teonzo

If that booth is based mainly on the filter, then you are going to change it pretty frequently, I would say after each use. It doesn't take much cocoa butter to "clog" it, when the filter is dirt then that booth is not effective anymore. No doubt it works well with a clean filter, I wonder how it performs after 30 minutes of spraying. This is another added cost, those filters won't be that cheap. The efficiency of a spray booth depends on the fan, the more powerful it is, the more efficient the booth. Doesn't change much if the air is sucked through a perfect filter, or if it is vented outside, what you want is the air to be sucked before it gets out from the front of the booth. The difference is in the maintenance costs: with this CakeSafe model you have the costs of the filters, with a custom made model you have the costs of cleaning the fan. I would say that you spend less money going the custom made way, with the plus that you get it exactly as you want (shape, measures, so on). Teo

Seems like you are using the wrong flour, the gluten is not developing enough during the proofing. Or the flour has low gluten content, or it has strong gluten (wrong P/L, not enough extensible). This is because the butter got too hard. You need to store it in the warmer part of your fridge. The resting time depends on the temperature of your fridge: you want the gluten to relax, but you also want to avoid the butter to get hard. You don't have to follow the exact resting times, you need to check the dough pliability. Start checking after 10 minutes, then after each 5 minutes. When the dough is back to the right pliability (not too soft, not too hard) then you need to proceed with the next turn, even if the resting time was half the amount suggested by the recipe, the one in command is the dough not the clock. When the butter gets hard then it's hard to avoid troubles. You need it to warm a bit and get back to be pliable. If you let the dough rest at room temperature then the outer sides will come back to the right pliability, while the inner parts will become too soft, causing the "toothpaste effect". If the dough starts tearing and you put it back in the fridge, then you only worsen the situation because the outer sides will become harder. This why your first goal is to avoid the butter getting hard, simply because fixing that trouble could be impossible. You just need to get a feel for when the dough is ready for the next turn, trusting your sense of touch and not your clock/timer. It's better to go for a longer proofing time at room temperature, than going too high. You need to be careful about humidity too, you don't want dry air otherwise the dough will form a crust, but you want to avoid too much humidity. One cup is more than enough, you just need to raise a bit the humidity inside the oven. This is because the dough was too cold, so the butter was hard. You need to let it warm a bit, until it becomes pliable again. Teo

Yup, that's how things work. The blast chiller is for forming small crystals, then you store your food in a standard freezer. Teo

@rotuts, time to make space in your kitchen. Teo

Think about the amount of money you are saving during this lockdown: instead of going to Montecarlo as usual, now you can buy a blast chiller and a Pacojet. Teo

Seems like the correct time to check Craiglist and Ebay to get a used one. Teo

Within 3 months this "maybe" will become "surely". Teo

When I worked with my father one of our customers was Aprilia, so I ended up painting quite a bit of their pieces. This is one of the reasons why I try to keep far from spraying cocoa butter (long live enrobers). This is the reason why I thought about looking at customizing motorbikes, plenty of people out there who paint their own motorbikes in the weirdest ways, most probably you'll find many smart solutions with schemes and designs (open source). Try visiting some motorbikers forums and ask there, usually they are open to help. You can promise a box of chocolates for the best suggestion, this could open a new market for you. If you are using a powerful hood (like the ones over the stoves in professional kitchens) then you need a powered "in vent" too, otherwise you go in the risk zone. In your case you need to suck air from a small box, not from a 4 yards line, so you won't need a big aspirator. I would say you are fine the way things are, but it's better to ask for some infos to your health inspector: besides knowing how to follow the laws, they can give functional suggestions too, meaning if there are many solutions that satisfy the law then they can suggest the most apt for your case. They have plenty of experience and they are there to help. Teo

Venting on the outside makes a big difference. If there is no venting, then there is only the filter to impact the diffusion of cocoa butter particles in the air, since the air is always the same and re-circulating. Venting is a big help because the particles that are not caught by the filter tend to go outside. Beware of various things. You need one pipe for venting out the "dirt air", another one to vent in "clean air" to re-balance. If you work only with the vent-out pipe then you risk lack of oxygen, which is much worse than cocoa butter in your lungs. The 2 vents should be far from each other, otherwise you are venting in the dirt air that you are venting out, making it useless. Sprayed cocoa butter is made of very small particles, so it takes quite a bit of time for them to deposit. If you keep seeing colored cocoa butter from your nose, then it means you should wear your respirator a bit longer. Probably you are taking it off just few seconds after spraying, because it's not comfortable. Try keeping it for some minutes more. A piece of flexible transparent rubber can be of help to limit the overspraying outside the box: when you use the airbrush you drop off the rubber on your arms, so you can still see what you are doing (not perfectly clear, of course) but are limiting that escape side for the cocoa butter. If you want to keep seing through it then you need to clean it constantly. If you are going to build a new set-up, then plan for it being easy to disassemble and clean. You are going to face some troubles in the future, like cleaning the pipes, changing the filters, mainteinance of the fan (cocoa butter will tend to clog it), so on. Can't suggest a youtube video for this. Your best bet is surfing on websites talking about spraying on metal pieces, for examples people that customize their motorbikes. Teo

