Panning - but not for gold!

[Kerry Beal]

Found this wonderfully round popcorn in the Korean store - knew it was perfect for panning. Of course then I realized it needed to be caramelized. 

 

 

 

Used Jayme's recipe for caramelized corn - sans nuts.

 

 

Then I realized it wasn't coated in white chocolate - it needed to be caramelized white chocolate - so I put some into my stainless screw top container and into the pressure cooker for a couple of hours. 

 

 

Added some extra cocoa butter.

 

 

And finally engrossed the caramelized popcorn. Not polished yet.

 

 

[p_lo]

 

Here are some chickpeas which have been panned somewhat successfully. Unpolished, but coated with cocoa powder.

 

Is there a specific benefit to the 'polishing' or is it mostly an aesthetic choice?

[Kerry Beal]

I'd say it's aesthetic mostly - but some sealant properties as well.

 

By the way - welcome p_lo to eG. Coating chickpeas leads me to believe you'll fit in nicely here!

Edited October 13, 2015 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Spent the day at Gouter with @Alleguede teaching panning. 

 

 

 

 

 

Digging for doubles - coffee beans on the left, raisins on the right - two of the most difficult things to pan. Is it cruel to teach that on the first day of a course?

 

 

Maltballs (not mothballs as I kept trying to call them).

 

 

Reese PB cereal with PB gianduja. 

 

 

Our lunch - tourtiere, quiche, salad. Yum.

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Celest]

Hi Kerry, I've been enjoying reading this thread, going to look for more.

 

What's your verdict on the DR.ca coating pan for the kitchen aid. I'm looking at getting one to learn panning and make some panned items to fill chocolate figureines.

 

Thoughts, or is there a better link where it has been discussed in depth? 

 

I'll keep looking also.

 

Celest

[Kerry Beal]

35 minutes ago, Celest said:

Hi Kerry, I've been enjoying reading this thread, going to look for more.

 

What's your verdict on the DR.ca coating pan for the kitchen aid. I'm looking at getting one to learn panning and make some panned items to fill chocolate figureines.

 

Thoughts, or is there a better link where it has been discussed in depth? 

 

I'll keep looking also.

 

Celest

Hmmm - it's a bit crappy compared with other coating pans that fit on the front of the kitchen aid - and it's holds less then the others. 

 

This might be the best thread - I'm not sure if there are any others.

[Celest]

ah! so you go the other attachment...now I vaguely remember reading that somewhere.  I'll keep looking.

[Kerry Beal]

19 minutes ago, Celest said:

ah! so you go the other attachment...now I vaguely remember reading that somewhere.  I'll keep looking.

It's made by DeBuyer in France. 

[EsaK]

I've read these threads about panning, and I'm wondering how essential is the availability of blowed cold air? If you decide that you don't need to get into polished items, but only covering with chocolate and then perhaps some powder if wanted, but no polish. Do you then still need the cold air? Can you work around needing that by starting with fridge temp 0-5C or for example 10-15C temperature items that you want to coat? Or does that result in big lumps when you pour in warm choc or some other issues like having to fridge them between coatings? I'm not sure if I'd be handy enough to make some workaround for the cold air, which is why I'm asking for the importance of it (as models with cooling air seem to cost almost double as those without). 

Also, is speed regulator a crucial feature? 🤔

[Kerry Beal]

7 hours ago, EsaK said:

I've read these threads about panning, and I'm wondering how essential is the availability of blowed cold air? If you decide that you don't need to get into polished items, but only covering with chocolate and then perhaps some powder if wanted, but no polish. Do you then still need the cold air? Can you work around needing that by starting with fridge temp 0-5C or for example 10-15C temperature items that you want to coat? Or does that result in big lumps when you pour in warm choc or some other issues like having to fridge them between coatings? I'm not sure if I'd be handy enough to make some workaround for the cold air, which is why I'm asking for the importance of it (as models with cooling air seem to cost almost double as those without). 

Also, is speed regulator a crucial feature? 🤔

If you don't have cold air to blow - you'll need dry ice. If you don't cool the entire contents of the pan will just stick to the sides - it's not pretty - ask me how I know!

 

You will likely spin everything at the same speed - but it's easy enough to run the plug through a rheostat and turn down the speed that way.

 

 

[EsaK]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

If you don't have cold air to blow - you'll need dry ice. If you don't cool the entire contents of the pan will just stick to the sides - it's not pretty - ask me how I know!

 

You will likely spin everything at the same speed - but it's easy enough to run the plug through a rheostat and turn down the speed that way.

 

 

 

Thanks Kerry! I was going to write initially that dry ice isn't likely a solution this time, as that seems pretty difficult to get your hands on over here at small amounts. 

 

Need to think about ways of rigging the cooling air somehow then, not sure it's worth thousands of euros to have that from the factory..

