Andrey Dubovic online classes

[Louise nadine brill]

On 12/9/2019 at 10:17 AM, Jim D. said:

 

Just for the record:  here is where gfron1's comment on matcha can be found.

Thanks for that - i dont know how i missed your response earlier. Will go over and look now.

[Louise nadine brill]

On 12/13/2019 at 4:48 PM, Rajala said:

 

Yeah. That's my take on it.

 

On 12/12/2019 at 9:50 AM, Kerry Beal said:

I think since the powders are oil soluble pigments, that providing a gram measure would not be unreasonable. I don’t think there’s going to be any significant difference between brands

I have to agree with you both about this specifically. I really, REALLY wanted “recipes” for the cocoa butter colours, and was quite disappointed that there were none. Some of the directions on brush/airbrush technique are also a bit fuzzy. The photos are ok. It probably could have benefited from using a good editor, really. Bottom line is you can tell it is a self published book - and that is part of the reason that i have no regrets about buying the book! The gumption to do the whole thing, soup to nuts, on your own - is downright impressive, and i was happy to give my money to them. 😁

[Rajala]

10 hours ago, Louise nadine brill said:

 

I have to agree with you both about this specifically. I really, REALLY wanted “recipes” for the cocoa butter colours, and was quite disappointed that there were none. Some of the directions on brush/airbrush technique are also a bit fuzzy. The photos are ok. It probably could have benefited from using a good editor, really. Bottom line is you can tell it is a self published book - and that is part of the reason that i have no regrets about buying the book! The gumption to do the whole thing, soup to nuts, on your own - is downright impressive, and i was happy to give my money to them. 😁

 

Yeah, it's pretty cool that you can release a book like this almost on your own.  

[Hendrix]

If anyone is still interested in this, I have booked a class with dubovik in April and will be happy to share what will be discussed. Also, if anyone still has unanswered questions, I'll be happy to ask him in person.

[Jim D.]

Andrey Dubovik strikes again!  When I took his "pralinarium" online course, I asked him about some of his advanced designs that had appeared since the work covered in the course. He didn't answer my question because, he said, those designs might be in a future course. Well, the future has arrived. He has announced a "super-pralinarium" course, which appears to cover much of his recent work (photo of one design below--he calls this "tree branches," most on eGullet refer to it as "dendrite"). Photos from each week of the course are available on the site. I spent some time browsing through the contents, and he takes several classes to work on the blowing of colored cocoa butter with an airbrush to make a design in a mold--a technique that proved to be a Waterloo for some of us in the original course. The cost for the "super" course (as of currency exchange rates today) is $761, a little more than the previous course, and the first offering of the course is April 27, 2020.

 

[keychris]

Or pay AU$12.95 for savour online one month and see how Kirsten makes that design 😂

[Vojta]

Even thought I consider myself as (advanced) beginner, I think it is not worth it. If you spend some time thinking about it you can invent/ come up with almost any design by yourself. Well a bit harder with this particular one, but if you search on the Internet you can find it.

 

[lironp]

On 8/7/2018 at 4:33 PM, YetiChocolates said:

Ok... I’m now a convert. I decided to wash my molds with soap and buff the water out with a cotton ball (because of the calcium content in my water) and I have to say the chocolates do come out pretty shiny! Here’s a couple photos. And it cuts my cleaning time in half so I’m pumped!

Just finished reading through this thread, but apparently missed this part- arre you saying washing the mold with soap reduces the need for polishing each cavity?

[Chocoguyin Pemby]

On 9/21/2020 at 8:43 PM, lironp said:

Just finished reading through this thread, but apparently missed this part- arre you saying washing the mold with soap reduces the need for polishing each cavity?

I always polish my molds after washing them - I don't think you can skip polishing properly - I use isopropyl alcohol and a cotton make up pad remover - and I get nice shiny bonbons every time - i do live in a colder climate and find working in 18C comfortable - I actually keep my house at this temperature - shorts and t shirt and 18C no problem. 

