Cooking with "Chocolates and Confections" by Peter Greweling (Part 1)

[John DePaula]

and remember to stir the chocolate occasionally while you're dipping.

i think your dipping looks great!

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Indeed! Chris, the dipping looks excellent, really!

[Kerry Beal]

Chris,

I'm totally impressed with what you have accomplished in such a short time. Your dipping looks pretty darn good to me.

How about some caramels next?

And then maybe some sponge toffee. I really like Grewelings sponge toffee. I chop it into big chunks, dip in milk chocolate to which I've added about 20% dark chocolate, then chop the large chunks into smaller chunks so you can see the sponge.

[Chris Hennes]

I'm totally impressed with what you have accomplished in such a short time.  Your dipping looks pretty darn good to me.

Thanks - of course, I picked the one decent-looking specimen to photograph . I really appreciate all of your willingness to post your tips and tricks -- it's not like I'm really starting from ground zero here. I read through this entire thread before getting started, so I had a leg up. Lots off good info here and over in the other confections threads. Of course, no one mentions how hard it is to tell the top of a ganache when it falls off your fork after it's been covered in chocolate. I think several of today's attempts are sideways or upside-down .

[carol lang]

Chris,

I think your habanos look great.

I really enjoyed your step by step photos too.

How many did you make? Was it the full recipe or did you make a smaller batch?

If it is a smaller batch, what method did you use to reduce the recipe.

Carol

[John DePaula]

I'm totally impressed with what you have accomplished in such a short time.  Your dipping looks pretty darn good to me.

Thanks - of course, I picked the one decent-looking specimen to photograph . I really appreciate all of your willingness to post your tips and tricks -- it's not like I'm really starting from ground zero here. I read through this entire thread before getting started, so I had a leg up. Lots off good info here and over in the other confections threads. Of course, no one mentions how hard it is to tell the top of a ganache when it falls off your fork after it's been covered in chocolate. I think several of today's attempts are sideways or upside-down .

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Chris, are you putting a thin pre-coat of chocolate on the ganache before cutting? If I've dropped a piece in a pan of chocolate, I can usually tell which side is up by tap tap tapping the piece.

[Chris Hennes]

How many did you make?   Was it the full recipe or did you make a smaller batch?

If it is a smaller batch,  what method did you use to reduce the recipe.

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I made a half recipe, so I just directly scaled the metric units by 0.5. Of course, I made the thickness the recipe specified, just cut the area in half (I used 8x9 instead of 12x12). I think after casualties and "samples" I ended up with about 60.

Chris, are you putting a thin pre-coat of chocolate on the ganache before cutting?  If I've dropped a piece in a pan of chocolate, I can usually tell which side is up by tap tap tapping the piece.

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Yeah, that's a good idea. I did pre-coat the bottoms (which was also a challenge, to spread out evenly before it hardened...), but I didn't think to try to identify the dropped truffles' bottoms any way but visually, which was a losing battle.

Edited January 1, 2008 by Chris Hennes (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Yeah, that's a good idea. I did pre-coat the bottoms (which was also a challenge, to spread out evenly before it hardened...), but I didn't think to try to identify the dropped truffles' bottoms any way but visually, which was a losing battle.

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Chris,

If you drop your chocolate into the pool with the pre-coated side up, use the tines of your fork to touch the pre-coated side closest to you and push it down, flipping over the chocolate and having it end up on your fork precoated side down.

Did we link you to Alana's dipping demo yet?

[Chris Hennes]

If you drop your chocolate into the pool with the pre-coated side up, use the tines of your fork to touch the pre-coated side closest to you and push it down, flipping over the chocolate and having it end up on your fork precoated side down. 

Did we link you to Alana's dipping demo yet?

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Yeah, that demo was very helpful. My problem was that I was getting a little too vigorous when I tapped the chocolate to the surface to pull the excess off and sometimes would lose balance of the chocolate on the fork. I was trying to place the chocolate right at the edge of the fork tines, overhanging a little to make it release cleanly when I put it on the parchment, and sometimes it was just overhanging too far to be stable.

Edited January 1, 2008 by Chris Hennes (log)

[Irishgirl]

Bending the fork helped this problem for me.

But I had the same problem. Practice makes perfect!

[tammylc]

If you drop your chocolate into the pool with the pre-coated side up, use the tines of your fork to touch the pre-coated side closest to you and push it down, flipping over the chocolate and having it end up on your fork precoated side down. 

