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

[Amelia G]

Chris,

I loved the pictures on your blog but I loved them even more with the commentary. You have mastered in a very short time what some of us may never master...extraordinary!!!

Keep up the good work and the wonderful photo-essays.

Amelia

[emmalish]

Hmmm. I've just gone through Chocolat Chocolat's site and picked out all the molds I want. I now have 29 in my shopping cart. Too many...?

[Kerry Beal]

Hmmm. I've just gone through Chocolat Chocolat's site and picked out all the molds I want. I now have 29 in my shopping cart. Too many...? 

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NO!

[mrose]

Hmmm. I've just gone through Chocolat Chocolat's site and picked out all the molds I want. I now have 29 in my shopping cart. Too many...? 

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It's not too many if your pockets can handle it at one time. I wish I could do that.

[emmalish]

Heh. Trust me, it's WAY too many. I've gotten it down to 5. Five I can manage. Depending on shipping times, I may be trying out molded chocolates as early as next weekend. Woo!

In the meantime, I think I'm going to make caramels this weekend. I haven't tracked down caramel rulers (or a decent substitute) yet, so I'll just make them in a lined pan. I may or may not dip them.

[Kerry Beal]

Heh. Trust me, it's WAY too many. I've gotten it down to 5. Five I can manage. Depending on shipping times, I may be trying out molded chocolates as early as next weekend. Woo!

In the meantime, I think I'm going to make caramels this weekend. I haven't tracked down caramel rulers (or a decent substitute) yet, so I'll just make them in a lined pan. I may or may not dip them.

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Actually if you've got a silicone square cake pan - pour them in there. Works a treat for caramel. Can't recall who first mentioned it here on eG.

[emmalish]

Woo! I just got an email from Patrice at Sugar Arts, and he can meet me tomorrow morning. I may get my caramel rulers after all! And couverture and glucose and invert sugar and anything else I may need. Any suggestions or advice on what to buy to start out with?

[Kerry Beal]

Woo! I just got an email from Patrice at Sugar Arts, and he can meet me tomorrow morning. I may get my caramel rulers after all! And couverture and glucose and invert sugar and anything else I may need. Any suggestions or advice on what to buy to start out with?

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Is there a website link we can browse?

[emmalish]

His website doesn't give a comprehensive list of products...

...A distributor of Cacao Barry chocolate, Dominique Jarry Sugar Art carries over 30 different products in this line including wafers, slabs, powder, grué de cacao, cacao butter, and pailleté feuilletine. Other product lines include natural flavorings and a variety of food colors (water soluble, fat soluble, pastes and liquids).

From England, Italy, France, and the United States, Dominique Jarry Sugar Art also imports quality tools including cake decorating tools, silpats, various molds, mandolines, and copper pots, to name a few.

[Kerry Beal]

I'd probably look through Greweling - see what you'll need for the recipes you want to make.

[Chris Hennes]

If you're just getting started with Greweling, I would suggest picking up boxes of dark, milk and white wafers (easier to work with than bars, IMO), some cocoa butter, and some glucose. I find that most of the other stuff he calls for is relatively easy to track down, so that's what I started with. You can make a lot of his recipes with just those things and supermarket staples. Maybe add apple pectin to the list if you want to try his jellies.

[emmalish]

I'll definitely do that, Kerry. I had a quick look through last night and got a good feel for the ingredients I may need (and found a half dozen recipes I want to try right off the bat). And I think I know what basic equipment I'll need for both enrobed and molded chocolates.

I guess I was wondering about any helpful items you've found while working with chocolate that might not occur to a beginner? Like I see a lot of people use a heating pad in a bowl to keep their chocolalte warm while dipping. Or Chris' trick of using a cake slicer to wipe the bottom of his enrobed chocolates on to get rid of excess.

edited to say thanks, Chris! I was thinking that about the wafers vs bars as well.

Edited April 18, 2008 by emmalish (log)

[Chris Hennes]

I guess I was wondering about any helpful items you've found while working with chocolate that might not occur to a beginner? Like I see a lot of people use a heating pad in a bowl to keep their chocolalte warm while dipping. Or Chris' trick of using a cake slicer to wipe the bottom of his enrobed chocolates on to get rid of excess.