Yup, trimoline is the other name of that white opaque mass now called invert sugar. Up to the 90's it was the only term used for that. That's the saturation point. the difference is not from 27% to 19%, it's between "8 to saturation" and "saturation". Higher POD means the sugar balance is different, the one in your hands has more fructose than standard trimoline / invert sugar. If you adjust for the water content then it should not be a problem, the main difference would be a bit more sweetness, not much about all the rest. Teo

Never used the Sosa invert sugar. But looking at the label you should be able to find your answer. If it's not written clearly, then you just need to look at the nutritional infos, the label should say the total carbohydrates grams every 100 grams of product. Can't remember the water content of standard invert sugar, I'm sure it's less than 20% but I don't have any here to check. Teo

I prefer the big ones, size matters. Teo

Definetely this! Big bach of cookies + puppy eyes + "I'm a lady in stressful times" + some fake tears running on your cheeks. Teo

I was gfited one, used it a couple times, then put it on the farthest back of the shelves, to never be seen again. So I agree with those negative reviews. Teo

I don't have a Paragon unit, never seen one in real life, I just know about the existence from the threads here on eGullet. So there's the chance I understood it wrong. From what I see there is the mat, you can lay whatever you want on it (even non induction compatible) and you get the precise temperature control. So you can use the mat plus whatever bowl / pan / else you want. You just need to buy something that is square / rectangular with the measures you need. There's plenty of choice out there, both plastic and steel. Most probably you can find square containers that are induction compatible too. If you use 2 Paragon units and 2 bowls for each chocolate you use (and you have the EZtemper), then the only things you need to clean are the drippings outside the bowls. With the cost of a melter you buy 2 Paragons and all the bowls you need and end up saving a bit. You still need to stir the chocolate, but that's going to happen with melters too. Working with the 2 bowls will ease the work with overtempered chocolate: just ladle some from the 34°C bowl, stir and done, it's a matter of 20 seconds, much quicker than using a heat gun, microwave or else. Teo

Oompa Loompas. Teo

No problems if you freeze them after cutting. Beware that yeasts cells keep dying while in the freezer. This means that proofing times will be longer than usual, and the more time they stay in the freezer the longer the proofing time will be. After about 4-6 weeks you start going in the risk zone. So it's better if you prepare a batch worth for 1 month and not more. If you want to be sure add about 10-20% more yeast to your recipe. Teo

Better to add them to milk chocolate than to dark chocolate (even if the shells are made with dark or white). With dark there is the risk you will see a difference in color, with milk it's almost null. Teo

You can buy 2 Paragon units and 2 big bowls. You keep one at 31°C for tempered chocolate, the other at 34°C for untempered dark chocolate to add when the first one goes low or overtempered. Much cheaper than melters, more versatile, easier to clean. Teo

You can laminate the sheet and use an erasable marker to write on it, saves time, paper and troubles. Teo

The resting time is important for gluten, if you do the turns without rest then the dough becomes too elastic and it's almost impossible to roll it. During the rest you want to avoid the butter becoming too hard or too soft. Too hard and the dough will break. Too soft and rolling the dough will seems like pressing toothpaste. So it depends on the butter and your fridge temperature. Not all butters are the same, there are harder butters and softer butters, this depends on what butter you buy, so you are the only one to know this and it takes a bit of experience. A couple degrees C of difference in the fridge temperature can lead to dramatic differences. If you rest one dough in a fridge at 3°C and a second one in a fridge at 1°C, then the butter on the outside of the second dough will harden much much quicker. If the butter on the outside hardens and the butter in the inside remains soft, then you will get a total mess with the following turn. Usually the ideal resting temperature should be around 8-10°C, so you should need to put it in the warmer side of a fridge set at 4°C. If your room is at 15°C, then better letting it rest at room temperature than in a fridge at 1°C. Teo

Probably you are enrobing the pieces sooner than before. You need to let them rest few hours in the air, so their surface dries a bit, becomes rougher instead of perfectly smooth, so the chocolate adheres better. Teo

@curls gave you a good solution if you have a bit of experience with molded chocolates. Another solution could be this one: - insert a toothpick in the bottom side of the marshmallow, going as deep as you can (half the height would be ideal) being careful to avoid the truffle; - dip the whole marshmallow in chocolate, top-side down; - place a wire (thin rod, or whatever else) over a piece of parchment paper; - using a clothespin, hang the marshmallow on the wire (the "eye" in the clothespin runs throught the wire, the "jaws" hold the toothpick), so it stays top-side down and the excess chocolate continues dripping on the parchment paper. If you use this method then I would say it's better going for a pointy top, not a flat one. This way when the marshmallow hangs topside down the excess chocolate will make a very nice looking pointy tip on the top of the final product. One thing: from the photos it seems you are using the chocolate when it's a bit too thick. Teo

I was just following the forum rules. Teo

You know you want it. Teo