Advanced Belgian Chocolate Candies Mar 2007

[Kerry Beal]

eG was very well represented last week in Chicago as a number of us attended the Advanced Belgian Chocolate Candy course taught by Jean-Pierre Wybauw at the French Pastry School.

Over the next while we will try to share with you the new things we learned. For a brief review of what we have learned before from Jean-Pierre I'm posting links here to previous threads. First David J's report of the course in November. This was where we all learned how important it was to take food along for the course so we wouldn't starve surrounded by chocolate. The second link here is a report of a demo with JP attended a few weeks before David's course.

Attendees that we knew about before the course included Alanamoana, John DePaula, Sote (Luis), Mary F and myself. People we discovered during the course were visathebakerman (not yet posting) and tpt (lurker before, poster officially today). Serj - who has recently posted about his plans to make a wedding cake when he finishes the course as a student at the French Pastry School - was auditing the course while serving as slave labour. There were a couple of other folks there who found out about the course on eG, but who aren't eG regulars.

My picture taking fell off quickly during the first day. John had such a great camera and was taking so many fabulous pictures that we assigned him the official eG photographer for this course. I did catch a few pictures of the gang. Unfortunately the only part of Mary I caught was the back of her head, so we'll have to count on John for pictures of her face.

The great man himself and that's Serj in the background.

John and Alana knocking out their 'bonbons'.

Sote (Luis) starting his engine.

The back of Mary's head.

A fellow by the name of Nicolas who works for Design Realization in Montreal showed up on the second day - the French pastry school buys a lot of equipment from them. That is how we found out about the paint booth. I know John got some pictures of that. DR makes a single and a double guitar, and we took the opportunity to negotiate a deal whereby we would get a percentage off if a bunch of us decided to buy one, and an even better percentage if we could get 10 people together. I think the numbers are up to 5 or 6 now. We apparently have until the end of March, so PM me if you are interested and I'll give you the contact information. (No kickbacks involved)

Tomorrow I'll start going through my notes and post whatever pearls I can find. I hope everyone else will chime in, because we will all have learned different things in the same class.

[sote23]

Yes, my picture taking took a nose dive too. why take pics when John was doing it, and quite well I may add. lol lol

I will have to dig into my notes as well in a few days. I unfortunatly brought back an unwanted stow away from Chicago, a cold.

yes, hopefully we have a picture of mary's face somewhere.

Luis

[gap]

Thanks for all the energetic postings by the Eg chocolatiers (Kerry especially), I am looking forward to reading through your posts.

I am in the process of typing up my own notes from a 5-day Level 1 and 3-day Level 2 Chocolate and Pralines course that I did at Melbourne's Savour Chocolate School (where the World Chocolate Masters Australian selections are being run). Its amazing to look at photos from the other side of the world and see almost identical kitchen setups, equipment being used and techniques being taught - probably an indication of just how far-reaching the impact of Callebaut and its instructors has been.

[Mary F]

I will chime in with notes, but also have not had time to sort through them yet. My well known ADD has kicked in...as I am eyeing the brownie thread Kerry started.

My pictures are mostly of my new crush, a 70 year old chocolatier who says pizzle and taught us the correct pronunciation of gouda.

And really..face pictures not necessary!!

[choux]

Kerry,

What is the plastic wrap on the melter for in your first picture? To keep it clean? Is it under the insert or just around the outside?

[Mary F]

Keeps it clean...and we were messy.

By the way, thanks Serj.

[Desiderio]

I got to use one of those covers , I like to work and bathing in chocolate as well at the same time

Thank you guys for posting this report !!

[David J.]

Kerry,

What is the plastic wrap on the melter for in your first picture? To keep it clean? Is it under the insert or just around the outside?

←

That's just plastic stretch wrap that is laid down on the edges before the insert goes in. I watched as JPW took out the insert and pulled the plastic free at the end of my class with him. It doesn't have to cover the bottom of the heater, but he did lay it down just under the rim and down the sides to hold it in place. I have duplicated that at home with my 6Kg melters.

The same idea works great for covering the vibrating table. Just peel off the rubber top, lay a couple pieces of plastic wrap over it, and put the top back on.

[tammylc]

That plastic wrap tip is brilliant. I only have a 3kg melter, so I'm a total slob with it since the size of the bowl is smaller than the molds. My cleanup is about to get a whole lot easier.

[Kerry Beal]

Isn't that plastic wrap a brilliant idea. I have taken to putting a piece of plastic wrap tucked into the front of my melter covering the dail, but it never occurred to me wrap the entire sucker in plastic. Next big melt, that's going to happen.

