keychris

I guess the question I have between yours and Teo's posts is: Are his photographs photos of chocolates that have been enhanced to look better, or are they completely fake and not techniques in chocolates at all?

Some schools use the phrasing "pre-crystallised" instead of "tempered" to get people thinking about crystals instead of temperature, I can see how that would get translated to "slightly crystallised" - I mean, that's exactly what the tempered cocoa butter is after all!

IMHO he's literally made one mold of that, and that's the only one that he can display. If I had the skill level to do that, I'd spray one cavity black at a time, then leave it to just set up enough to start drawing the lines, once that's done, careful airbrushing. Then move to the next cavity. There's no way I'd be able to do it though, I haven't got the time or patience 🤣

What's the room environment that you're leaving those moulds to set?

good grief, three years ago that thread started? No wonder I couldn't find it 🤣

I've watched pretty much every savour video and I don't think I've seen them use an IR thermometer very often - I know they definitely don't use them in their hands-on classes. The majority of people I know use an instant read, because you're getting the actual temperature of the chocolate, not just the surface temperature. And you can relatively easily calibrate them! If you have something that's circulating your chocolate, then an IR might be a better option, but in a melt tank I prefer the instant read. You may be able to tweak the EMS settings on your IR to get the readings you're expecting. You can test the accuracy against an ice/water slurry: https://www.thermoworks.com/infrared_tips_icebath_to_calibrate_infrared. It does say in that article that IR thermometers are known for their low drift though, i.e. they don't lose calibration.

Thousands wouldn't 😂

Just polish with a cotton wool ball and don't use the alcohol, easy. Spraying metallic suspended in cocoa butter is doable, it just behaves a little differently, probably because you're spraying (relatively) large particles instead of a pure liquid. Give it a try

Google "cocoa butter silk sous vide"

With all due respect to @Kerry Beal and the amazing EZtemper, if you haven't already got a melting / holding tank, I would start with that. I'm a strong believer in learning and understanding the basics before moving on to the time saving things: learn how to temper chocolate and learn what the process of tempering is actually doing in the chocolate, and this will serve you better in your troubleshooting in the future. When you're comfortable with tempering, then you buy the EZtemper and marvel at what it does 😁 As Kerry says above, 500g isn't enough to hold the temperature whilst you work - I usually work with minimum 1.5kg in a 5kg melting tank. Your #1 time saver imho will be more moulds.

Just try again, with a new batch that hasn't been heated over 70C. The key, as @pastrygirl said above, is to generate crystals in your cocoa butter. These crystals are completely melted at 45C, so why bother going higher? You generate the crystals by cooling the cocoa butter *with movement*. So you either stir it as it cools or provide some other movement e.g. going through a spray gun. This stuff takes practice as well, don't lose enthusiasm if it doesn't work out immediately

if > 6 months, I'd be D. Can't afford to take risks with food safety

I know you asked for schools, but to start with: Order some books. Others will chime in, but for me, Bread Baker's Apprentice by Reinhardt or Bread by Hamelman are great to start with.

For most people it's probably accurate. 99% of the population are perfectly happy eating a $2 'chocolate' bar from Cadbury or Nestle and wouldn't even think to pay the asking price that artisan products require. Anyone that's done a market has had the customers who say "I could buy X with what you're charging here!" ... I better stop before I get into a full rant 😂

I had been told to do that in the past, but only on clean molds. I stopped bothering unless my kitchen and molds are realllllllly cold.

I just melt mine to 45C, cool it to around 31C and spray. If I'm not spraying it, I'll stir it as it cools to generate those crystals that would be formed through the spray gun.

Heating very thin layers of cocoa butter even a little will throw the temper out and you either won't get the cocoa butter off the mould or it won't be shiny. I wouldn't have a heat gun anywhere near cocoa butter in moulds.

I knew I had a long lost relative in Scotland, I'm so glad I found you! 🤣

Probably just my personal slang slipping out 😂 It means "probably rubbish". I don't have any idea how I linked the two 😂

I just do the same 5-10% titanium in cocoa butter to make white. If I'm adding it to colours to make them opaque, I just chuck a bit in, no real measurements. If straight titanium is going grey your batch might be cactus

if it's any help, a cup of flour for me is about 180g (a cup of water is 250g). A cup of honey is about 400g.

Truffle shells

Definitely some of their products are crazy, but I use their blended stuff, it's cheaper than callebaut and it tastes better imho

Savour, not Saveur

If I think of sticker shock, I think Valrhona. In Australia, anyway.