wannabechocolatier

Anyone have experience with Americolor's oil based food coloring? I can't find anything about anyone using them for bonbons, but they're cheaper than chef rubber and friends.

Now that you mention it, I did notice the chocolate had thickened up, but I assumed that was because I had kept it at working temp for about 3 hours. Would that have had something to do with it, or does the thickening not inhibit temper? Also, I did not know type VI could give way to bloom, thought it was a stable crystal.

It was my first attempt at tabling -- guess it didn't go so well. I dumped most of the mixture on the slab, got the temp down to low 80s and heated it back up over water bath to low 90s. My guess is maybe I had too little chocolate in the bowl (about 500 grams in a 5 quart bowl) and the heating/cooling process was more volatile than ideal. Or maybe I just did it all wrong, idk. I'm going to go back to the seeding method for a bit Also, is that fat bloom in your estimation? I also had a sneaking suspicion some leftover water on a spoon dropped in (picked it up out of the dish rack), but I didn't see it and the chocolate didn't seize, so maybe not.

Is this a bad temper? I was under the impression shells couldn't be shiny with a bad temper.

No worries, I had forgotten I had even sent it! So, in total, would you say that it has just made things more convenient for you vs a traditional freezer or would you say that there is also an improvement in the product?

Thanks for the tips! I've got Wybauw's book on pdf. I'm just astounded at the fact that while all these books have recipes they label "classic," there isn't a single plain ganache to be found. Also, in your experience, should alcohol be subbed with some other liquid or left out altogether? I couldn't decide if I should replace 100% of the liquid or just the particular variety's water content.

Could you folks help me out with some filling recipes with a good consistency? I don't need anything with fancy flavors, just some basic ganaches/caramels with an ideal consistency. Greweling's book doesn't seem to have anything plain, everything's got alcohol, different flavorings, etc. Same goes for other books I've seen so far. Relevant ingredients I have on hand are dark chocolate, sugar, glucose syrup, butter, and cream. I could get an additional ingredient or two, but I want to learn the simple stuff before I try anything fancy. Thanks for any and all recipes and suggestions!

@Jim D. My guess is that type V crystals don't propagate as quickly as we've been led to believe. If that's the case, then if a large block is cooling and there's a section with no adjacent type V crystals and that section is cooled sufficiently before it's reached, it'll set untempered. Maybe manufacturers keep their chocolate at the proper temperature for long enough so that the crystals fully propagate. They also probably have the means to agitate their mixtures really well, so that type V crystals are constantly contacting uncrystallized areas and propagating. That's my theory, anyway, not sure what else it could be.

Thanky

Would, say, pouring a thick slab of properly tempered chocolate encounter any issues without the assistance of a fridge? Or would it all eventually set properly given that the ambient temperature isn't in the 80s or higher?

Still available? Looking for a hack to keep chocolate at working temp

Yeah, I think I might need to work on longer timescales. Having to temper over a double boiler twice on two different days for the same batch seems like a hassle, though

Fantastic! Thanks for all that info, glad to see this is a common issue. My biggest concern was that I was going terribly wrong somewhere. Thank you for the workaround advice as well.

Did you force them out with your finger or did you give the mold a tap and just had them fall out? What's the ambient temp you're working at? Did you use the fridge? If so, did you leave them at ambient temp for a bit before that? What temp do you pour the chocolate? Do you think it helps that you coated with cocoa butter first? Maybe it behaves the same way a filled chocolate would, with the white chocolate pulling the set cocoa butter back a little further. Sorry for the interrogation! Just trying to get everything right.

I'll take that into account the next go round. Thanks.

Empty. Seen plenty of videos of them releasing empty, so don't see why this should be an issue. Also, since it just occurred to me that this would also be relevant, here is the chocolate I was using: https://www.callebaut.com/en-US/chocolate-cocoa-nuts/60-40-38nv/60-40-38

@Kerry Beal Room temp mold: https://www.bakedeco.com/detail.asp?id=61499 Fridge mold: https://www.bakedeco.com/detail.asp?id=59601 Freezer mold: https://www.bakedeco.com/detail.asp?id=3428

Where have I gone wrong? I heated the chocolate up to about 110F, cooled it down with seed, stirring all the time. There was plenty of seed remaining by the end of this, which I took as a good sign, knowing I didn't blow away all my type 5 seed crystals. I then kept it at around 87F to 89F for a while, taking it on and off bain marie. Poured some of it into a cavity, smacked it while upside down a few times, scraped excess off, and placed the mold upside down in a room with an ambient temperature in the mid 60s F. I put another mold in the fridge and another one in the freezer. Each of these molds are being used for the first time. The only one that pulled away was the one in the freezer. The one in the fridge needed coaxing with my finger and the one in the room, left alone for an hour plus, needed coaxing to semi release, then needed time in the fridge, and eventually still needed forcing out of the mold. They all had shine good shine, though, so I'm confident the temper was good. The excess chocolate that I cooled on a baking mat also has a hard snap. There might also be something I'm missing there, since I'm pretty new to this. Is there anywhere else I could've gone wrong? How long do you guys generally wait until the chocolate releases, and at what temps?

Thanks for the tips! Will check that Wybauw fellow out.

Yeah, I've gone through a few Aw posts, I was just wondering if there were any rules of thumb to be followed to give a rough idea about where you're at with regard to water activity. Things you can control for reasonably well, like maybe ratios of water to glucose syrup to get to particular Aw values. Or maybe charts for common ingredient combinations and ratios leading to a particular Aw. I know there's some software out there, but that, along with the Aw meter, is out of my teeny-tiny hobbyist budget. I haven't even gotten around to figuring out which chocolates I'm going to get Guess I'll just have to follow prewritten recipes for now! I assume most of the formulas in Greweling's book are stable for at least a week or two. I wish he included Aw along with each recipe. He does provide this graphic, however, which is somewhat useful:

Thanks! All I needed.

Wondering if anyone has had experience with both and by extension any opinions on one vs the other.

Hey guys, I was just wondering if there are any rules of thumb I should follow with regard to the stability of a filling. If I'm going to give bonbons as gifts, I wouldn't want the fillings to spoil before they're eaten. Would make a great gift into a terrible one pretty quickly. At the same time, having total creative freedom to make fillings however aqueous I'd like would be great. I'd just keep in mind that they'd have to be eaten before X days. Any tips on how to navigate this process? What have you learned by doing so on your own? Thanks! (Note: I don't plan on selling)

How has it been so far for you?

Can't wait to see it! This has been driving me absolutely nuts. I've wasted 15 eggs in 3 days. I also thought it was hydration, so I made sure to add some extra liquid to make the choux noticeably flowy. Same issue. Could it possibly be a combination of my crappy aluminum sheet pan and being too close to the bottom heating element? All I have is a countertop oven and if I go too high, the top of the choux overcooks quickly. To try and combat this, my next plan is to bake it on an elevated grate placed in the pan to get some air between the pastry and the metal. Will also bake it under convection. Hopefully that does something? Anyway, excited for your pic! Insane to me how I can find zero mention of the issue online.