Microwave Temper Problem

I couldnt find a piece to my temper machine so I had to use the microwave. I put a cup of chocolate pieces in a microwave safe bowl then heated it to 118 degree in short 15-20 second bursts. I then let the chocolate cool to 95 degrees while stirring every little while. When it hit 95 I started to add my seed chocolate. Then I got the temp to 90 degrees. At this point I poured the chocolate on my candy and let it sit on the counter. When I came back a little while later it looked like this. What am I doing wrong?

updated by @bryan: 04/10/15 08:31:22AM

Hmm what's your room temperature? Did you make a temper test before pouring it?

Normal room temp I guess I live in San diego so humidity is not a problem. I put a little on wax paper then in the fridge and it looked ok when it came out. Now when I put the chocolate on my candy I let it sit out over night uncovered. I was reading that it could be a sugar bloom. If that's the case what do I need to do to stop that? Cover it?

Well if it's sugar bloom it's due to humidity. That looks like fat bloom and it could be because of your room temperature during the night perhaps or incorrect tempering. Try doing the temper test at room temp instead in the fridge to see how it comes out.

Your chocolate might need a cooler environment to take out the latent heat produced by cristallization itself. It might also be affected by the thickness of your piece.

Ok so what about putting it in the fridge for a bit? Also going by my method posted above what am I doing that could be corrected? The Candy the chocolate was on is about 1/2 inch thick

Since you are aware of air temperature and humidity issues, I will skip that. I think you need to alter your tempering method. Do the steps as you described them, but cool well below 90. I'd cool down to 80 and then slowly rewarm using the microwave on shorts bursts of time at reduced power. Stir a lot as you rewarm and I think that will help you. Tempering by hand is a different method than the one used by machines. Machines are able to control the process and elimintate unwanted crystals (leading to bloom) skipping the added step I described. I use this method all the time and it works very well.I'm also concerned about the amount of chocolate you are tempering. Did you mean to say you were tempering a cup of chocolate? It is very difficult to temper correctly the smaller amount you go.

AndreaCool to 80 then slowly bring it back up to say 86?I am trying to temper a cup at a time. I am just worried about wasting chocolate if I temper too much. I don't know what to do with the left over.

Also when you cool it tgat low when do you add your seed chocolate? It won't melt into the other chocolate.

Your working temperature depends on which type/brand of chocolate you are using. I only work with dark chocolate, so my working temp is 88-90. I'm sure there are other opinions on this, but I actually seed my chocolate at a warmer temp than you do. If all of your seed is melting out at the temp you add it, then I don't see any issue. All of the crystals you want (V) from your seed won't melt out if you cool to 70 and then rewarm because the different crystals melt out at different temperatures. As you rewarm you are eliminating the crystals you don't want and leaving behind the ones you do want.As for only doing a cup... Your chocolate isn't ruined or unusable if it has fat bloom or sugar bloom. Just simply remelt and try to temper again. Really the only time your chocolate is ruined is when is gets burnt from overheating. If you temper a larger batch just use a cookie sheet with sides, line it with parchment and pour your extra chocolate on it and allow it to set up. Even if the temper isn't correct you can still use the chocolate.Hope this helps. I think you will find it easier if you try to temper a larger batch. You don't get just one shot at tempering chocolate. Keep melting and retempering assuming it isn't scorched.

I am using a 33% milk chocolate. It's in little chips to make melting easier.An odd thing I will do the exact same temper nether and hand dip the pieces and when they cool there is no bloom.