Forum Activity for @Kerry

The splitting happens when the wire cuts the plastic. Sometimes the wires get deflected in their decent and they can damage the plastic.

I have a small Dedy - it's a beautiful thing! The large Dedy was as well - it's in use elsewhere these days. I know that one of the eGullet Matt's has a small Martellato and he has found it works well for what he does. The Martellato actually has a slightly larger bed than the Dedy so cuts more pieces for the size which is an advantage I'd say. It's not a double though.

The objection I have to the Martellato's is the plastic - I've seen some where the raised plastic edge gets splits in it - then it is the thing that catches then breaks the wires as they come down.

Changing a wire is tedious initially - you get better at it. But I have not broken a lot of them over time, by watching what I'm cutting as Jim mentions above. 

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

Thinish thermoformed molds like these with large smooth surfaces often have issues with release marks. 

Some discussion - https://forums.egullet.org/topic/98208-chocolate-molding/#comment-1645176

A bit more discussion - https://forums.egullet.org/topic/56184-chocolates-with-that-showroom-finish-2004-2011/?do=findComment&comment=1524966

Here's some further discussion you might find interesting - https://forums.egullet.org/topic/124257-polishing-chocolate/#comment-1670612

I used a couple of large metal egg molds - I crumpled some foil then covered the crumpled foil with more foil. Poured the syrup into the foil in the mold. 

Disappointing crystals at room temperature- the picture on the right.

Much improved at 30º C. Wish the pictures did a better job of showing how lovely the crystals are on the left picture. I'll try to carefully chip away at the overlying crust to reveal the underlying crystals after I'm convinced it's completely dry and finished growing.  

I've started playing - just halves so far - I have one that is a room temperature and another that I am crystallizing at 30º C as I read that bigger crystals form at warmer temperatures.

Yeah - those huge honking pieces they sell at various places are not my idea of a 'proper' truffle. Lazy man's truffle - got tired of scooping and rolling so made them bigger!

I've never completely convinced myself that I clearly know what a truffle is vs a bonbon. I tend to think of the little (and I do mean little) one bite ganaches shaped like the thing that pigs dig up in France - to be a truffle. A cut piece made from ganache might also qualify. And when I pipe a ganache into a shell - I might call it a truffle filling. 

To me various chocolate items count as bonbons - truffles, molded chocolates, enrobed chocolates...

Looks perhaps like your chocolate was over crystallized and relatively cool when you put it behind the colours. Having it as warm as possible will aid it in it's bonding with the coloured layer and when it is over crystallized it doesn't contract as well and pull away from the mold.

I'd clean the molds with very hot water and a soft cotton mop like a vase brush.

Matt, 

I would suggest a bit of time in the fridge when the chocolate is beginning to show signs of crystallizing around the edges - when it starts to crystallize rapidly it gives off the latent heat of crystallization and can get warm enough to throw itself out of temper in spots. Depending on the size and thickness of the bar you are making - this can be 10 to 30 minutes. You don't want to leave the chocolate in the fridge until it cools completely or water will condense on the surface and cause sugar bloom when it evaporates.

My Weigh makes fabulous scales - the models i've used have delayed turnoff. The iBalance 11000 goes to 11kg. 

http://myweigh.com/balances/

River cruise in the Great Lakes in February? I think I'd forgo the rare wines and chocolate and pack arctic suitable foul weather gear.

Out of curiosity - who do you consider the best chocolatier in Toronto?

I tasted Charm School Vegan white chocolate while I was in Seattle recently at the NW chocolate festival. It was actually excellent! And they do wholesale. 

Love to see what you come up with!

Paul - when I use a melter I put the chocolate in the night before - by morning it is melted and the temperature can be turned down for the tempering process.

I'm a big fan of the Fuji - www.fujispray.com - they are putting together a chocolate system these days after I started referring a lot of chocolatiers there. They do go through the cocoa butter - but they are fast - and time is money.

I've been making some of my own coloured cocoa butters using the IBC Power Flowers - you can get consistent colours using their palette to mix. 

I've found Belcolade cocoa butter to be equivalent to Cacao Barry/Callebauts product.

What size needle do you have on the Paasche?

It actually works pretty well - as long as the room and chocolate isn't too hot

I do have great success shredding nicely with my little Bosch Compact stand mixer with the shredding attachment - amazingly strong for a little piece of equipment.

Dave - I'm in Canada - I can get guitar sheets from Signature Fine Foods or Qzina. In the US I guess Qzina would be one source.

Design and Realization in Montreal has an electric grater. I believe TCF sales in the US also sells - look under cutting. 

Can't tell what the cost is on Alufoil - but I know that Chocalat-chocolat in Montreal carries coloured foil. 

