Chocolate like glass

[chefette]

Sinclair - for your textured top chocolates you could try using a chablon with the same shape as your chocolates placed on the acetate and just do the surface directly on the textured acetate then enrobe and place the chocolate onto the chocolate 'spots' so that you get your perfect textured and shiny tops. Just a thought - not sure it is sanctioned by the Chocolate Gods - but that is what the american frontier is all about - boldly trying things and seeing where they take us.

[Steve Klc]

You'll see that show up in other ways, too, Wendy, like if you try to do cutouts from a plastic sheet or transfer sheet--and you're working in a cool room or on a cool marble--you might want to put a wooden cutting board down underneath your plexiglass panel before you spread and then cut the chocolate--that cool marbe surface can shock the chocolate even through the plexiglass.

[Wendy DeBord]

Thanks again to both of you. It all makes sense. I'm very guilty of being in a huge hurry and on a tight budget (too cheap to cut my textured mats, since I pay for all this type of equipment). Thankfully my audience isn't chocolate knowledgable. BUT I do want to become better personally and will take your advice the next time I do similar.

[Lesley C]

Lesley--I have known at least one top French chocolatier who advocated putting polycarbonate molds in a dishwasher--on regular heat, with no soap and no dry cycle, with the cavities rubbed gently with cotton afterward. But though I can't prove it, I still feel a little leery about this--I always feel like it just spreads the film of the melted chocolate around on all the molds. But Jan, if you're working with standard professional polycarbonate molds, either clear or white, they'll hold up just fine in the dishwasher.

Yeah I love the dishwasher, but the truth is when making chocolates I always molded from a tempering machine (enrobeuse) so I never was turning out anything but ideal chocolates, so there was never the need to wash the molds. I always just scraped them clean. Wait, come to think of it I once did wash molds. I started at a new job and the fellow who was making chocolates there before me was spraying the molds with Pam because he didn't have a clue how to temper. Oy!

And Steve is so right. When chocolates are done properly they should look that shiny, be it in semisweet, or even milk and white. You should even go "wow" when then pop out of the moulds. It really is essential to work at the high end of the tempering scale to get the right fluidity and shine. And there's a whole technique of filling, tapping, emptying, scraping, and turning over molds when making molded chocolates. It takes a while to get right, to avoid those little bubbles, cracks, lines and so forth. But if you're working with the right teacher and obsessed enough, you'll eventually get it. Then there's no turning back.

[Samaki]

Thanks Leslie and Steve, that's what I was afraid of. I'll stick to my molds and truffles for now, but I am going to keep practicing on my own. If only I didn't live in the middle of nowhere.

And I completely understand the appreciation factor. When I first started I was so proud of my delicate, subtle flavors, but my customers wanted big and bold, so big and bold is what I do. And nobody but me seems to mind the imperfections. Of course, I make no claims to be particularly masterful at chocolate work, but I do well enough.

And as for spraying molds with Pam, <Jennifer faints!>