Remelting a chocolate bar

[carol lang]

I have had an unusual request.

A friend has a few high quality chocolate bars which have bloomed.

I don't know the brand.

She has asked if I could remelt and mold them.

First, can I do this and second should I do it.

I  am open to all suggestions.

My concern is that in re tempering the chocolate,  the bar of course will be different than the original.

Another concern is what tempering method to use.

Thanks for any help.

[Kerry Beal]

For sure you can. And if she wants them done - then I think you should.

 

I'd probably temper using the wild crystallization method so you are not adding any new ingredients to the chocolate. So heat to around 45C, then cool to 27C if dark (25 if milk), then heat back up to around 30C. Walla! as Lior would say. 

[carol lang]

Thanks Kerry, I will let you know how it turns out

[Stu Jordan]

Your other option, if it is just some blooming, is to remelt / temper in the microwave.

• Break bars into small pieces
• Use plastic bowl
• Heat in short bursts, mixing after each time (to ensure even melting)
• Continue to do this until the chocolate is HALF MELTED/ HALF SOLID
• Stir vigorously
• 1 - 3 second bursts of microwaving to get it to the consistency you need, with vigorous stirring after each.
• You must not go over the 'working temperature' which is easy to get wrong in the microwave!

There is not a lot of room for error when using this method, so tempering from scratch on marble or granite might be best.

[Kerry Beal]

Stu - the reason I opted for the wild crystallization method rather than seeding was because the chocolate is out of temper. I'm a huge fan of doing it your way (the half melting method) when I'm starting with in temper chocolate. Saves a lot of time!

[carol lang]

Today was to have been the day to re temper my friend's chocolate bars. It has been cancelled til Thursday.

I asked what kind of bars she has , she told me they were Holy Cacao, a bean to bar place in Israel.

I looked them up and they do 100% cacao.  

Does that change any of the instructions that Kerry gave me?

 

I did a practice run with some 64% Guittard  and it was great.

Thanks in advance for any comments

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

2 hours ago, carol lang said:

Today was to have been the day to re temper my friend's chocolate bars. It has been cancelled til Thursday.

I asked what kind of bars she has , she told me they were Holy Cacao, a bean to bar place in Israel.

I looked them up and they do 100% cacao.  

Does that change any of the instructions that Kerry gave me?

 

I did a practice run with some 64% Guittard  and it was great.

Thanks in advance for any comments

 

 

Nope - it's just cocoa mass - should temper just the same.

[Bernadry]

On 08.01.2017 at 10:40 AM, Stu Jordan said:

Your other option, if it is just some blooming, is to remelt / temper in the microwave.

• Break bars into small pieces
• Use plastic bowl
• Heat in short bursts, mixing after each time (to ensure even melting)
• Continue to do this until the chocolate is HALF MELTED/ HALF SOLID
• Stir vigorously
• 1 - 3 second bursts of microwaving to get it to the consistency you need, with vigorous stirring after each.
• You must not go over the 'working temperature' which is easy to get wrong in the microwave!

There is not a lot of room for error when using this method, so tempering from scratch on marble or granite might be best.

 I think it's better to use metal and not plastic bowl for melting chocolate and it's better to use steam bath  for this process

Edited January 17, 2017 by Bernadry (log)

[liuzhou]

3 minutes ago, Bernadry said:

 I think it's better to use metal and not plastic bowl

 

I thought everyone knew not to use metal in microwave ovens.

Have you ever put a metal bowl into a microwave? 

Ridiculous advice.

[keychris]

I believe you can put metal bowls in a certain type of microwave. Whilst it is a bad thing to do in most cases, it's not impossible. I was always told to never put plastic bowls in the microwave either, and I never did until I burned myself very badly on a superheated glass bowl from the microwave.

 

I also thing that Bernadry is saying it's better to use a metal bowl over a steam bath, not in a microwave I personally prefer to keep my chocolate as far from water as possible, so no steam baths here. Microwave is much easier and quicker.

[Stu Jordan]

9 hours ago, Bernadry said:

 I think it's better to use metal and not plastic bowl for melting chocolate and it's better to use steam bath  for this process

 

Hi Bernadry

 

My bowls come from Chocolate World in Belgium and are made from polycarbonate plastic. There are three reasons why I tend to avoid the bain marie or water/steam bath method:

* metal bowls retain heat and continue to heat the chocolate when removed from the heat source, which can push it out of temper.

* water and chocolate are mortal enemies. So many people seize chocolate when using the steam method (eg, steam rises, condenses on handle of spatula/spoon, gravity then lets those water droplets glide down the spatula and into the chocolate.

* Hard to control the temperature - and easy to overheat the chocolate.

 

That said, when I am emulsifying ganaches, I prefer to use a metal bowl.

[Bernadry]

13 hours ago, Stu Jordan said:

Hi Bernadry

 

My bowls come from Chocolate World in Belgium and are made from polycarbonate plastic. There are three reasons why I tend to avoid the bain marie or water/steam bath method:

* metal bowls retain heat and continue to heat the chocolate when removed from the heat source, which can push it out of temper.

* water and chocolate are mortal enemies. So many people seize chocolate when using the steam method (eg, steam rises, condenses on handle of spatula/spoon, gravity then lets those water droplets glide down the spatula and into the chocolate.

* Hard to control the temperature - and easy to overheat the chocolate.

 

That said, when I am emulsifying ganaches, I prefer to use a metal bowl.

your arguments are impressive. perhaps i'm just a man of habit