Forum Activity for @Tim Snyder

Tim Snyder
@Tim Snyder
07/13/12 15:22:39
7 posts

Troubleshooting the Chocolate on Butter Toffee


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

I don't know why it's not sticking for you now... so many variables. I haven't really tried any changes at all since I hit on my solution, so I can't suggest what else to try. I can break it whenever I need to and have good results; anywhere from an hour after coating to three or four days.

Tim Snyder
@Tim Snyder
07/12/12 15:57:41
7 posts

Troubleshooting the Chocolate on Butter Toffee


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

It's a deck oven. I warm it to 150'C/300'F and turn it off, then leave the trays for about twenty minutes or so. Sometimes the corners get a bit bubbly, but they settle down once they come out.

Tim Snyder
@Tim Snyder
07/08/12 10:56:11
7 posts

Troubleshooting the Chocolate on Butter Toffee


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

Well, it doesn't really spread at all on aluminum foil so I pour it onto the lined sheet pans and just let it sit in a 150'C oven and it self spreads and levels. That's my bottle neck now--the oven only holds the four pans. I think with the silpats I'll be able to spread better than I can on the aluminum foil. If not, I'll be stuck at my current batch size. I also have a teflon rolling pin on the way that should make things easy... I hope; kinda winging it a lot of the time.

Tim Snyder
@Tim Snyder
07/08/12 09:55:12
7 posts

Troubleshooting the Chocolate on Butter Toffee


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

I'm glad you like the look of it. I think that picture is a little under 1/4" (it's about 5mm), but the added chocolate I'm doing now probably puts it at 7mm, so a bit over 1/4", though the thickness of the toffee is the same.

Yes, brushing both sides. Honestly, it might speed up softening, but I don't know; I've never kept any past about 10 days. I suspect that it wouldn't, though, since I think the seizing chocolate binds most of that water away from the toffee.

Tim Snyder
@Tim Snyder
07/08/12 09:48:40
7 posts

Troubleshooting the Chocolate on Butter Toffee


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

I do about 5.5kg of finished toffee, which is maybe a nine pound batch of actual toffee, I think... I'm home today so I don't have my recipe handy. I'm working on aluminum foil at the moment, but next week I should finally get my silpats in (shipping to Brazil is sloooooow), which will hopefully let me do twice as much (I think I can fit thirty pounds in my large pot), so I can move to doing it every other week and free up some time for truffles, which I can't keep up on. I don't score... no particular reason, I just hadn't thought of it. Maybe I will next week, but like you implied, it might be too hard to flip the sheets.

I wish I could think about a fire kettle, but the shop isn't mine, and the owner won't even get more scoops. I hope to be ready to open my own place in a year or so, depending on capital, but I'll be opening small and growing slowly, so maybe in 5 years. Heh.

Tim Snyder
@Tim Snyder
07/08/12 08:32:11
7 posts

Troubleshooting the Chocolate on Butter Toffee


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

Yes, that's Celsius. A bit warm, but I like a longer crystallization time, since once it leaves my kitchen, I have little control of how it's abused.

I do coat both sides (humidity is a constant battle, and it really extends the shelf life), first side as thin as possible, the second side about double that, with crushed almonds in the second side. This is mine if you want to see, though because of feedback we've started doing the chocolate a bit thicker than this picture.

Tim Snyder
@Tim Snyder
07/08/12 07:28:52
7 posts

Troubleshooting the Chocolate on Butter Toffee


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

Hi all! I've been reading this forum on and off for some time now, and I finally made an account so I can add my two cents. I'll add a disclaimer, though: I've only been doing chocolate professionally for a year now, and this advice goes against the very nature of chocolate.I discovered my solution on accident. I had the same problems as I see here, and sometimes worse--I once had an entire sheet of toffee lose its chocolate on the first break (and it was so nicely tempered, too). My shop, though, had no humidity control last year, and I live in the tropics. I made a batch of toffee on a particularly humid day (70RH, if I recall correctly). I had to cool the sheets directly in front of the air conditioner to get them below 25 degrees so I could apply the chocolate, and by the time they got that cool, they were a sticky mess. Still, the cost of the almonds justified taking a risk, so I coated it anyway. It was brilliant. There were a few rough spots where the chocolate seized too much, but for the most part, only the part actually touching the toffee was affected, and the rest kept a very respectable, though not perfect shine.So now, since our new AC unit dehumidifies as well, after I wipe off the excess butter, I brush each sheet with about two teaspoons of water right before I coat. I rub it around a good bit to get a nice thin layer of stickiness across the whole sheet, and coat normally. I know, water is anathema to chocolate, but it's hard to argue with results. I still cringe every time I ladle that chocolate onto a damp, sticky surface.