YetiChocolates

Kerry, what aW meter do you have and where did you get it? Want to figure out best place to get one and the estimated cost for business plan purposes. Not essential obviously, but pretty "peace of mind" handy... So far the current contenders are the Pawkit and the Rotronic HP23AW, the Pawkit seems to be more economically priced, but most places you have to request for a quote which annoys me.

Just wanted to give you an update that I finally took the time to email Tom about the Dedy, and we spoke on the phone today. I also asked him about the Italian enrober, and I think that's what I'll end up going with. Just talking to him about it made a lot of sense. I think having the auto-tempering is going to be so handy, and if I wanted to get the Dedy capable of attaching the enrober eventually I would have to get the upgraded model which would cost only around $1000 less than the Prima, and the Prima comes with the vibrating table, where the Dedy you have to purchase separately for $1200. Given those variables it would be silly to get a batch temperer when I can get an auto temperer for pretty much the same price. And I can add the enrobing set up to the Prima later if I want pretty seamlessly. For now I'll just use my Mol d' Art for hand dipping, until it becomes more cost effective to add the enrober. The Prima also has a doser, so you can set the output for your shells and it will add just the right amount of chocolate to each cavity without all the mess of ladling the chocolate in the mold. It's amazing what they've come up with these days! Thanks for the advice on getting ahold of Tom Ruth, it was really helpful!

I'm with you there Ruth, I only use it for ganaches and some decoration for shells. I think I just had a terrible experience trying to shell with white a long time ago before I learned the beauty of thinning, and by the time I figured it out, I didn't really enjoy chocolates shelled in white anyway. The only one I currently have is the Yeti Ball, and it's more for aesthetics than anything. The only milk shell I have is for my salted caramel, as it is the first thing I've found that is better shelled in milk than in dark, which is a hard thing to admit I'll have to look into the 35% white though.

I use Guittard Gourmet Bittersweet 63% for my dark and E Guittard Soleil d'Or 38% for milk. I really like the Gourmet bittersweet, I've used it for years now, since I started and I like it's viscosity for shelling. I don't have to thin it out at all and I've worked with it some much that even though I still use a thermometer out of habit, I can just tell by looking what temp it's at. The Soleil d'Or I just started using for shelling and I thin it with 5% cocoa butter because it gets a little to viscous for my liking at it's working temper, but I really like the flavor and once thinned out it works rather well. I don't do any shelling with white, it's just not my style, I think white shells make the chocolate too sweet and mask what's inside, but that's just my opinion, so take that as it may. As for white chocolate for ganaches however, I recently switched to E Guittard Creme Francais and have been pleased with it so far. I do use it to pipe into my hob nog shells and I thin it out for that as well. I feel most milk and white chocolates I've worked with are just a little too viscous at their working temper. That's my two cents anyway. I'd be interested to hear what Ruths preferences are.

I've also seen where you can make a pate de fruit, then put it in a blender/food processor and puree it. Makes it pipeable.

Ah yes, I knew it was either Mark or Matt, I'm incredibly terrible with names, which is terribly inconvenient when you have a name everyone remembers . Anyway, yeah it was a cereal milky center, don't remember the exact ingredients they used to make the center from, but it was quite a surprise when you bit into it.

Didn't the Mark(s) do something similar to this at the Niagara Conference, they had a milk center that they froze then dipped in white chocolate and rolled in fruity pebbles I think. It was a very interesting idea and surprising when you bit into it.

Funny you should say that because I always mix by hand and as of late haven't had issues with improper emulsions, other than with my dairy free ones sometimes and I think that's a balance issue more than an emulsion issue. I'm sure once I graduate to larger batches I'll forgo hand-mixing, but for now it's all I do.

Posted 25 February 2013 - 03:02 PM Hi Jim, thanks for the comment - starting piping in the middle of the mold and drag the piping bag along the surface of the mold out towards the rim. In this case, I had to tilt the mold as I was piping so that I could pipe up the side nicely. It's hard to describe without seeing! Basically, you're piping big Y shapes for that one, and the point where the lines in the Y intersect is where I started from. Chris Here's the answer to your question Gwbyls, I knew it had been answered earlier in the thread, so I did some searching...

I like the ones that look like tiger stripes, beautiful work as always keychris!

I just requested more info from TCF about the Dedy mini enrober, but looking at the pic on their website, looks like it has a blower and in the description is says it has a detailer... http://www.tcfsales.com/products/853-Dedy-MINI-ENROBER-for-Pastries-of-all-Kinds/

Oooh, maybe I can take a long weekend when I get down to Jackson and come play. I'll keep that in the back of my mind... And I spoke with Rob first about his Bakon Donna and he feels the same way Ruth does, likes it but does not love it. He's not a fan of how small the bowl is, creates a big mess, and watching the demo online I'd have to agree with him, not impressed with how small the bowl is. If I did decide to go with the Dedy, TCF is in TX, so not too far. Not close, but nothing is when it comes to large confectionary equipment on the west coast. Did you purchase your Perfect in Quebec Ruth and have them ship/import it to you?

