Working Surfaces

[mrose]

You always hear people say that you use marble slabs for pastry & chocolate. Can you use granite in its place? Does it exhibit the same characteristics? If not what is the difference

Mark

[dejaq]

You always hear people say that you  use marble slabs for pastry & chocolate. Can you use granite in its place? Does it exhibit the same characteristics? If not what is the difference

Mark

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Years ago, when I studied with Jean Marie, he indicated that in France they played with evertyhing, even Corian, Marble is the only material that holds a temp of about 15 degrees less than ambient, I am sorry mark yeah it's expensive 1 1/4- 1 3/8" beveled polished ran (8 years ago) about $700.00 for an 8' x 2.5 slab. It doesn't have to be pretty, unless of course you have a showboat, it only has to be functional. You could spend more, one hell of a lot more, in a way it's too bad about granite, I have always had a fondness for uba Tubba, and Black Galaxy, where the hell did I get this Champagne taste anyway???

Michael

Edited May 30, 2006 by dejaq (log)

[cakedecorator1968]

I'm told.......

A marble company recently told me that marble will sratch when using hand tools so buy granite and that the 'thermal heat sink" property is better with granite.

Perhaps this company is biased because they build lots of granite counter tops???

[saltylj]

Well, if you just want something to work with for chocolate and pastry and low on budget, some places sell sutting board-like sized pieces of marble. That way you can table chocolate and use pastry but not break the bank.

[Kerry Beal]

I have used granite in place of marble quite sucessfully when all I am trying to do is cool down the chocolate to temper.

There is a place close to me that makes monuments and countertops and they have sold me the cutouts from sinks for a couple of bucks. They have also polished a big chunk of marble that my father rescued from a building demolition years ago, and for a gift for a friend a few years back they cut and polished a marble piece the size of a sheet pan for about $50.

[miladyinsanity]

I think if you go to to the Cooking forum, there was somebody who installed a small marble countertop for pastry/chocolate use. Just that section was marble, and the rest of the countertop area was something else.

[escry]

I use a 4ft x 4ft granite slab to temper chocolate. It works perfectly. Although it does not cool quite as effectively as marble, nor does it chip or scratch as easily.

Note not all granites (nor marbles) are the same. Whichever, choose a relatively hard one that does not chip.