The results are not quite as shiny and perfect as the traditional method of tempering, but your chocolate coatings will still gleam and snap. And this method uses the microwave , so it's super-fast and easy.
The first part of the video is an in-depth explanation of the crystal structure of cocoa butter plus a demonstration of how those crystals work during the traditional melting process. The microwave method starts at First, they took three-fourths of the chocolate they wanted to temper and chopped it into fine pieces.
They then placed it in a glass bowl and microwaved at half power until it was nearly, but not totally, melted. Next, they removed the bowl to stir the chocolate. Next, they added the remaining chocolate also finely chopped , stirred it well into the melted mixture, and microwaved it in five-second internals until it was completely melted.
Since the chocolate doesn't get too hot during melting, the beta crystals remain, just as they do in the tempering shortcut I mentioned before. Adding unmelted chopped chocolate with their intact beta crystals then act as "seed crystals" to ensure that the melted chocolate mixture forms even more beta crystals. Ready to start? I suggest you have at least 24 ounces grams of chocolate when you start to temper. I know it sounds like a lot, and a big monetary commitment, but this amount gives you enough to work with when you are dipping or molding.
Also, it is much easier to control temperatures and not overheat when you have a mass of chocolate. At my former shop, "au Chocolat," we sold our bulk chocolate in one-pound g round bars so I could easily show that a one-pound 16 oz.
That is not a lot of chocolate mass in which to dip something. Chop the chocolate into small pieces. The smaller the pieces, the quicker your chocolate will melt and temper.
Set aside about 25 to 30 percent of the chocolate. There is no need to be exact on this measurement, as you just want enough unmelted, tempered chocolate to start the seeding process. Place the remaining 70 to 75 percent of chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on half-power, being very careful to stir the mixture every minute until it is almost completely melted, which should take about four to five minutes.
Remove the bowl of chocolate from the microwave and stir to cool it slightly. Removing the bowl before all the chocolate is completely melted will help prevent over heating. Those last bits of solid chocolate will melt as you stir. Using a thermometer, check the temperature of the melted chocolate - it should be between:. Start adding handfuls of the grated chocolate you set aside to the melted chocolate. Stir in the seeding chocolate bits continuously until the desired temperature see below is reached and the bits have dissolved completely.
This could take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the temperature of your environment. Your chocolate should now be tempered. Make sure to stir the tempered chocolate and check the temperature during the time you are using it for dipping or molding. You can put the tempered chocolate mass in the microwave for 10 - 15 seconds at half-power if the temperature starts to drop. Why is this? It's because cocoa fat, the primary constituent in chocolate that gives it its solid texture, can form various types of crystals ranging from loose and unstable to well-structured and firm.
Tempering is the process of heating chocolate to a series of precisely defined temperatures and working it in order to maximize its chances of forming a tight, stable structure.
Well-tempered chocolate should set up with a smooth, lightly glossy finish and a firm snap. Poorly tempered chocolate may appear mottled, spotted, or pale, with a soft, sometimes grainy texture. Sounds confusing, right? But it's actually pretty simple. It helps to think of cocoa fat as a bag that's filled with lego bricks along with an army of elves on-call to snap them together.
The goal is to get those elves to assemble all of the lego bricks into a solid, stable wall. Depending on the temperature range at which you hold the chocolate, these bricks get assembled in different ways. Lower the temperature too rapidly and you'll end up forming very unstable crystals, creating chocolate that doesn't firm up properly and has a dull appearance.
If you want to get into more nitty gritty details, chocolate crystals form into six distinct shapes Forms I through VI , each type of crystal forming and melting at a specific temperature range. Is all this talk of molecules and crystals numbing your brain? Yeah, it does that to me too. But don't worry, most of this is stuff you don't really need to know to get your chocolate to temper correctly.
If you love this kind of nerd-talk, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Peter Greweling's Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner for a more in-depth discussion with pretty graphs and charts. Say you're tempering a batch of chocolate and your mother-in-law calls from the land of in-laws and you end up tempering while distracted with a phone tucked between your cheek and your shoulder. What's the worst that can happen?
Actually, it's pretty bad. In some cases irreversible. Here are the three worst case scenarios. Scenario 1: Water. Chocolate has no water in it. Chocolate hates water. Even a single drop of water falling into a bowl of melted chocolate can destroy it. As soon as that drop falls in, the crystal structure of the the entire bowl of chocolate will break very rapidly and you'll end up with a grainy, broken mess that cannot be recovered.
This is a chocolatier's worst nightmare. You have been warned. Scenario 2: Overheating. Pastry and confectioners will refer to chocolate "burning. In point of fact, the chocolate isn't really burning, but it does break down to the point where it'll seize up into an unrecoverable state.
Just as with the water scenario, if your chocolate hits this stage, you're gonna have to head back to the store for a fresh batch. Scenario 3: Overcooling. Say you're tempering your chocolate and you're at the cooling phase.
You end up forming too many Form III or lower crystals, all of which can inhibit you from forming good Form V crystals later on when you reheat it. This is not the end of the world.
With the science lesson out of the way, let's jump straight into the techniques. Advantages: Requires no special equipment other than a thermometer.
Disadvantages: Least foolproof. Requires a minimum of 12 ounces of chocolate. Lots of clean-up. Lots of wasted chocolate in the bowl and on the spatula. The Short Version: Melt at least a half pound of chocolate by stirring it in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water or by microwaving it in a bowl at 30 second intervals, stirring between each stint in the microwave. Dip or pour as desired.
The Long Version:. Will definitely come back to this again and again. I have found that keeping the chocolate in temper is sometimes the trickiest part. The KitchenAid Precise Heat Bowl helps with this because it keeps the chocolate agitated while maintaining the working temperature.
This is exactly how my chef-sister taught me how to do it, except she melts the chocolate slowly and carefully! Also, make sure you are using very good quality chocolate - the cheap stuff doesn't have a high enough cocoa butter content and just turns into an awful, unworkable mass at the recommended temperatures.
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