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Well, it's the opposite of the advice you're looking for, but I gave up on the heating pad thing. I found that especially when using milk, but even dark chocolate, I always ended up getting it just a little too warm at the edges of the bowl. So, with the PB&Js, once I got into a groove, I was dipping maybe 20-30 chocolates, then I would microwave for 5-6 seconds, stir like mad for 10 seconds, and dip 20-30 more chocolates. The PBJs had a perfect temper except for the one time I used the micro for 10 seconds instead of 5-6. And no extra equipment as long as you have a microwave .

I like to use Silpats (actually, generic non-Silpat silicone mats because I'm cheap) instead of parchment, since the bars won't slide around on it. I think that's a tip from John DePaula (sorry if I'm misattributing it, though).

[Kerry Beal]

I'll definitely do that, Kerry. I had a quick look through last night and got a good feel for the ingredients I may need (and found a half dozen recipes I want to try right off the bat). And I think I know what basic equipment I'll need for both enrobed and molded chocolates.

I guess I was wondering about any helpful items you've found while working with chocolate that might not occur to a beginner? Like I see a lot of people use a heating pad in a bowl to keep their chocolalte warm while dipping. Or Chris' trick of using a cake slicer to wipe the bottom of his enrobed chocolates on to get rid of excess.

edited to say thanks, Chris! I was thinking that about the wafers vs bars as well.

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Well, I'd start with a reliable thermometer, a scraper for molds, the right bowls for melting/tempering/holding your chocolate. I like a heat gun to warm the chocolate. I also like silicone spatulas that can go in the microwave (dollarama). A scale, dipping forks of some sort, piping bags, parchment.

I use glucose, invert sugar, essential oils, coverture in both bar and wafer form.

I second the apple pectin if you can find it, along with fruit purees.

[emmalish]

Well, I'd start with a reliable thermometer, a scraper for molds, the right bowls for melting/tempering/holding your chocolate.  I like a heat gun to warm the chocolate.  I also like silicone spatulas that can go in the microwave (dollarama).  A scale, dipping forks of some sort, piping bags, parchment.

I use glucose, invert sugar, essential oils, coverture in both bar and wafer form.

I second the apple pectin if you can find it, along with fruit purees.

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Essential oils! Excellent. Can always use those.

What do you use for a scraper? I've seen some instructions say to just use the edge of a chef's knife. I was thinking of using an offset spatula. Got all the other equipment already except the heating gun. When do you use that?

Chris, I saw earlier when you said you had problems with the heating pad. I was meaning to ask you how you kept the chocolate liquid throughout the enrobing process. Thanks! That makes sense.

[Chris Hennes]

Chris, I saw earlier when you said you had problems with the heating pad. I was meaning to ask you how you kept the chocolate liquid throughout the enrobing process. Thanks! That makes sense.

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Yeah, the real trick is to not be skimpy with the amount you temper: the more mass you have in the bowl, the slower it cools down. I just spread the leftovers out on parchment until it hardens, then break it up into little bits and add it back to the box. Then, be very gentle with the microwaving.

[Kerry Beal]

Essential oils! Excellent. Can always use those.

What do you use for a scraper? I've seen some instructions say to just use the edge of a chef's knife. I was thinking of using an offset spatula. Got all the other equipment already except the heating gun. When do you use that?

Chris, I saw earlier when you said you had problems with the heating pad. I was meaning to ask you how you kept the chocolate liquid throughout the enrobing process. Thanks! That makes sense.

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For a scraper I like the Ateco 1375 and I'll sometimes back that up with a 6" Richard drywall scraper that my dad has polished any burrs from.

I use the heat gun to warm up the chocolate when it gets cold and thick. See here - tempering demo.

[emmalish]

Oooh, I hadn't seen the tempering demo. Thanks for that link.

Well, we've suddenly got a great dump of snow here in Vancouver. I'm going to hold off on the trip to Sugar Arts until we've got better weather. It's a weekend to stay home, not drive an hour through the snow.

edited to say never mind, the snow was coming down hard and getting deep last night, but this morning it's almost all gone. So I'm going to get my toys today after all.

edited again to say I've been, and Patrice was wonderful. I got a couple molds, a stencil sheet (want to try those buckwheat beehives), dark, milk & white chocolate (pellets), some coloured cocoa butter, powdered cocoa butter (he recommended this – anyone else use it?), glucose, trimoline, & praline paste. For the latter three, instead of buying the huge 5kg pails, he suggested I go to the corner store and pick up a tupperware container and he sold me a smaller amount, which was a huge help. He didn't have the caramel rulers (would have to special order them), but he did have some bottomless cake forms so I got those (and I can use them for baking as well). AND, as if that weren't enough, he gave me a couple transfer sheets so I can play with that too. I had a great shopping day! I can't wait to play with all my toys!

