To control your temper…
(A late edition of Scholarship Sundays)
Okay, you want to mold some decadent dark chocolate into little chocolate stars for your picnic.
So you buy a hunk from your local gourmet food store and it sits on your counter, staring you down. What next? You go straight to melting it and immediately pouring it into molds.
But after a sticky mess, all you’ll be left with is a dull looking whimper of the original chocolate.
Why me!?? You ask this as you lean against the counter, your hands a complete brown mess.
I’ll tell you why, because you did not temper it, naughty girl or boy!
Temper? What’s that, you ask.
Tempering, my dear friend, is the way you control your melting chocolate so that it can crystallize into the crisp, crunchy, shiny delicious chocolate you want.
Oh wise one, you ask, how do I do this?
Quite simply, be sure that as you begin melting your chocolate over a double boiler you check that the temperature of your chocolate does not exceed 110-115 degrees F. (Beyond that you will have burned chocolate.) Afterwards, you turn the heat source off and begin to put chunks of chocolate into the melted bowl and continue mixing. When the temperature of the chocolate is no warmer than you lower lip, then it is time to start pouring it into your mold.
My lower lip! Why?
Well, because that temperature (about 88-90 F) is in around the best for the crystallization to form where it will end up firming into a shiny, crunchy delicious looking chocolate. That’s what you want right?
Okay, you want to mold some decadent dark chocolate into little chocolate stars for your picnic.
So you buy a hunk from your local gourmet food store and it sits on your counter, staring you down. What next? You go straight to melting it and immediately pouring it into molds.
But after a sticky mess, all you’ll be left with is a dull looking whimper of the original chocolate.
Why me!?? You ask this as you lean against the counter, your hands a complete brown mess.
I’ll tell you why, because you did not temper it, naughty girl or boy!
Temper? What’s that, you ask.
Tempering, my dear friend, is the way you control your melting chocolate so that it can crystallize into the crisp, crunchy, shiny delicious chocolate you want.
Oh wise one, you ask, how do I do this?
Quite simply, be sure that as you begin melting your chocolate over a double boiler you check that the temperature of your chocolate does not exceed 110-115 degrees F. (Beyond that you will have burned chocolate.) Afterwards, you turn the heat source off and begin to put chunks of chocolate into the melted bowl and continue mixing. When the temperature of the chocolate is no warmer than you lower lip, then it is time to start pouring it into your mold.
My lower lip! Why?
Well, because that temperature (about 88-90 F) is in around the best for the crystallization to form where it will end up firming into a shiny, crunchy delicious looking chocolate. That’s what you want right?
posted by Shakti at 4:05 PM
3 Comments:
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