[Jim D.]

10 hours ago, Chocoguyin Pemby said:

I always polish my molds after washing them - I don't think you can skip polishing properly - I use isopropyl alcohol and a cotton make up pad remover - and I get nice shiny bonbons every time - i do live in a colder climate and find working in 18C comfortable - I actually keep my house at this temperature - shorts and t shirt and 18C no problem. 

I'm inclined to think the temp has more to do with it.  There are professional chocolatiers with shiny bonbons who don't use alcohol (in one case I know of, the molds are not washed at all between uses).  Dubovik does not use alcohol, and his bonbons are blinding (so to speak).  On the other hand, as much as I admire your stamina, when I translated 18C into 64.4F, I knew I would need to continue sacrificing some shininess--it's difficult to make chocolates in an overcoat!

[gfron1]

I still struggle with this. 1) Cold room. 2) Proper temper. 3) Tempering my cocoa butter each use for spray or brush. 4) Alcohol polish. Not sure if all are needed or if I could let some of these habits go. I've had so many great teachers and they all do things a bit differently. Most lately I've been thinking that tempering my cocoa butter each time can be let go. Don't most of you just melt and shake?

[Kerry Beal]

1 minute ago, gfron1 said:

I still struggle with this. 1) Cold room. 2) Proper temper. 3) Tempering my cocoa butter each use for spray or brush. 4) Alcohol polish. Not sure if all are needed or if I could let some of these habits go. I've had so many great teachers and they all do things a bit differently. Most lately I've been thinking that tempering my cocoa butter each time can be let go. Don't most of you just melt and shake?

I probably do something different every single time! But I never use alcohol - I simply polish with a lintless cloth (an operating room tape), sometimes if the mold is a little greasy looking I'll give it the once over with the hair dryer before I polish. My room temp is my room temp - not cold - around 22º C. Sometimes I temper my cocoa butter, sometimes I don't. I have been keeping it in an incubator - if I'm painting with a brush - I pour a little out onto a piece of parchment on my quartz, move it around with the brush til it's 'right' before painting, give it a little heat with the hair dryer when it starts to solidify. 

[Jim D.]

22 minutes ago, gfron1 said:

I still struggle with this. 1) Cold room. 2) Proper temper. 3) Tempering my cocoa butter each use for spray or brush. 4) Alcohol polish. Not sure if all are needed or if I could let some of these habits go. I've had so many great teachers and they all do things a bit differently. Most lately I've been thinking that tempering my cocoa butter each time can be let go. Don't most of you just melt and shake?

I also continue to try to find the "right" procedure, while having the suspicion that there may not be a right way.  I dutifully temper the cocoa butter and test it before use.  I do not work in an especially cold space.  I think one factor that has not been mentioned is humidity, and I often wonder if that is important.  It will always be a mystery to me:  In a recent batch, most bonbons released with no issues, but some (far too many for my sanity) left cocoa butter behind in the molds.  I can't think of any sensible explanation for these erratic results.  The adjoining cavities were washed, polished (cloth only), etc.--in every conceivable way treated exactly the same. But how many times has this observation been posted on eG?  I am going to pay more attention to the temperature of the cocoa butter as it is being used (swirled, airbrushed, etc.) on the suspicion that I may be using the heat gun too carelessly (or letting the cocoa butter cool too much while in use).  It is a major pain to stop airbrushing to take the temp of cocoa butter, but I continue to seek a factor I can control.  Just another guess in the puzzle.

Edited November 19, 2020 by Jim D. (log)

[gfron1]

My last round all dark chocolate came out just fine, but my whites were atrociously stuck to the mold. I know exactly what I did wrong - didn't get the white to proper working temp and piped too cold. I won't do that again. And not to beat a dead horse because it's been covered sooooo many times on this forum, but when you spray, aren't most of you just microwaving, shaking and spraying...versus tempering (heat, cool, warm)?

[Jim D.]