Did we link you to Alana's dipping demo yet?

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Yeah, that demo was very helpful. My problem was that I was getting a little too vigorous when I tapped the chocolate to the surface to pull the excess off and sometimes would lose balance of the chocolate on the fork. I was trying to place the chocolate right at the edge of the fork tines, overhanging a little to make it release cleanly when I put it on the parchment, and sometimes it was just overhanging too far to be stable.

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I tell the people in my truffle workshop that if they're never losing truffles off the fork and having to re-dip them, then they don't have them near enough to the end! It's better to have to re-dip a few than to have them stuck on the fork.

Like everyone else, I'm also totally impressed at the progress you've made! If you're reading to invest in some more toys, you could buy some molds and try out molded pieces next.

[Lior]

Chris, you really are amazing. I have been practicing on and off for 2 years and I believe you are better!! I was actually in a bad mood since I did not have a successful day chocolate -wise and then I come here and see your beauties!!! You are evidently a gut of multi - intelligences! Nowa question after all the compliments: How do you cut your bon bons? I am not doing an accurate job! It drives me crazy.

[Chris Hennes]

Chris, you really are amazing. I have been practicing on and off for 2 years and I believe you are better!! I was actually in a bad mood since I did not have a successful day chocolate -wise and then I come here and see your beauties!!! You are evidently a gut of multi -  intelligences! Nowa question after all the compliments: How do you cut your bon bons? I am not doing an accurate job! It drives me crazy.

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I appreciate all the compliments! I too had a very difficult time cutting the ganache. I thought the key would be getting the lines marked out evenly, but that wasn't the case. Once they were marked I used a gently-heated paring knife to cut along the lines, but the friction of the knife still cause the ganache to deform. I totally understand the necessity of a guitar in a professional operation! This took a long time and didn't result in very clean cuts. I get the feeling that my dipped chocolates would have looked better if I wasn't starting out with so many nooks and crannies in the ganache, so I am going to work harder at this next time. I bought some thin-gauge wire, but didn't get around to trying it because I couldn't think of a way of making it go all the way through to the bottom. I have an idea on that now (of course! after I needed it...). I also have one of those cheapo wire cake slicers that I bet I could get it to work like a one-stringed guitar if the ganache was relatively soft. I am thinking of placing the ganache slab on two pieces of plywood separated by about a millimeter, with the crack between them aligned with where I want to cut through. Time consuming, but I'm hoping that the action of the wire will deform the ganache less. What do you think?

[tammylc]

I think - just like with truffles - that not having perfectly square pieces is fine for a small chocolatier. Your items are not machine made carbon copies - that's part of the charm!

I score my ganache slab to the size piece that i want. Then I cut the larger slab into smaller sizes to work with - if I have an 8x8 slab, for example, I'll start by cutting it into quarters and cut each of those into strips, then into individual pieces. I use the narrowest edge knife I have, sharpen it well before cutting, and clean the blade off after every or every other cut.

It's time consuming, but I get pretty good results, and it will have to do until I can buy or make a guitar cutter...

[Chris Hennes]

It's time consuming, but I get pretty good results, and it will have to do until I can buy or make a guitar cutter...

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I think your definition of "pretty good" and mine are different! If I got the phenomenal-looking ganache centers you do I would be thrilled. That's the level of uniformity I'm shooting for -- I don't want them to be "machine-made," but some of mine are a really, umm... "rustic".

[Lior]

Well that is what my husband said- hand made should not look perfect. However mine are far too imperfect. I am always thinking of a solution.

If I do I will let you know!

editted to add: My husband keeps saying he will look at the instructions for the homemade guitar. I hope he does eventually. So, don't think that this wonderful effort (of the guitar instructions) and all is forgotten or ignored. I think it is incredibly nice of you to post it.

Edited January 2, 2008 by Lior (log)

[KKLL00b]

I used to worry about making "perfect" truffles, but then then when I gave the truffles to friends/customers, they remarked, "Wow, handmade truffles", so I stopped worrying about it. I tried several techniques of hand rolling and wand dipping to see which would work best and found that I can use them all to vary the presentation of the truffles. By controlling the viscosity of the chocolate, I can get a very coarse texture when hand rolling with a "thick" chocolate and a smoother texture if I hand roll with a "thin, less viscous" chocolate. If I want a really smooth texture I will dip with a wand or fork.

As for cutting truffles...

