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Step 3Watch your temper
At this stage we have melted chocolate - a state in which the crystalline structure (surprise! chocolate crystals!) of fat and sugar that makes chocolate so damn delectable have all broken apart and rearranged themselves. At this point we temper the chocolate, a process that ensures the molten chocolate hardens and sets correctly, and improves the texture and melting point of the finished chocolate.
To achieve this, I opted to use a method referred to as seeding. To seed chocolate, you take unmelted chocolate to your warm, melty chocolate and have them co-mingle. Remember that extra chunk I asked you to hang onto? Add that bit into the bowl and stir it in until it is fully incorporated. Continue stirring it slowly. Once the chocolate starts to thicken up a little bit, and feels tepid to the touch, then your at the temperature where tempering occurs (88° - 93°F depending on the chocolate, or just a bit below body temperature).
The aim is to keep the chocolate at this temperature while stirring it around, so that the proper crystals can form. This is difficult to do accurately without a thermometer so I would just say eyeball it and keep stirring; if the temperature drops and the chocolate becomes too thick, give it 5 seconds in the microwave or so to warm it up a bit.
To be honest, the whole science behind tempering chocolate is well beyond my expertise, but there is a great walkthrough on Cooking For Engineers that explains it much better than I can.
In simple terms: melt chocolate, add chocolate, stir, not too hot, not too cold.
To achieve this, I opted to use a method referred to as seeding. To seed chocolate, you take unmelted chocolate to your warm, melty chocolate and have them co-mingle. Remember that extra chunk I asked you to hang onto? Add that bit into the bowl and stir it in until it is fully incorporated. Continue stirring it slowly. Once the chocolate starts to thicken up a little bit, and feels tepid to the touch, then your at the temperature where tempering occurs (88° - 93°F depending on the chocolate, or just a bit below body temperature).
The aim is to keep the chocolate at this temperature while stirring it around, so that the proper crystals can form. This is difficult to do accurately without a thermometer so I would just say eyeball it and keep stirring; if the temperature drops and the chocolate becomes too thick, give it 5 seconds in the microwave or so to warm it up a bit.
To be honest, the whole science behind tempering chocolate is well beyond my expertise, but there is a great walkthrough on Cooking For Engineers that explains it much better than I can.
In simple terms: melt chocolate, add chocolate, stir, not too hot, not too cold.
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