1 hour ago, gfron1 said:

My last round all dark chocolate came out just fine, but my whites were atrociously stuck to the mold. I know exactly what I did wrong - didn't get the white to proper working temp and piped too cold. I won't do that again. And not to beat a dead horse because it's been covered sooooo many times on this forum, but when you spray, aren't most of you just microwaving, shaking and spraying...versus tempering (heat, cool, warm)?

I temper with silk from the EZtemper and test each time before spraying. 

[Tri2Cook]

7 hours ago, gfron1 said:

but when you spray, aren't most of you just microwaving, shaking and spraying...versus tempering (heat, cool, warm)?

No microwaving it for me, I use a dehydrator that has a 30º C bottom temp. I keep my bottles of cocoa butter, airbrushes and the color cups in it all the time. If I'm going to be spraying, I turn it on set to 34º C the night before or early in the morning. But yes, I don't heat - cool - warm or do anything else to temper it for spraying. 

[Muscadelle]

The room temperature here is always 18C I make sur that when i'm painting, my molds are between 17,5 and 18,5C with the thermometer gun. . I always temper my cocoa butter and bring it to 28C if I paint and between 31 and 32 if I use the airbrush. When I pour the chocolate for the shells, the room temp is around 20C but right after molding I place my molds near a chilly air source for like 10 mins (AC in summer and a window starting october) after ten minutes you can see all the shells releasing. One problem that I have never had (And I've had many) is cocoa butter sticking to the mold...

 

I realized that I can not paint a lot more than 5-6 molds before my cocoa butter starts going out of temper, even though it stays at the same temp (there's alway a thermometer in the cocoa butter). So I'd be delighted too if someone had a way to skip the tempering process altogether at least when spraying with an airbrush.. 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Muscadelle (log)

[lironp]

On 11/19/2020 at 8:23 AM, gfron1 said:

I still struggle with this. 1) Cold room. 2) Proper temper. 3) Tempering my cocoa butter each use for spray or brush. 4) Alcohol polish. Not sure if all are needed or if I could let some of these habits go. I've had so many great teachers and they all do things a bit differently. Most lately I've been thinking that tempering my cocoa butter each time can be let go. Don't most of you just melt and shake?

I do not temper my cocoa butters and have 0 problems with shine and release.

I melt them in their bottles, let them cool down to about 32 celsius, shake them like crazy in the bottle for about a minute and then use. 

 

For cleaning- dishwasher, and then alcohol with exfoliating rounds. I don't see much of a difference with/without alcohol in the molds that have round cavities, but in those that have some sort of detail (such as the skulls i did for halloween), I need it to really get everything out.

[keychris]

5 hours ago, lironp said:

I do not temper my cocoa butters and have 0 problems with shine and release.

I melt them in their bottles, let them cool down to about 32 celsius, shake them like crazy in the bottle for about a minute and then use. 

 

The first sentence says that you don't temper then the second sentence says you do 😛

[curls]

9 hours ago, lironp said:

I do not temper my cocoa butters and have 0 problems with shine and release.

I melt them in their bottles, let them cool down to about 32 celsius, shake them like crazy in the bottle for about a minute and then use. 

 

For cleaning- dishwasher, and then alcohol with exfoliating rounds. I don't see much of a difference with/without alcohol in the molds that have round cavities, but in those that have some sort of detail (such as the skulls i did for halloween), I need it to really get everything out.

Dishwasher!!!? A standard household one or something special for moulds? Are you using soap? If so, what kind?

[lironp]

On 12/2/2020 at 5:02 PM, keychris said:

 

The first sentence says that you don't temper then the second sentence says you do 😛

lol, I meant not the traditional way 😂

[lironp]

On 12/2/2020 at 9:29 PM, curls said:

Dishwasher!!!? A standard household one or something special for moulds? Are you using soap? If so, what kind?

A standard house dishwasher with regular soap. Melissa Coppel blew my mnid in her class saying there is no reason not to do that, and I completely agree.