So, what things did I write down at this course?

First we reviewed the theory of tempering with the wild crystallization happening when you cool down to 27 C for dark, 25 C for milk, 23 C for white and 21 C for gianduja. Heating back up again drives off the unstable crystals and leaves you with predominantly Beta crystals, which are star shaped on electon microscopy so they fit together like burrs with all their little needles interdigitating and leaving little free space between crystals.

The working temps are 31-32 C for dark, 29-30 C milk, 27-29 C white, 25-26 C gianduja.

3 factors are required for temper - time (for crytals to grow), temperature, and agitation (to encourage and spread crystals throughout the mass).

Cooling - cooling too slowly may result in bloom, because chocolate is a good insulator and crystallization produces heat. So things in the middle of a large mass of other chocolates may overheat and bloom.

Since most artisan chocolatiers are not working in large factories with rooms of different temperatures - room temp should be around +/- 20C and cooling should be done at +/-10 C. Must be careful not to 'shock' your chocolate by putting it in the freezer or putting warm chocolate into cold molds.

If you are using coloured cocoa butter in an airbrush you should keep it warmer than the working temperature - because you are going to agitate it and provide time by blowing it through the airbrush and that will cause it to be tempered when it emerges. If you start with tempered cocoa butter, the extra time and agitation will over temper it. The same thing can happen when you are painting chocolate into a mold, too much agitation will over temper. So the lesson is to brush the chocolate into the molds with the minimum brush strokes.

Causes of fat bloom - worse in dark chocolate

1. chocolate not 100% tempered

2. storing at too warm a temperature

3. fluctuations in temperature

4. centers that contain fat that is not compatible with cocoa butter ie marzipan, giaduja

To prevent or decrease fat bloom in dark chocolate add 2 to 4 % clarified butter to the dark chocolate before tempering. You can also add some milk chocolate, not enough to be detected. Alternately mold your dark shells then line them with a layer of milk chocolate before adding your centers.

You can get chocolate that contains butter fat. For callebaut the number would be something like 811 B02 meaning 811 with 2% butterfat.

Adding butterfat makes nice soft chocolate that melts easily, so those cookies that you get that have chocolate on one side and melt when your fingers touch them use this kind of chocolate. I'm going to be trying this the next time I dip something like social tea's - chocolate, a bit of butter fat, some orange oil. Yum.

Understanding the Callebaut numbers

811, 815, etc are different flavour profiles but have the same viscosity.

A811, A815 have 1% less cocoa butter

B811 has 2% less cocoa butter

C811 has 3% less cocoa butter

so the chocolate is thicker with less cocoa butter.

1811 has 1% more cocoa butter

2811 has 2% more cocoa butter

3811 has 3% more cocoa butter

of course they get less viscous with more cocoa butter

60 - 40 - 38 means 60 % cocoa mass, 40 % sugar and 38 % cocoa butter contained within the cocoa mass

Packaging - because chocolate picks up smells - smell your packaging to make sure it won't add odor to your product. Keep your finished product away from moisture, light, air and fluctuations in tempterature.

White chocolate oxidizes easily and becomes white instead of the yellow it should be.

Ok, I'll stop there for now.

[Tweety69bird]

Kerry and everyone else who went to the class, thank you for your pictures and information! I can live through you all....

And that tip in the plastic wrap IS fantastic!!

[sote23]

I will chime in with notes, but also have not had time to sort through them yet.  My well known ADD has kicked in...as I am eyeing the brownie thread Kerry started.

My pictures are mostly of my new crush, a 70 year old chocolatier who says pizzle and taught us the correct pronunciation of gouda.

And really..face pictures not necessary!!

←

yes, face pictures are necessary. so everyone can see what mary f looks like. I may even have a pic myself. I will take a look later. lol lol

Luis

[sote23]

Thanks for all the energetic postings by the Eg chocolatiers (Kerry especially), I am looking forward to reading through your posts.

I am in the process of typing up my own notes from a 5-day Level 1 and 3-day Level 2 Chocolate and Pralines course that I did at Melbourne's Savour Chocolate School (where the World Chocolate Masters Australian selections are being run). Its amazing to look at photos from the other side of the world and see almost identical kitchen setups, equipment being used and techniques being taught - probably an indication of just how far-reaching the impact of Callebaut and its instructors has been.

←

hi gap,

I look forward to reading your write ups.

Luis

[tpt]

Kerry, those rubber aprons everyone wanted are available at chefrubber.com.

http://www.chefrubber.com/Shopping/shopexd.asp?id=2195

Once I get through my pictures and get rid of the ones that are blurred, I will send them to cyberspace....