[Tri2Cook]

51 minutes ago, EsaK said:

 

Thanks Kerry! I was going to write initially that dry ice isn't likely a solution this time, as that seems pretty difficult to get your hands on over here at small amounts. 

 

Need to think about ways of rigging the cooling air somehow then, not sure it's worth thousands of euros to have that from the factory..

 

Yeah, I was never really tempted towards getting into panning because of the expense of the machine. Then I started following the panning discussions here and discovered the expense of the machine was the least of the difficulties involved. 😆

[EsaK]

11 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

 

Yeah, I was never really tempted towards getting into panning because of the expense of the machine. Then I started following the panning discussions here and discovered the expense of the machine was the least of the difficulties involved. 😆

 

Yup.. Part of me thinks "how hard can it be...", while another part is screaming "STAY AWAY!!!" 🙄 

 

Though, it sort of seems like if you skip the polishing part and accept that there'll be doubles and ones that look something other than uniformly round, that it COULD be doable!

[Kerry Beal]

You can use a portable air conditioner and make a baffle arrangement to take the cold air over to the opening. 

 

[Tri2Cook]

1 hour ago, EsaK said:

 

Yup.. Part of me thinks "how hard can it be...", while another part is screaming "STAY AWAY!!!" 🙄 

 

Though, it sort of seems like if you skip the polishing part and accept that there'll be doubles and ones that look something other than uniformly round, that it COULD be doable!

 

Yep, wasn't trying to sound discouraging. A lot of ideas have floated through my head for things I could potentially do. I just decided I have enough learning going on as it is with the amount of time I have to dedicate to chocolate work and probably shouldn't start down another path at this point. But those who can most definitely should because it looks fun in that challenging learning curve way that I enjoy.

[jimb0]

if you don't need them perfect and shiny, one could also, i suppose, do it the harder way by hand in a bowl or pan with slow drips of chocolate. no cooler required, but you'll be at it a while (i've never done it personally ofc so it's easy to recommend :V) 

[Kerry Beal]

7 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

if you don't need them perfect and shiny, one could also, i suppose, do it the harder way by hand in a bowl or pan with slow drips of chocolate. no cooler required, but you'll be at it a while (i've never done it personally ofc so it's easy to recommend :V) 

When I do them this way though - it's in and out of the fridge.

 

[minas6907]

21 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

if you don't need them perfect and shiny, one could also, i suppose, do it the harder way by hand in a bowl or pan with slow drips of chocolate. no cooler required, but you'll be at it a while (i've never done it personally ofc so it's easy to recommend :V) 

I find myself doing this more and more with chocolate dragees, usually nuts, for me it is a much faster way to engross the items. I normally won't chill the centers to begin with, but after they have a thin layer of chocolate, they go into the fridge. Then I add pull them out, add chocolate, toss by hand, and then the chocolate sets up quite fast. Normally I'll do two of three coats like this, then give it some more time in the fridge. I'll keep building it to the desired size, then it goes into the pan for smoothing. That may be the next day or a later time, but just charge it with warm chocolate and they smooth out fine. I've seen that this (for my setup) is faster then engrossing in the pan. Most often they get coated with cocoa powder or confectioners sugar, so they don't have to be perfect, but I do sort of baby them during smoothing. Every now and then I'll polish with gum arabic or confectioners glaze, but that's not the norm for me. 

[Rajala]

I've been thinking of these malted milk balls or maltballs or whatever we want to call them. Can you buy these pre made and then coat them or do you make them yourself? My google skills are failing my brutally on this subject.

[Kerry Beal]

4 hours ago, Rajala said:

I've been thinking of these malted milk balls or maltballs or whatever we want to call them. Can you buy these pre made and then coat them or do you make them yourself? My google skills are failing my brutally on this subject.

Pre made - they are made in a vacuum process that can’t be duplicated at home - Ask me how I know!

 

In North America we buy them from Nuts.com Or some other company the name of which escapes me.

Edited July 2, 2021 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Rajala]

24 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Pre made - they are made in a vacuum process that can’t be duplicated at home - Ask me how I know!

 

In North America we buy them from Nuts.com Or some other company the name of which escapes me.

 

How?

 

Okay, I should probably just try to ask some local vendors if they can source it or so. I have no idea what they are called in Swedish, maybe a part of the problem.

[Rajala]

Seems really hard to find these malt balls in Europe? Anyone from Europe lingering around that know where you can source these?

[Celest]

Why not just check out nuts.com and see if they ship to Europe. I also got mine from nuts.com but I live in Canada.

[Kerry Beal]

Maltesers are made and sold in Europe - so I'm guessing you'll find them with enough searching. 

[Rajala]

I found a way to buy some, but it was a whole pallet of ~450 kgs. A little bit too much.

 

But I solved this in a different way, someone helped me and will ship from US.