I came up with a "compromise" between using a guitar and hot dry knife to cut my ganache slabs. It's not as fast as the guitar, but I think it's a bit faster that cleaning the hot knife after each cut.

I use an 8 X 8 cake pan, which yields a slab that is 7.75 X 7.75 inches. After precoating the bottom with chocolate, I mark the top of the slab into a 10 X 10 grid which results in each piece being about .77 in/ 19mm square. I quarter the slab so I have four smaller squares, then cut each of them into five "strips", then cut each strip into five pieces. I use a thin-bladed kitchen knife to make each cut. If the ganache sticks to the blade, I take a thin paring knife and run it between the blade and ganache on each side. This effectively "self cleans" the blade to prepare it for the next cut and you don't have to deal with cleaning and heating the blade. The cuts are not as clean, but the enrobing will hide the imperfections. I run the paring knife from the handle of the kitchen knife towards the tip to lessen the chance of any "accidents" if the paring knife slips. It's safer to cut away from your hand rather than towards your hand.

[Lior]

Oh thank you for the advice! I will find out exactly what a paring knife is and if I don't have one I will get one and try.

[Chris Hennes]

I made the Almond Dragees today (more photos here):

These things are pretty tasty - I don't know what they are supposed to look like, but I figure this must be pretty close, since he says that they are supposed to be somewhat rustic (not shiny like panned coated almonds, etc.)

[Kerry Beal]

I made the Almond Dragees today (more photos here):

These things are pretty tasty - I don't know what they are supposed to look like, but I figure this must be pretty close, since he says that they are supposed to be somewhat rustic (not shiny like panned coated almonds, etc.)

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Nicely done Chris. You'll be buying a coating pan next!

[Desiderio]

Chris those look amazing, I think they look just perfect, and I love your site :-)

[Chris Hennes]

I made the Almond Dragees today (more photos here):

These things are pretty tasty - I don't know what they are supposed to look like, but I figure this must be pretty close, since he says that they are supposed to be somewhat rustic (not shiny like panned coated almonds, etc.)

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Nicely done Chris. You'll be buying a coating pan next!

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Thanks - next on the list is still caramels (these were just to tide me over until I have a little free time) -- I've got some stainless steel rod on order to make a frame with, since I wasn't happy with my makeshift wooden one from the habanos.

Chris those look amazing, I think they look just perfect, and I love your site :-)

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Thanks - one of the biggest challenges of these was taking the photos, since a lot of the process is time-sensitive (you don't want to risk burning the almonds!).

[tmgrobyn]

I am doing the happy dance! I got Grewling's and Wybauw's books for Christmas. I'll be joining you all in the fun soon! WHen I flipped through Wybauw's book I actually got goosebumps!

Everything in this thread has me thinking I can do this. Thank you all for your sharing and experience in paving this road for me!

[Lior]

let us know how it goes and don't forget pictures!! Good Luck!

[mukki]

I love passionfruit and would like to try to make a passionfruit caramel filling based on Grewling's caramel cream filling (p. 210), which looks like the fluidity I want. Now that I've got all my materials (chocolate, molds, passionfruit puree), I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction. Should I just sub passionfruit puree for part of the heavy cream? Any opinions on how much to start? I'd like a strong passionfruit flavor to come through.

Here's the breakdown for Grewling's caramel cream filling:

sugar 570 g/ 20 oz

lemon juice 1/4 tsp

heavy cream 290 g/ 10 oz

butter 140 g/ 5 oz

[equality5271]

hah! i've been talking about doing the same thing. (over in the thread about flavored caramels). the more i think about it, the more i'm figuring it out.

i'm very familiar with that recipe (greweling's).

I believe you are definitely on the right track with the cream idea. If i did it, I would not use any cream..and substitute reduced passionfruit puree (by half). Now, the problem with this is that the water activity is too high and this could spoil. So, i would add more fat to counteract this. I believe my reasoning is in Greweling's book somewhere about water activity or spoilage. Something about free water and bound water. Basically, i would add more butter to compensate not having the fat from the cream.

So, i would either simply add the reduced passion puree instead of the cream. how much, i dunno. if it's not enough, you could always add more puree (or cream)

...or add the reduced passion puree instead of the cream and some additional butter. how much, i dunno.

all of this is a shot in the dark. our answers lie within a water activity meter. maybe someone could help us out with this. i'm sure someone has done this before and been successful