Best Chocolate To Temper And Melt?

Sugar Work By smile22 Updated 21 Jan 2013 , 7:23pm by mightydragon663

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smile22 Posted 21 Jan 2013 , 6:34pm
post #1 of 2

so i am looking for some good chocolate that i can get in my local store like a grocery store or a specialty store that i can use for melting and tempering, i usually get the nestles morsels or the store brand morsels but i find that they don't melt well and don't work well with chocolate molds. i bought some of the cookie molds the other day to make chocolate covered oreos i used wilton brand and when i went to pop out the cookies the molds broke. 

 

any brands that will work well to melt and temper chocolate 

any place i can get some better quality molds. 

 

and whats the best method to melt chocolate over a double broiler? microwave.? and how do u keep the chocolate thin and melty when you have a lot of chocolate things you want to make. do you use a chocolate melter? a crock pot to melt it.

 

my expertiese is cupcakes but i have done cake pops in the past and want to get into more chocolate making stuff 

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mightydragon663 Posted 21 Jan 2013 , 7:23pm
post #2 of 2

I'll have to admit, the only chocolate I have found in my grocery store, does not come in large quantities and certainly is not reasonably priced.  That said, I usually use Guittard chocolate and I get it at the Colorado Nut Company in Denver.

 

Please keep in mind that tempering chocolate is time consuming and challenging at first, so you will want to practice as much as possible before you have to do it for real.

 

What you will need:

At least one pound of Chocolate.  The only fat it should contain is cocoa butter.

pot of hot water,

bowl, I prefer to use a stoneware bowl

good digital thermometer

spatulas

parchment paper

 

1.  melt your chocolate gently!!!  Do not overheat chocolate.  Try to keep the temperature around 106-110 F.  Never over 110 F.  I generally melt my chocolate in microwave in 1 minute intervals. 

 

2.  once melted stir gently off heat until the temperature is around 95 F.  Add a few pieces of chocolate that are already tempered.  It will help your melted chocolate start to form the proper Beta crystals,  

 

3.  Once the added chocolate is pretty much melted, paint with your finger, a streak of the chocolate on the parchment paper.  Note the temperature and continue stirring chocolate.  For every degree the temperature falls, make additional streaks of chocolate on parchment, also noting the temperature.  The chocolate should dry within a minute or thereabouts, and should be shiny.  I generally find that the Guittard dark chocolate tempers at 92 ish F. 

 

4.  Once you find the temperature in which your chocolate tempers, you will want to maintain it at closely as possible.  If it starts to cool to put your bowl on top of the pot of hot water to increase the temperature slowly. 

 

4.  If the temperature falls too low, for me below 88 F, you will have to start the whole process over.  However, since the chocolate is already melted, you can usually heat it to 96 F and that will shorten the process a little. 

 

A well tempered chocolate should be shiny, have a nice snap and a smooth feel in your mouth. 

Dark chocolate is much easier to temper than milk chocolate or white chocolate, which isn't technically chocolate.

 

Hope that helps.  Good luckicon_biggrin.gif

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