for about $30 and just mount a flat platform on top of that? I've been meaning to try it actually since it's a similar principle

    Yes, can be done and has been done. At one point a few people on eGullet had done that and some documented the process. If I find the topic I’ll link to it... have to finish some other stuff before I wade into an eGullet search. I think that they were all happy with the resulting shaker table.

     

    I picked up a nice shaker table made by Bakon that I bought from a chocolatier who was closing her business. It is great for getting rid of air bubbles in my more detailed moulds.

     

     

     

    • Like 1
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