So, after the great chocolate seizing incident of 2009, I decided to learn how to temper chocolate - I'm still a beginner but, the results are now more predictable.
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So, Step 1 is to get a hold of some chocolate. Preferably not finished product since that is already beautifully tempered. I start with Carma Dark Couverture. In fact, I prefer the Edelbitter flavor variety.
Yea, they're thick and hard... be careful using a knife to break them apart before melting the chocolate. I imagine that it would be possible to melt the chunks without breaking them into bits but, it will take a lot longer than I describe below.
So... why temper the chocolate? Because you probably want your finished product to have a shiny coating and produce a crisp snapping sound when breaking off a piece. If yes... read on.
There are three ways I know of to temper chocolate. The first is in a bain marie on the stove. It's messy, wasteful, and a lot of effort. The second makes use of a hair dryer and a food processor and it's even messier and takes longer... so, the third way is sous-vide. It's quicker and easier and there is almost no waste at all.
INGREDIENTS: Chocolate and whatever you want to mix into it. In the feature photo above, I added pistachios, raisins, currents, hazelnuts, almonds, honey and cinnamon buds.
- Heat up the pot / container for the sous vide to 46.1ºC / 115ºF I use the Nomiku.
- Chop the chocolate and seal it along with other ingredients (cinnamon, raisons, nuts, honey etc) into a zip lock bag or vacuum seal it then place it into the water bath for 5 minutes.
- Take the bag out and gently squeeze and squish the melted chocolate for 30 secs before placing it back into the water bath.
- Reduce the water bath temperature to 27.2ºC / 81ºF adding ice slowly until the desired temperature is achieved. You don't want to rush things at this stage.
- Seconds after the water temp hits the target, increase the temperature to 32.2ºC / 90ºF. Take the bag out and massage it gently every minute to distribute the crystals and prevent streaking. Allow the chocolate to stay in the water bath for at least 5 minutes.
You can now use the chocolate. Be sure to dry the bag completely as water is the enemy of tempered chocolate. I usually snip the corner off and use it like a pastry bag. But, in the above picture, I removed the bag from the water bath, pushed all the melted chocolate down into the bottom of the bag then, rolled the bag and placed it outside where the temperature was around 12ºC / 53ºF over night. Next morning... I opened the bag and you see the end result in the picture at the top of this page.
If you'd like to keep the chocolate on hold, just return the bag to the water bath keeping the water away from the melted goodness by folding over the corner and using a clothes pin, paper clip or even resealing the corner using the vacuum sealer. Tempered chocolate is pipe-able for up to 12 hours if you keep it in that 32.2ºC bath so, no need to rush.
Clean up is a snap. Just use the bags like pastry bags and throw in the trash when done.
