SO.
I do believe I've figured out how to actually temper with the not-so-precise precise heat mixing bowl. There's a 'chocolate' button on the bowl, but we've already decided it doesn't work the way that it should (since the bowl heats from the bottom and not around the bowl). So on the advice of you fine people here at Discover Chocolate, lol, I decided to play around with the settings to see if i could find something that works. I have, and I will share it with you just in case anyone wants to get one and doesn't want to go through the trials and tribulations of figuring it out And hey - maybe someone will be doing a google search about it and find this post!
-Starting with a kilo of solid chocolate that has been chopped OR a kilo of chocolate drops/wafers -
1. Add 10% of chocolate to the mixing bowl and manually set the bowl to preheat to 135°F.
2. Melt 2/3 of the chocolate in the microwave.
At this point a some (if not most) of the chocolate in the bowl will have already melted.
3. Add the chocolate that you melted in the microwave to the PHMB (<--- strong="">Precise H eat M ixing B owl) and set your mixer to stir.
4. Once the PHMB has completly melted all of the chocolate, turn OFF the bowl as well as the mixer . Check the temperature with a thermometer you trust.
5. When the bowl hits around 118° for dark, 110° for milk and white, add a handful of seed and wait for it to melt.
6. One it has, turn the bowl back ON and set the temperature to about 95°F for dark chocolate and about 90°F for milk or white chocolate.
7. Continue to add your seed chocolate, a little bit at a time.
I've found it helps to be doing something else in the kitchen while youre doing this - haha.
8. Every time you add seed, wait for the temperature on the bowl to drop by...mayyyyybe, 2-3°, before adding the next bit of chocolate.
9. Once the bowl has hit the target temperature of 95° or 90°, check the temperature with your thermometer and (all fingers crossed) you should be in the right temperature zone for tempered chocolate (88-90 for dark and 84-86 for milk and white).
10. Stop the stirring, and only turn it on when the temperature (of the thermometer, not the bowl - because the bowl holds at the temperature you've set it to) of the chocolate (test the 'top' of the chocolate, since this is what cools first), dips below the range for the chocolate youve chosen to temper. The action of the stirring will....kick up, for lack of a better word, the warmer chocolate at the bottom of the bowl, and mix it in with the cooloer chocolate. Periodically stop stirring and check the temp with a thermometer to see if your back in range yet.
Now, I've tried the above method around 5 times, and each time it has worked for me. So HOPEFULLY, it can help someone else!!
Have fun and keep chocolating!!
-Lauren
updated by @krummskreations: 03/31/16 14:12:24