Leaving Chocolate in Mold Before Inverting

[BVWells]

I was reading Greweling's Chocolates and Confections and he says that when molding bonbons you may need to allow the chocolate to sit in the mold anywhere from 2-5 minutes before inverting in order to produce desired and thickness and for the shell to be thick enough for the chocolate to contract from the mold, but in all of the videos I see, the chocolatiers invert the molds right away. Is this because the chocolate has sufficient viscosity and doesn't need to sit in the mold?

 

I have found that with the chocolate I use (Guittard 72%), if I invert the mold right away, the chocolate really doesn't contract enough but if I leave it for 3 minutes I don't have any problems. I'm just trying to understand the theory behind letting the chocolate sit in the mold, why I never see this technique in videos, and how you get thin shells to contract sufficiently from the molds. Thanks!!

[Rajala]

I've never ever let it sit. I fill the mould and empty it within 30-60 seconds after I've shaken it a bit on my countertop to get any air out. I guess you could argue that those 30-60 seconds is letting it sit, but it's just the time it takes to get everything in order to flip it.

 

It's probably more of importance how warm/cold the mould is.

[pastrygirl]

Depends on how fluid the chocolate is, how crystallized it is, how warm or cold your molds and room are. I usually fill one mold, shake it a bit, let it sit while I fill a second, then dump the first one. So probably a minute or less. As the chocolate thickens with use I’ll switch to filling and dumping immediately.   

[gfron1]

I know I keep my room colder than most here, but I fill, scrape, 3 seconds of rapping and dump. Perfectly thin and consistent shell every time. In my old kitchen I was working in a  much too warm space and yes I had to let it sit for up to a minute.

[Tri2Cook]

6 hours ago, gfron1 said:

I know I keep my room colder than most here, but I fill, scrape, 3 seconds of rapping and dump. Perfectly thin and consistent shell every time. In my old kitchen I was working in a  much too warm space and yes I had to let it sit for up to a minute.

I was hoping it wasn't just me. Maybe it's the chocolate I'm usually working with but I have to get it dumped pretty much immediately and then still do some pretty serious tapping to end up with nice, thin consistent shells. If I fill a mold and let it sit even for the time it takes to fill another, they're going to be really thick. Although, to be honest, I've never really been sure how thick they're supposed to be. Compared to the standard commercial shells I've experienced with non-artisan chocolates, mine are much thinner but I never considered the possibility of them being too thin. I just assumed as long as they're not breaking they're not too thin. 

[keychris]

when I'm doing moulded chocolates, it's pretty much fill, clean the mould and empty back into the tank. But when I'm doing something like a large easter egg, I'll leave that for up to 5 minutes before I empty it back in, if I empty it straight away the shell is super-thin and not practical.

[BVWells]

9 hours ago, gfron1 said:

I know I keep my room colder than most here, but I fill, scrape, 3 seconds of rapping and dump. Perfectly thin and consistent shell every time. In my old kitchen I was working in a  much too warm space and yes I had to let it sit for up to a 

Ok. I'm thinking it's a combination or room temperature and chocolate viscosity. The white chocolate I use has to be tapped out almost right away, dark chocolate after about 3 minutes, milk about 4!! Crazy! And my kitchen is usually in the upper 60's maybe 70. I use Guittard 72% dark, 42% milk and 31% white by the way.

[pastrygirl]

1 hour ago, BVWells said:

Ok. I'm thinking it's a combination or room temperature and chocolate viscosity. The white chocolate I use has to be tapped out almost right away, dark chocolate after about 3 minutes, milk about 4!! Crazy! And my kitchen is usually in the upper 60's maybe 70. I use Guittard 72% dark, 42% milk and 31% white by the way.

 

You might want to try adding a bit of cocoa butter to your white so it is runnier and also see if you can get your kitchen down closer to 65F so the dark and milk set more quickly.

[BVWells]

3 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

 

You might want to try adding a bit of cocoa butter to your white so it is runnier and also see if you can get your kitchen down closer to 65F so the dark and milk set more quickly.

Will do. I have a long weekend so I'll try it and see how things work out. Thanks everyone!