Forum Activity for @garfoid

garfoid
@garfoid
07/17/17 01:06:54
16 posts

Tempering ganache?


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Dallas:

I temper ganaches in filled bonbons 100% of the time. The difference is night and day.

Cheers Dallas.

Do you just table it? What about truffles? 

garfoid
@garfoid
07/15/17 06:02:53
16 posts

Tempering ganache?


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

I've been reading through chocolate confections by p. Greweling and if you see the extract I've attached you'll get what I mean. I've never tempered ganache before. What do you guys think?
IMG-20170715-WA0002.jpg IMG-20170715-WA0002.jpg - 154KB
garfoid
@garfoid
07/08/17 06:03:13
16 posts

Your favourite offset spatula brand?


Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools


Hey guys, i'm in the market for a good set of offset spatulas to buy. I have a good budget so I want some good quality ones, amazon reviews are tricky to trust these days so I wanted to ask some pros!

Any recommendations?

Cheers!

garfoid
@garfoid
07/06/17 23:10:31
16 posts

Making small chocolate balls


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

My one final, final idea is to buy some cheap food grade silicone to make your own mould and pour it over a few dozen marbles/ball bearings of the right size or 3D printed spheres or something like that, glued down. spaced closely and not poured too deep you should be able to get a lot of moulds from around a 2kg silicone mix. 

There are a 2 methods you could use.

Put them half in clay, pour silicone over, remove clay, pour silicone over second half and then fill both halves and then fuse them together once set with some extra chocolate. 

Or just glue to a base and squeeze out them through the small gap/make the gap bigger with a scalpel. 

I won't come up with any more ideas! 

garfoid
@garfoid
07/06/17 12:09:47
16 posts

Dehumidifier Box


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Sure, I mean buy a portable dehumidifier and store it in the winter? 

garfoid
@garfoid
07/06/17 04:32:23
16 posts

Making small chocolate balls


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques


The only method I can think of is a tumbler style. Putting all the chocolate cubes into a mixer and letting it tumble like a cement mixer. They may stick together so starch could be used, but i'd imagine they'd get round pretty fast and this wouldn't take too long. 

Best of luck! Let us know how it works out? 


updated by @garfoid: 07/06/17 04:32:42
garfoid
@garfoid
07/05/17 09:55:16
16 posts

Dehumidifier Box


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Why not dehumidify the whole room? To save building a box? 

garfoid
@garfoid
07/05/17 09:52:10
16 posts

Making small chocolate balls


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Couldn't you cut the blocks into the rough sizes you want and then, with gloves, roll it into balls like truffles? Keeping your hands hot might just round the corners to give you a sphere shape? Failing that, do they have to be balls? Can't they be cubes? 

garfoid
@garfoid
06/29/17 19:03:05
16 posts

DIY Chocolate Molds - Revisited Topic I think


Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

3d print the positive and seal with an epoxy resin. Then make the negative using food safe silicone. I tried using 3d printed abs as a test run for personal use. Cleaning it was a nightmare and heating and cooling warped it. Not to mention the potential bacteria growth in-between poolry sealed layers. It's much easier, faster and more reliable to print a positive, have a low infil and then do what I said. If you have a very soft silicone it's even better since you can get away with having a single piece mould rather than a two piece. The key is 100000% in the prep of the positive. If you rush it or use the wrong resin to seal it you end up with the lines transfering into your moulds and then chocolate.

By sealing I mean sealing the ridges of each layer. Anotjer option I've explored is vacum forming using APET Plastic. It's food grade and usually comes around 5mm thick so it's dead durable. But it's expensive and requires a beefy vac former.


Screenshot_20170630-035541.jpg Screenshot_20170630-035541.jpg - 334KB
garfoid
@garfoid
06/29/17 04:20:57
16 posts

What is the point in paraffin wax?


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

- Clay

Thanks so much for that i've had a really hard look and read through it! I appreciate you keeping it simple for me too!

Thaanks alot!

garfoid
@garfoid
06/28/17 06:15:03
16 posts

What is the point in paraffin wax?


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Kerry:

Paraffin was commonly used in home made chocolates when I was a kid to avoid tempering - it is not used in chocolate these days.

Thanks for the reply Kerry, what would you say to people who claim that it is in cheaper chocolate bars, especially in hotter climates? 

garfoid
@garfoid
06/27/17 12:11:24
16 posts

Sharing: Podcast episode about current cocoa surplus. Article about chocolate made at origin.


Posted in: News & New Product Press

Subscribed on Pocket Casts! Thanks so much for this! It's great! 

garfoid
@garfoid
06/27/17 12:09:08
16 posts

chocolate mold warmer?


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Maybe its stupid, but a low tech solution would be a brick you've kept in an oven at a low temperature over night, then turn the oven off, leaving the brick in there and it should maintain a warm temperature without getting too hot? 

garfoid
@garfoid
06/27/17 12:00:03
16 posts

What is the point in paraffin wax?


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques


Hey guys! 

I'm just curious as to what parafin wax does. Obviously being a wax, it helps the chocolate to set, well kinda 'forces' it to set around the wax molecules, giving it a higher melting point.

Is wax common in mass chocolate production? I can't find any manufacturer with an ingredient as 'wax' but there are so many claims, I just want to understand why. 

Any help is appreciated! 

Cheers!

Gareth 


updated by @garfoid: 06/29/17 04:21:57
garfoid
@garfoid
06/27/17 11:50:01
16 posts

Hey From The UK/Turkey!


Posted in: Allow Me to Introduce Myself


Hey! I'm a Brit currently living in Turkey, although i'll be returning home soon to start my business there!

I own a novelty chocolate company, the details are super secret right now, but once we're launching i'll announce it here! 

I love designing my own moulds on Fusion 360, 3D printing them and casting them with food safe silicone! I'll be asking lots of questions so its a good start to introduce myself!