Ganache: Tips, Techniques & Troubleshooting

[Jonathan]

14 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

Another thought just popped into my head:  There is such a thing (I had to consult Google) as dried honey.  I have no idea what it tastes like, though I have some molasses powder that tastes fine, but it might even be possible to put all the flavors (not the rosewater) into the gianduja.  But I think I would go with the two layers for the sake of contrast.

I did look into that but it’s absolutely a nuisance to source

[jimb0]

at the risk of sounding like an idiot, couldn't one just dehydrate it in a dehydrator or low (if low enough) oven for a while and then grind it in the blender (if you don't want to order it online, say).

[AAQuesada]

9 hours ago, Jim D. said:

There is such a thing (I had to consult Google) as dried honey. 

Honey powder is fairly common in Korean markets and does taste like honey. Dissolves easily as well fwiw

[Jonathan]

8 hours ago, jimb0 said:

at the risk of sounding like an idiot, couldn't one just dehydrate it in a dehydrator or low (if low enough) oven for a while and then grind it in the blender (if you don't want to order it online, say).

I've got so many single use appliances my home kitchen is getting very backed up (although a dehydrator has always been on the wants list) and after doing some digging apparently it reconstitutes quite quickly (so basically like a sugar version of honey). Still, I might get some to sprinkle on the bases as a finishing touch? The other idea would be to make a syrup so when you split the bars open it runs out just like a baklava? It's a little early (Mother's Day is in May here) but I'm thinking about doing a "Tastes of Home" theme for it and having a selection of desserts from around the world. Tiramisu was quite easy, I've got apple pie for the states so this will be a trial run to see how it pans out. I think it's going to be very sweet but I guess baklava IS just very sweet

[jimb0]

9 hours ago, Jonathan said:

I've got so many single use appliances my home kitchen is getting very backed up (although a dehydrator has always been on the wants list) and after doing some digging apparently it reconstitutes quite quickly (so basically like a sugar version of honey). Still, I might get some to sprinkle on the bases as a finishing touch? The other idea would be to make a syrup so when you split the bars open it runs out just like a baklava? It's a little early (Mother's Day is in May here) but I'm thinking about doing a "Tastes of Home" theme for it and having a selection of desserts from around the world. Tiramisu was quite easy, I've got apple pie for the states so this will be a trial run to see how it pans out. I think it's going to be very sweet but I guess baklava IS just very sweet

 

imo that sounds like it would look cool and dramatic, but do you really want to eat a chocolate bar that has filling pour out? tbh i don't think i would (though it would look attractive in photos). i suppose, of course, it depends on the viscosity - a caramel syrup that stretches but doesn't pour, is common, for example. and they're obviously used in bonbons, but you tend to plop those in all in one go.

 

i do like the idea of a honey-flavoured goo of some kind, though, for sure.

[Jim D.]

1 hour ago, jimb0 said:

 

imo that sounds like it would look cool and dramatic, but do you really want to eat a chocolate bar that has filling pour out? tbh i don't think i would (though it would look attractive in photos). i suppose, of course, it depends on the viscosity - a caramel syrup that stretches but doesn't pour, is common, for example. and they're obviously used in bonbons, but you tend to plop those in all in one go.

 

i do like the idea of a honey-flavoured goo of some kind, though, for sure.

 

I'm still thinking over the baklava possibilities, and honey definitely has to be in the mix.  Any honey plus white chocolate ganache I have found sounds as if it would be teeth-torturingly sweet.  I don't see that a milk or dark chocolate ganache would be part of the baklava taste.

[Rajala]

My version of baklava which is not close to baklava is basically a duja on a mixture of nut pastes, some honey comb as crisp, also some salt for extra flavor. It's more like "inspired" by it.

 

Oh forgot about that I use milk chocolate.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Rajala (log)

[Jonathan]

2 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

I'm still thinking over the baklava possibilities, and honey definitely has to be in the mix.  Any honey plus white chocolate ganache I have found sounds as if it would be teeth-torturingly sweet.  I don't see that a milk or dark chocolate ganache would be part of the baklava taste.

I’m considering using opalys and this macadamia honey I’ve got which I’ve found less sweet than normal honey

[Jim D.]

2 hours ago, Jonathan said:

I’m considering using opalys and this macadamia honey I’ve got which I’ve found less sweet than normal honey

 

Opalys is my regular white chocolate.  I'll look for macadamia honey.  Good ideas.

 

[Jonathan]

I do like it but I still HATE tempering it and the price makes it for certain things only

[Jim D.]

10 hours ago, Jonathan said:

I do like it but I still HATE tempering it and the price makes it for certain things only

I too hate tempering Opalys.  In making shells, at first it is too fluid and the shells turn out too thin unless one takes precautions.  Then, at some unpredictable point, it gets quite viscous, and shells are too thick.  Sometimes I have heated it to the 90F/32C point to get it to work.  Once before, when I was complaining about Opalys, @Kerry Bealhappened to be going to the Valrhona factory and asked them about it.  Her report:  "they said the white was very susceptible to over-crystallization so you had to take care not to scrape the last bits off the table into the bowl - keep the sides of the bowl warm and scrupulously clean."

[Altay.Oro]

This wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_oil says that "In relation with their food applications, although these oils have been used throughout history as food preservatives, it was in the 20th century when EOs were considered as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)."

