pastryani

Yes that's where I saw it. I sent in an inquiry but so far no answer. Ooooo custom - how fancy!!

Thanks Kerry for checking. Thanks Franci - that's the first one I thought of too, but yeah that's more for ice creams/cakes.

Hmm thanks Tikidoc... but I think the silicone one is a bit wider than I'd like. Plus I like the distinct "bulbi-ness" of the original pic.

No problem, Crepes! The stainless ramekins should work fine. I was going to suggest glass bowls but wasn't sure if they'd shatter. Just be sure to oil the ramekin before adding the batter. Hmm I don't know about Chinese takeout style containers, but the batters I've seen are in plastic containers similar to large yogurt tubs. If you lift up the top lid of the fermenting batters, you'll notice that there are small holes punctured across the plastic film just for gas release. It's true that the batters will continue to ferment (and sour) as they sit, but when I purchase them I try to make sure that they're not already bulging. While I prefer a more sour taste, I also prefer to see that fermentation happen myself (as opposed to buying it already like that, especially since you don't know how long its been in that state). In Indian cooking, bitter melon is often boiled in salted water with turmeric to reduce the bitterness (though I can't help but feel that boiling the heck out of it voids many of its nutrients, in which case why suffer through eating it?!) Deep frying thin slices also does a lot for removing bitterness, and then you can make a curry out of those slices.

So I came across this cool looking chocolate mold but I can't seem to find it anywhere. I figured if anyone would know, this group would! I'm wondering if anyone knows who makes this and what the model number is? (Oops forgot to source the pics!: this is from La fleur de chocolat at this site: http://www.lafleurdechocolat.co.uk) Note that the shape is exactly like this one by silikomart, but the silikomart one is closer to a complete circle, larger, and is for pastry/entremets: (This pic is from Bakedeco at this site: http://www.bakedeco.com/a/silikomart-modular--33251.htm) My guess is that the chocolate bars are about 1/2" wide by 3" long, or something similar to that. Any ideas?

The first vegetable ("bottle gourd") is called "laukhi" in Hindi. You can make it as a vegetable="curry"="sabzi", or along with lentils like this: http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/lauki-chana-dal-curry-recipe/ I haven't made the second one, and bitter melon lives up to its name and is far too bitter for me no matter how it's prepared. It really is an acquired taste. Btw, you don't need an idly mold to make idlys. If you have small metal bowls and a steamer setup that would work too (just not as pretty). The batters work pretty well, but try to avoid a container that's bursting at the seams as that means it's over-fermented.

Alex - (thanks)² for the secret superscript code! You're right, π is unnecessary in the calculation - I did it out of habit (to think of all that extra math I did for no reason!!).

I don't know much about cornbread, but I'll tackle the pan size question in your post. When I was making cakes, the formula for calculating the area of a circle was invaluable: Area = pi * r * r (couldn't find the pi symbol or superscript). I never really bothered with volume because the height would (in theory) be the same if I proportioned everything out correctly (does that even make sense?!). In your case: - an 8" pan would give you an area of approx. 50 sq inches - a 10" pan would give you an area of approx. 78.5 sq inches - a 12" pan would give you an area of approx 113 sq inches So to answer your question, yes, if you were to double the 8" pan recipe, it would fit into the 12" pan, but would be slightly lower in height when compared to the height obtained in the 8" pan.

I don't think you'd have to adjust the formula since you're not really changing it. You're just adding water that will eventually evaporate. But if you would like the end result more fluid, then I second what pastry girl said about adding more cream. (btw - when I've screwed up my dry caramel batches, it's usually been when making a tiny batch as well. Safer to stick to wet method when doing such a small batch I guess)