I'm still planning to make caramel this weekend. I'll save the molded chocolates for later, after I've read through the book more thoroughly and decided which recipe I want to try first.

Edited April 19, 2008 by emmalish (log)

[merlicky]

I've actually had good luck using the heating pad technique. I guess the temperature depends on the heating pad you are using. The low setting on the one we have heats up to 87-88°F so it is the perfect temperature to keep the temper.

I just put the heating pad on top of a larger glass bowl and smush the glass bowl with my tempered chocolate right down into it. Even with the heating pad, I still have to hit the chocolate with the heat gun every once in a while, but typically only when I am enrobing large quantities of chocolates.

[alanamoana]

Chris, I saw earlier when you said you had problems with the heating pad. I was meaning to ask you how you kept the chocolate liquid throughout the enrobing process. Thanks! That makes sense.

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Yeah, the real trick is to not be skimpy with the amount you temper: the more mass you have in the bowl, the slower it cools down. I just spread the leftovers out on parchment until it hardens, then break it up into little bits and add it back to the box. Then, be very gentle with the microwaving.

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something i just figured out...a real 'doh' moment...after pouring the excess tempered chocolate out and spreading it rather thin, when it is about halfway set up i use a paring knife to score it into little squares. that way, when it is completely set up, i have even sized pieces of chocolate to use the next time and i don't have to break it up by hand.

[emmalish]

something i just figured out...a real 'doh' moment...after pouring the excess tempered chocolate out and spreading it rather thin, when it is about halfway set up i use a paring knife to score it into little squares.  that way, when it is completely set up, i have even sized pieces of chocolate to use the next time and i don't have to break it up by hand.

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Clever! I'm stealing that.

[renam]

Hello everyone! I just ordered Razzel Dust to color my molds with. I've never done this before and I know there is a thread out there about it but I thought I'd just go ahead ask anyway. What is the best way to work with this? It says you can add vodka and make a mix and then apply to molded chocolates or the molds itself. Can I add it to white chocoalte (cocoa butter) and then apply it to the molds? I ordered from yourchocolateshop.com. I have raspberry, blue, copper and bronze. My church is have a 'Chocolate Sunday' coming up Mothers Day weekend where everyone brings something chocolate and I wanted to bring some molded chocolates with the razzel dust on the chocolates.

Thanks in advance for your input...

Rena

[Kerry Beal]

Hello everyone!  I just ordered Razzel Dust to color my molds with.  I've never done this before and I know there is a thread out there about it but I thought I'd just go ahead ask anyway.  What is the best way to work with this?  It says you can add vodka and make a mix and then apply to molded chocolates or the molds itself.  Can I add it to white chocoalte (cocoa butter) and then apply it to the molds?  I ordered from yourchocolateshop.com.  I have raspberry, blue, copper and bronze.  My church is have a 'Chocolate Sunday' coming up Mothers Day weekend where everyone brings something chocolate and I wanted to bring some molded chocolates with the razzel dust on the chocolates. 

Thanks in advance for your input...

Rena

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I'd either dust the molds with it dry (using a nice plooshy makeup brush) or mix with cocoa butter and paint into mold. If you mix with white chocolate, you'll lose the dazzle.

[emmalish]

When I picked up my supplies on the weekend, I asked for coloured cocoa butter, but I didn't look at it until I got home. It's actually AmeriColor Oil Candy Color. Dang. I've checked their website and it says it can be mixed with white chocolate. Do you think it would be safe to mix with cocoa butter? Or can it be brushed into the mold as-is? Or do I need to experiment?

[Kerry Beal]

When I picked up my supplies on the weekend, I asked for coloured cocoa butter, but I didn't look at it until I got home. It's actually AmeriColor Oil Candy Color. Dang. I've checked their website and it says it can be mixed with white chocolate. Do you think it would be safe to mix with cocoa butter? Or can it be brushed into the mold as-is? Or do I need to experiment?

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If you can mix it with white chocolate you should be able to mix it with cocoa butter. I wouldn't brush it in the molds as is though.