Alright, going to revitalize this thread as I need some advice. As many of you know, I'm in the process of putting the plans in place to start my chocolate business. I would like to upgrade my chocolate melter/tempering unit and want to get a unit that I can eventually attach an enrober to, but I'm trying to decide which brand to go with. Price as always is an issue. Of course the Selmi would probably be my first choice, but financially I don't think I can swing it. Looking on TFC Sales, they have a Dedy Mini Moulder that seems like a good choice for my needs, but I've heard some debate on the wheel temperers and how they tend to thicken the chocolate quicker. I also cannot seem to find any reviews on the Dedy Mini Moulder. But the price is reasonable, and they have a mini enrober attachment available. I guess I'm curious the thoughts of the veterans on this thread are on this particular brand, and if it's no good, a decent alternative in the 5-7k range. Any feedback would be appreciated!

I too have to pull my name from the hat. Have to save my pennies for the fall when I'll hopefully be opening my chocolate cafe. Fingers crossed!

I make a piping bag from parchment, allows to control the tip size, easy to make and you can control the size as well.

I tried a rosewater pink peppercorn truffle a million years ago it seems and it might work in this white collection idea. I'm with a lot of others though with the cocktail theme, I know Moscow Mules are making their resurgence at least up in the PNW, and you could decorate it with copper cb since they are said to taste better in a copper cup. I'll be interested in what you come up with Rob. Good luck with your 5K chocolate making project.

I personally prefer it to callets because I don't have to worry about not putting enough seed chocolate in at the beginning and not having it all melt away before I realize it or too much at the end that I have to fish out. It's just one block that I put in and if it gets small enough that I think it will melt out before hitting 90, I add another, and when it's hit 90, I don't have to stress about fishing around for extra seed that I added a little too late. And it's not messy at all, just a blob in the middle of the bowl that you swirl around while stirring. I get my dark in 10lb blocks so that's why I use the block to temper. However, with the milk I recently switched to Oro du Soleil from E Guittard, and will have to get the callet seed method down!

I don't know about the rest of you, but although I learned in school to take the temp down to around 86, then bring it back up to 90 and it's in temper, I never do that now. I just take it down to ~89, pull out the seed (as I use a block of chocolate for dark, not callets), test it in parchment to ensure it's in temper, which I do a little before it hits 90 as well because you can usually tell it's close by looking at it once you've tempered the same type of chocolate for awhile, and them I'm good to go. I will also raise the temp on the melter a touch so that the chocolate stays at around the 90-91 degree range for shelling and dipping, and will give a stir now and then to mix in the warmer chocolate from the bottom with the cooler chocolate from the top. I'll also use a heat gun or add warm untempered chocolate depending on the viscosity of the chocolate as well. I do agree that molds are way more forgiving than hand dipping, but I think it's important to nail the tempering process down, otherwise you will be limiting yourself on what you can do, which I don't think is as fun. On a side note, I also take my chocolate up to around 120 degrees (we were taught 115 in school, but did some research on the optimal temp setting for the chocolate I use and that was the mark), then generally bring it down to around 110 before adding seed, unless I'm in a huge hurry to drop the temp, then I'll add it right after it hits 120. I was taught that if you took your chocolate below 105 you had to take it back up to 115 and then lower it again before adding the seed. To eliminate that from happening, I stick with 110, since there is nothing more frustrating that getting busy and forgetting to add your seed chocolate and before you know it your chocolate is at 100 degrees. Just food for thought. Everyone has little nuances to how they temper with the same result, so I think you just need to find the best method that works for you Tony. And I'm guessing if you research Guittard "Lever du Soleil", you will find the charts of the optimum tempering temperatures.

Yes Donna he did the gummy layer then piped the marshmallow layer on top

Thank you! And keychris is right, I just use a parchment piping bag so I can cut a super small hole for piping and then pipe the lines before casting in dark. I think having the right mold is key though as I've tried this with a deeper mold with less than successful results. The mold I currently use is #1217 from Chocolate World, I purchased it at Chef Rubber when I was down in Vegas for the conference this spring.

Here's a couple of my confections I've been working on: Top one is the new design for my "Irish Kiss" a milk chocolate Irish creme liqueur and the bottom one is a test batch for a friend of a milk chocolate peanut butter bar. Was playing around with the spraying "splatter" technique off on off-set spatula we learned while in Vegas, as well as the bottom layer of the bar is an alteration from the "oat crunch" we learned in the Master's class. That part is still a work in progress...

Definitely some good food for thought. I think I'll try both methods and see which once produces a better result and go with that. Thanks for the comments on how you guys do the dry method, I feel like an idiot that I've been doing it "wrong" all this time (or at least making it much harder on myself )

Maybe that's been the issue, I put it in the pan all at once, do you use a pot or skillet?

Have an inquiry to the masses, what are your thoughts on dry vs wet caramels? I have come across a couple caramel recipes (one I use regularly) that calls for a dry caramel, but I have a hard time doing it in large batches without crystalizing or burning the sugar...so I guess my question is if I were to use a wet caramel in those recipes, would I achieve the same result in consistency, or does adding water to the sugar to create the caramel alter it in some way that's less desirable. I would like to make caramels in larger batches without the stress I currently run into when doing a dry caramel. Any thoughts? I thought I'd pose the question and see the response before doing any experimentation.

So if you are swiping what temp to you normally set your dehydrator to? Pretty sure I have mine set to around 95F and have swiped the molds with no issues, but I shake it quite a bit before I use it...