The 4 simple steps you need to know to temper chocolate perfectly every time. There's no magic in getting chocolate to temper - it just seems that way! Follow these easy steps and never be intimidated by chocolate again.
When you buy chocolate, it is already "in temper." This means that all of the fat crystals are aligned to give the chocolate perfect snap and shine. When you melt chocolate to change its shape or use it in a recipe, you are taking it out of temper. The heat causes the fat molecules get all jumpy and if they aren't realigned correctly, you get what's called "bloom." Bloomed chocolate still tastes great, it just loses its visual and textural appeal. But even bloomed chocolate can be brought back into temper!
Tempering chocolate can seem like a big mystery, but all you need is a bowl, a pan and a thermometer to get it right every time. For the most accurate results, I recommend using an instant-read thermometer.
When you buy chocolate, it is already "in temper." This means that all of the fat crystals are aligned to give the chocolate perfect snap and shine. When you melt chocolate to change its shape or use it in a recipe, you are taking it out of temper. The heat causes the fat molecules get all jumpy and if they aren't realigned correctly, you get what's called "bloom." Bloomed chocolate still tastes great, it just loses its visual and textural appeal. But even bloomed chocolate can be brought back into temper!
Tempering chocolate can seem like a big mystery, but all you need is a bowl, a pan and a thermometer to get it right every time. For the most accurate results, I recommend using an instant-read thermometer.
Step 1: Setup
If you have a double boiler, more power to you! If you don't, you can set up a simple "bain-marie:"
Grab a silicone spatula and a good thermometer, and you're ready to rock.
- Rest a metal bowl on a saucepan with 1 inch of water in bottom.
- Make sure the bottom of the bowl is at least 1 inch above the surface of the water - not resting in the water.
Grab a silicone spatula and a good thermometer, and you're ready to rock.
Step 2: Melt
Bring the water in your saucepan to a SIMMER (do not boil)
Stir the chocolate continuously until it has all melted smoothly.
Bring the chocolate to:
ONE DROP OF WATER IN THE MELTED CHOCOLATE WILL CAUSE IT TO SEIZE and, well, ruin it completely. So, you know, be careful.
Stir the chocolate continuously until it has all melted smoothly.
Bring the chocolate to:
- 118oF (48C) for Dark Chocolate
- 112oF (45C) for Milk Chocolate
ONE DROP OF WATER IN THE MELTED CHOCOLATE WILL CAUSE IT TO SEIZE and, well, ruin it completely. So, you know, be careful.
Step 3: Seed
Now we seed the melted chocolate with the reserved chocolate pieces. This will help bring down the temperature of the chocolate.
Add in the unmelted chocolate, and stir until smooth. Keep stirring with your spatula until the temperature of the chocolate reaches:
Add in the unmelted chocolate, and stir until smooth. Keep stirring with your spatula until the temperature of the chocolate reaches:
- 89-90oF (32C) for Dark Chocolate
- 86-88oF (30C) for Milk Chocolate
Step 4: Rewarm & Maintain
If the temperature of your chocolate drops too low, just SLOWLY reheat it over the bain-marie until it reaches its proper temperature:
Maintain the tempered chocolate at these temperatures using both the cool water bath and the bain-marie as needed.
Now wasn't that easy?!
- 89-90oF (32C) for Dark Chocolate
- 86-88oF (30C) for Milk Chocolate
Maintain the tempered chocolate at these temperatures using both the cool water bath and the bain-marie as needed.
Now wasn't that easy?!
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate#Tempering
Basically cocoa butter has 6 types of crystaline form depending on how it was last "set".
We heat to liquify the cocoa butter crystals and then control the setting temperature to make sure we get the most good type of crystals.
Given this then you should be able to temper white chocolate too but the temperatures might be lower again than the Dark and Milk versions that Schoochmaroo listed.
The upside to the fact that these "chocolates" contains no cocoa butter is that they don't require tempering - you can hold them close to their maximum working temperature to thin them, which should be around 110 degrees F.
A mid-level white chocolate like that from Ghirardelli usually contains small amounts of cocoa butter in addition to the cheaper fats, and therefore does require tempering.
A high-quality (and, unfortunately, high-price) white chocolate like Guittard's contains only cocoa butter, and none of the cheap fillers.
The higher the cocoa butter content of the chocolate, the better it will look (and taste!) in the final product. Tempered crystals of cocoa butter give chocolate its characteristic high gloss and "snap." Because of this, the best fat to add to chocolate to thin it is cocoa butter! You can usually find sticks of pure cocoa butter at drugstores, usually sold by the skincare products. Just make sure it says "100% pure cocoa butter" or something similar - the cocoa butter blends smell nice, but taste terrible. ;)
Chocolate... too bad my brother hates the stuff. I'll have to do this for my bacon sometime.
Maybe I should match my manicure to all of my projects from now on. . .
It'd be really neat to show the difference at the end with a picture of something molded with tempered chocolate and something molded with untempered chocolate . . . your description is great but nothing quite does it like a picture you know? Just my .02 . . .
Thanks!