Greg - you want 8 guage stainless wire - aka 0.05mm (some people are using 13 guage as well) - attaching a discussion here.

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/61605-guitar-cutter-sourcing-using-maintaining/?page=1

Are the bolts the same on both ends of the wires?

Clay is right - if you can find a half size speed rack or a stainless table with speed rack shelving under it - it will make a fine holder for your guitar.

I use guitar sheets which are flexible plastic instead of acetate or silicone.

If you are willing to order from europe - it appears that Vantage House still has some.

There is such a thing as crappy molds - don't know the Fat Dadio ones but I know some of the Italian molds I've purchased are much too light and do a piss poor job of molding.

I suspect the chocolate stained nut bag you mentioned! Apparently 25% is a good amount to get out with a hydralic press so we aren't doing too bad without one!

Making Cocoa Butter

Finally put together a YouTube video on extracting cocoa butter from chocolate liquor - a way for 2 ingredient bean to bar folks to produce their own cocoa butter so they can use the EZtemper!

EZtemper got a little write up in the Hot Chocolate section of Dessert Professional this month.

(Source:  Dessert Professional  Aug/Sept 2015 page 112)

Nah - using the chocolate was basically a bust! I did try it with commercial coverature as well - didn't really work any better.

Tim - for your own as you suggest just decrease your added cocoa butter by 1% and add 1% silk.

Using commercial couverture I just add the 1% at the tail end - not worrying about the additional cocoa butter. If I've put aside a little bit of dark chocolate for painting eyes on bunnies I have often added a whole lot of 1%'s when I reheat and temper over and over and sometimes end up with pretty thin chocolate! But it still works fine on the eyes!

Today I tempered a batch of bean to bar that isn't two ingredient by just adding the 1% - here's a picture of it.

The silk is indeed just cocoa butter with no additional ingredients - in a form that will provide a sufficient amount of form V crystals to almost instantly temper your chocolate. If you are making bean to bar with lecithin you would add it whenever you normally add it to your chocolate under construction. The 'silk' is added at the very end when you are ready to mold your product.

Potomac Chocolate:
Therein lies the reason why I've only given some thought vs. executed the idea.  With my limited space, I don't have space for a real press and I'm not sure if one of the little olive oil presses would work.

Here you go Ben - the finished product -  http://forums.egullet.org/topic/151287-eztemper-the-help-you-need-to-achieve-perfectly-tempered-chocolate-fast/?p=2030981

Ok - gotta check this out - I've figured out how the bean to bar two ingredient guys can extract their own cocoa butter easily with no special equipment.

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/151287-eztemper-the-help-you-need-to-achieve-perfectly-tempered-chocolate-fast/?p=2030981

So I experimented a bit today - made some liquor from nibs in an Indian spice grinder, added water, then cooked down until it 'cracked' and the cocoa butter separated out.

I can't seem to get the pictures in order - but I ended up with around 20 grams of cocoa butter. You can see in the 3rd picture the butter starting to separate, then in the second one a little puddle of butter at around 11 o'clock. 

Check this out -The making of cocoa butter

Not sure of the solvent though as I have no volume.

I'll look forward to hearing from you Ben!  Out of curiosity what means would you use to press cocoa butter?

Where is that 'like' button?

I think a lot of people purchase the Revolation machines not realizing that they depend on well tempered chocolate as part of the process - and as Michael points out - that's the catch-22 of bean to bar - if you could temper your chocolate you wouldn't need the machine!

I'm not sure if you add additional cocoa butter to your bean to bar chocolate - but one of the things that many bean to bar producers have found is that their chocolate is too viscous for an automatic temperer. Another issue with the smaller automatic temperers (such as the Revolation) is that they require tempered seed chocolate placed behind the baffle to temper your chocolate - and most bean to bar manufacturers don't have tempered chocolate to use for this.

So to start - clean one of the stainless containers - fill it with cocoa butter and place in the EZtemper overnight. Give it a stir in the morning and make sure it has reached a creamy consistancy.  

Weigh and melt some of your bean to bar chocolate - let cool to 33.5 degrees C and add 1% of the weight of the chocolate of cocoa butter silk. Give it a stir. It will be tempered and ready to use. If you are molding it into bars I'd suggest that as soon as you see evidence of crystallization around the edges that you put the bar molds into the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes to carry off the latent heat of crystallization.

Tempered up some dark milk chocolate with the EZtemper last night and made a batch of freeze dried corn bark - yummy stuff! Ready to package in no time.

Exciting week for EZtemper -  @Rodney Alleguede  went to the Chocolate Acadamy in Montreal to teach them all about their new EZtemper.