By the way; Chef JP was typically using a wisk when mixing his ganaches. When asked why a wisk and not a spatula, he only said, well this type of ganache needs a wisk but not all ganache should you use a wisk. Did I miss the additional explanation?

Hey Alana, told you I would join in.....

Randy (tpt)

[sote23]

Kerry,  those rubber aprons everyone wanted are available at chefrubber.com.

http://www.chefrubber.com/Shopping/shopexd.asp?id=2195

Once I get through my pictures and get rid of the ones that are blurred, I will send them to cyberspace....

By the way; Chef JP was typically using a wisk when mixing his ganaches.  When asked why a wisk and not a spatula, he only said, well this type of ganache needs a wisk but not all ganache should you use a wisk.  Did I miss the additional explanation?

Hey Alana, told you I would join in.....

Randy (tpt)

←

hey randy,

it's about time you joined. better late then never. lol lol

Luis

[alanamoana]

Kerry,  those rubber aprons everyone wanted are available at chefrubber.com.

http://www.chefrubber.com/Shopping/shopexd.asp?id=2195

Once I get through my pictures and get rid of the ones that are blurred, I will send them to cyberspace....

By the way; Chef JP was typically using a wisk when mixing his ganaches.  When asked why a wisk and not a spatula, he only said, well this type of ganache needs a wisk but not all ganache should you use a wisk.  Did I miss the additional explanation?

Hey Alana, told you I would join in.....

Randy (tpt)

←

hey randy! nice doggie...

it was a bit vague regarding using a whisk or a spatula. i get the feeling that ganaches which used more liquid ingredients (ratio of liquid to chocolate with liquid being greater), that a whisk was a better tool to maintain emulsion.

of course, he made sure to mention after making each ganache that "we must not mix more than necessary". so regardless of which tool you choose, don't overmix and definitely, when using a whisk, don't aerate your ganache or you will reduce shelf life.

glad to see you posting!

[Kerry Beal]

Hey Randy, nice to see you posting. I found a place in Canada that carries some of the aprons from Manulatex, but I haven't had an answer from the e-mail I sent them yet. I may just have to go to a US source.

[sote23]

here are a few more pictures from the class for now.

luis

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1174416229/gallery_44011_4374_484806.jpg

[ejw50]

awesome, thanks!

Question, did he show 'slam filling' of molded chooclates that David J. mentioned? If so, can you describe your takes on it?

Edited March 21, 2007 by ejw50 (log)

[Beth Wilson]

Sure looks like you guys were productive in this course! The pictures look great!

Your notes are very helpful Kerry!

[David J.]

How were the rectangles in the top photo (one of them is pushed with a chocolate trail) finished? Is that a transfer or was that design made with chocolate in class?

[alanamoana]

How were the rectangles in the top photo (one of them is pushed with a chocolate trail) finished?  Is that a transfer or was that design made with chocolate in class?

←

david, that's my new favorite way to decorate. it was a slab of almond praline paste mixed with chocolate. we put a foot on it and then on the top spread white chocolate over it. with a parchment paper piping cone, piped dark chocolate stripes and then marbled the stripes in with the tip of a knife (dragging the tip back and forth like you would on the top of a napoleon). then a couple of whacks on the table to smooth everything. before it all completely sets hard, you cut with the guitar. the chocolates are then hand dipped to the top.

[David J.]

How were the rectangles in the top photo (one of them is pushed with a chocolate trail) finished?  Is that a transfer or was that design made with chocolate in class?

←

david, that's my new favorite way to decorate. it was a slab of almond praline paste mixed with chocolate. we put a foot on it and then on the top spread white chocolate over it. with a parchment paper piping cone, piped dark chocolate stripes and then marbled the stripes in with the tip of a knife (dragging the tip back and forth like you would on the top of a napoleon). then a couple of whacks on the table to smooth everything. before it all completely sets hard, you cut with the guitar. the chocolates are then hand dipped to the top.

←

That is something that we didn't get in my class!

Were the lines piped parallel with the short side of the pieces and the knife dragged down the long side? The lines would really be pulled a long distance but that looks consistent with what I'm seeing. Is the light brown bit just a mixture of the dark and light, or was there some milk chocolate there?

[Mary F]

Wow! made it though the maze of trying to post pictures:

[Desiderio]

How were the rectangles in the top photo (one of them is pushed with a chocolate trail) finished?  Is that a transfer or was that design made with chocolate in class?

←

David, if you look into the P Greweling book he has the same technique for decorating , page 358/359 jfb's