Hi all - I've been meaning to add a review and this seems like a good place to add my 2 cents: I got the EZ just after Christmas this year and have been using it consistently every few days since then. I'm not a professional chocolatier like so many of you here, but would very soon like to be. :). At first I debated getting the EZ because I couldn't justify the cost as I'm not selling anything yet. However, since selling was my eventual goal, I took the plunge on this (my first major piece of equipment) and I'm SO glad to have it. I'm still at the testing and development phase for shapes, colors, and flavors for bonbons and the EZ allows me to try out a variety of molds and ganaches very quickly. It really does make tempering chocolate super fast and easy, and the only rate-limit ting steps are actually the melting and cooling of the chocolate. If you're working with small amounts of chocolate at a time, this can be VERY quick. A warning to those of you thinking of getting this: the ability to produce tempered chocolate this quickly can lead to sub-standard meals. I have often times gone to the kitchen to make dinner and on my way, I catch a glance of a new mold I've been wanting to use and the EZ is just sitting there saying "you know you want to..." And just like that, my ADD kicks in and I find myself casting a new mold, or playing around with cocoa butter, or making chocolate decor. Oh, and eating cereal when all is said and done. So be warned. All in all, I've had it about 4 months and just love the consistency and convenience of it. Even if you're just starting out like me, it takes the time (and guesswork) out of tempering and really makes things, well, EZ!! Also Kerry's been great (and very patient) answering questions along the way. In a word, the EZ temper is AWESOME. I highly recommend it. Thanks Kerry for this magical machine!!

Jim - my understanding of dry caramel is that just like wet caramel, you're still cooking it, but the whole process is just a lot faster because you don't have to evaporate out all that extra water. However, because there's no extra water in dry caramel, it can go from soft to firm very quickly. That might be what happened in your case - did you use a thermometer to check the temp when you took it off the heat? Also, when you say "beyond the initial caramelizing of the sugar", did you mean that all the granules had just melted, or that it had color? In my experience dry caramel can be pretty tricky and you have to be super fast - you could try repeating the recipe but with a wet caramel for a little added insurance.

I haven't made much hard candy, but could you add the booze to the molten liquid after you reached your desired temp and after it had cooled down to around 150F and then pour into molds? Or would it greatly affect the consistency? Side question: does anyone know how are liquid centers in hard candy made? If someone knows how to do that (please share!), you could make the center part boozy.

Thanks Ruth! It's a lot of trial (and even more error haha), but that's how we learn, right?! And there's nothing wrong with "old-fashioned chocolates"! Your goodies look yummy - the truffles with chocolate nonpareils remind me of rum balls that I used to eat as a kid.

Hi Jim - thanks! Yes, I used an airbrush for the blue ones, but later discovered that a gloved finger worked almost as well with this mold with much less clean-up, though you can clearly see the swirling in the non-speckled ones. The mold is called "Polycarbonate Mini Egg, 32 cavities" from NYCAKE. You can get it directly from them or they also sell it on Amazon. I just took measurements of the bottom of the egg: from top to bottom it is 1 1/4", and from left to right at the widest point is 15/16ths. Hope that helps!

Birthday cupcakes for a friend - chocolate cupcakes with mocha frosting.

Speckled Eggs filled with salted caramel. Happy Easter everyone!

Beautiful array of bonbons, Keychris! The marbling is indeed very cool!

I think you could get the caramel nice and thick in the freezer. I haven't tried freezing caramel to the point of solid, but assuming it actually froze like an ice cube, what mold would you use? It would have to be slightly smaller than your pc egg mold. And then wouldn't the solid caramel throw off the temper of the chocolate? I'd like to know how to do this to as my double molded chocs with fillings don't ever seem to stick together and almost always leak.

Chocolot - when you say it wastes too much color are you saying that because of residual color that stays in the cup? I got one of these sprayers and have used it without the cup - just pour directly into the warm gun.

Happy Valentine's Day all! Fillings are passion fruit ganache, guava ganache, and rum raisin ganache.

Are you using medium heat and a thick, heavy-gauged pan?

Thanks Paul for the info. All those ingredients to replace eggs huh? I think I'll try the ice cream with them first!

This might sound silly, but what about using a sponge? That would give you even coverage with no mist. Alternatively, you could use a pipette to release the lye solution and then spread it with gloved hands. I haven't tried either with lye so I'm not sure how viable these are... just thinking...

Ka-boom (the sound of my pastry world collapsing!). REALLY?? I too, am stunned and can't imagine not ending up with sweet scrambled eggs... I'll have to try this out! By mono-and diglycerides, do you mean some kind of additive, or is there an ingredient that contains this? Thank you Paul for all the info!

Update: I recast the molds in the usual way (with white chocolate), and overall the surfaces looked more even in the white choc than in dark (strange huh?). However, the swirling was definitely still there. Then I tried casting again, this time by painting the insides (with dark chocolate), and then casting in the usual way. There's a little bit less swirling, and they're a little more level, but not perfectly level. So at this point, I'm thinking it's just me who's noticing this and I need to get over it!! Thanks both for the ideas - they helped!