 

And ... there is a long list of essential oils on the page under the title of "Use in food" ...

 

Do you use essential oils in your ganaches safely?

Bitter almond, peppermint, thyme, orange, lemon, etc ...

 

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Altay.Oro (log)

[pastrygirl]

I've added LorAnn pure lemon, orange, and peppermint oils to both tempered chocolate and ganache. 

[Jim D.]

I have used peppermint, bitter almond, lemon, lime, and orange.  They are especially helpful when you want to add flavor to something without significant water (such as meltaways, gianduja, chocolate).

[Altay.Oro]

27 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

I've added LorAnn pure lemon, orange, and peppermint oils to both tempered chocolate and ganache. 

 

Maybe they are not so easily evaporating when used in tempered chocolate ... let me try ...

 

10 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

I have used peppermint, bitter almond, lemon, lime, and orange.  They are especially helpful when you want to add flavor to something without significant water (such as meltaways, gianduja, chocolate).

 

Thank you Jim ...

[Altay.Oro]

Melissa Coppel is preapring a ganache here, https://www.instagram.com/p/CLjw2l7H4Dx/

It is very shiny and ... so elastic that going back and forth at the tip of the piping bag, if not a manipulated video.

I think that glucose syrup is responsible for the shine ... and invert sugar for elasticity,

Any other thoughts?

What is the fourth ingredient ... is it salt, maybe to much amount for salt ... or powdered sorbitol?

 

[Altay.Oro]

By the way ... bitter almond oil, cold press fixed oil, is sold here not for intake ... probably for its dangerous and risky nature to eat and to use in foods.

Orange, pepermint, thyme are ok.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Altay.Oro (log)

[Jonathan]

So still haven’t gone back to the baklava ones yet, had a new idea and got side tracked. If one were to make a cereal milk ganache, could I directly infuse the cream with the cereal or would it be best to infuse some milk and reduce it and add it. I worry soaking in the cream directly would result in a weird texture if the cereal breaks down

[jimb0]

5 hours ago, Jonathan said:

So still haven’t gone back to the baklava ones yet, had a new idea and got side tracked. If one were to make a cereal milk ganache, could I directly infuse the cream with the cereal or would it be best to infuse some milk and reduce it and add it. I worry soaking in the cream directly would result in a weird texture if the cereal breaks down

 

i really think you could do either. with that said, a soak and blend followed by proper straining would take care of any texture issues imo. this is what i do for infusing corn into dairy

[Muscadelle]

8 hours ago, Jonathan said:

So still haven’t gone back to the baklava ones yet, had a new idea and got side tracked. If one were to make a cereal milk ganache, could I directly infuse the cream with the cereal or would it be best to infuse some milk and reduce it and add it. I worry soaking in the cream directly would result in a weird texture if the cereal breaks down

 I tried infusing toasted oats in Half cream/ half milk overnight and it resulted in a solid dry and mushy mess. Impossible to extract anything even after warming it up. I don’t know how different cereals could react though...

[jimb0]

28 minutes ago, Muscadelle said:

 I tried infusing toasted oats in Half cream/ half milk overnight and it resulted in a solid dry and mushy mess. Impossible to extract anything even after warming it up. I don’t know how different cereals could react though...

 

i think with some pressure and a nut milk bag you could probably have gotten liquid back out. for something like that though i think you're better off using a much smaller amount, pureeing them finely into the liquid, and going from there

[Cahoot]

On 3/2/2021 at 3:06 AM, Jonathan said:

So still haven’t gone back to the baklava ones yet, had a new idea and got side tracked. If one were to make a cereal milk ganache, could I directly infuse the cream with the cereal or would it be best to infuse some milk and reduce it and add it. I worry soaking in the cream directly would result in a weird texture if the cereal breaks down

Don't know how helpful this is, but Milk Bar makes their cereal milk by infusing toasted cornflakes in milk for 20 minutes, then straining but taking care to not push it through the sieve. Though I'm sure a soak and blend with the cream then straining, like mentioned by @jimb0 would work perfectly fine too and I imagine would extract more flavour.

[Jonathan]

58 minutes ago, Cahoot said:

Don't know how helpful this is, but Milk Bar makes their cereal milk by infusing toasted cornflakes in milk for 20 minutes, then straining but taking care to not push it through the sieve. Though I'm sure a soak and blend with the cream then straining, like mentioned by @jimb0 would work perfectly fine too and I imagine would extract more flavour.

Definitely helpful, though I imagine a high sugar cereal like Trix won’t need so much toasting to impart the same flavour? It’s an experiment so who knows, I’ll have some fun with it regardless

[Altay.Oro]

Is there any advisable temperature range in which the butter should be added to the ganache emulsion?

After ganache properly set at 20 - 22 C, does the temperature at which we added the butter have any effect on the consistency of the end result?

Edited March 31, 2021 by Altay.Oro (log)

[Altay.Oro]

Have you ever experienced a ganache refusing being emulsified to death?

 

My initial ingredients ... milk chocolate - 100 grams, cocoa butter - 20 grams, honey - 10 grams, cream - 50 grams ...

I worked at correct temperatures, stirred between 30 - 35 C,

Tried immersion blender,

Later, I poured considerable amount of cream,

And even added pure water at the end ...

But no luck.