How to Shape an Épi | Rouxbe Cooking School Lesson

An épi is a loaf of bread that has been specifically shaped to represent a stalk of wheat. Though this may look somewhat intimidating, you will be surprised at just how easy it is to create this rather impressive-looking bread.

In this follow-up Rouxbe Cooking School lesson, we are going to demonstrate how to shape an épi. Consider this lesson your homework assignment from last week's lesson on The Stages the of Bread Making. This is a great way to put your newly-learned breading making skills to the test. Plus, it's a pretty cool way to impress your friends and even yourself

Happy Bread Making!

The Rouxbe Cooking School Team.

Tagged as: [ bread making pastry rouxbe ]

The Stages of Bread Making | Rouxbe Cooking School Lesson

There is something magical about combining the simplest ingredients and kneading them together with your very own hands to create a beautiful, rustic loaf of crusty bread.

No matter what type of bread you choose to make, all yeast breads go through the same main bread making stages. In this Rouxbe Cooking School lesson on The Stages of Bread Making, we will walk you through these stages, using the most basic dough - a lean dough - as our example. Artisinal breads are much more difficult to make and require precise understanding and methodology, which we will get into down the road. The goal with this lesson is to get people baking bread. We are trying to get those people who have never made bread before - which is actually the majority of people out there - to learn how to make bread by hand?from scratch, using the most basic ingredients and equipment (their hands). So, for now, let's start with the basics. You might find it useful to review the lesson on Wheat & Gluten, as well as the Basics of Bread Making before you get your hands dirty. Rouxbe Facts about this lesson that you may find interesting:

• Over 12 hours of footage was recorded.
• 500 additional shots were captured (in addition to the 600 that were captured for the previous lesson).
• 23 batches of dough had to be made to capture all of the different stages of bread making for this lesson and the last lesson.

Happy Bread Making!

The Rouxbe Cooking School Team.

Tagged as: [ bread making pastry rouxbe ]

How to Make Madeleines

Many people say that one either loves culinary (the savory stuff) or they love pastry (the sweet stuff) - that can't love or do both; but, I tend to disagree. By default, I tend to cook more than I bake, so, when the opportunity strikes to make some sort of pastry treat, a little sparkle in my eye appears. For me, when I get to pick up a piping bag - whether it is for piping truffles, putting icing on a cake, or batter into a pan - I get a bit giddy.

Madeleines are shell-shaped, tiny French cakes with a long history. These soft and moist cakes have delicious, lightly-crisped edges. While there are a few different methods in which to make these, this recipe is quick to put together and can be one of those "go to" treats when you unexpectedly have company coming. They are also a great hostess gift or can help to cheer someone up. We actually took a batch of these to Dawn's little niece who is currently fighting cancer. She's definitely a positive, little trooper and she was so pleased to be able to pass them around to share with everyone!

While I have learned to let go of recipes in the culinary world, with baking I get to feed that part of my personality that loves to measure, be exact and follow certain rules. It never ceases to amaze me how many different things can be made out of butter, sugar and flour. Once you learn a bit about the function of ingredients and how they produce certain textures and flavors, you have a better understanding of the whole process of baking, so there's no need to be afraid of it. It's just like learning a new cooking technique. Madeleines are best served warm, so they are one of those pastries that you don't have to wait for them to cool completely before diving in (and that's a good thing, as it's almost impossible to wait for them). This easy-to-make batter keeps well in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days so you can have freshly-baked madeleines any time. Click on the link to view the full text recipe for Madeleines. Happy Baking!

Tagged as: [ pastry ]

Lemon-Cranberry Scones with Lemon Fondant

I recently woke up at 3am from my first-ever root canal which had gone bad. I couldn't sleep, so I thought why not bake? I made one of Marcelo's favorites - lemon-cranberry scones. Even though I couldn't chew very well, the cake-like texture, along with the lemon fondant, melted in my mouth.

Scone Ingredients: 140 ml whole milk 2 large eggs (100 ml) 1 tsp lemon zest 120 g unsalted butter 100 g sugar 320 g cake flour 80 g bread flour 10 g baking powder 3 g sea salt 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1 large egg (for egg wash)

To make the scones, first preheat your oven to 340º degrees Fahrenheit. Whisk the milk, eggs and lemon zest together and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until light. Sift the dry ingredients together and fold them into the mixture. The texture should be crumbly, so don't over mix.

Lightly fold in the milk mixture just until combined; then add the cranberries. Dust the counter top with flour. Gently divide the dough and shape into two rounds, so they are about 1 inch high. Cut into triangles and transfer to a baking sheet. Brush lightly with egg wash and bake until light golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Lemon Fondant 3/4 cup fondant 1 tsp. egg white zest of 1/2 a lemon 1-2 tsp. lemon juice

While the scones are baking, place the fondant in a bain marie. Heat over low heat and add the lemon zest, lemon juice and egg white. Stir to combine and bring the mixture just above body temperature.

Once the scones are done, place them onto a cooling rack and let cool slightly. Drizzle with the lemon fondant and enjoy.

Makes about 12.  

It's important not to over work the dough. Be gentle with it and work quickly. Avoid over-baking - bake just until they are light golden brown underneath.

Tagged as: [ pastry recipes scones ]

How to Make Fondant

Fondant is that sweet, shiny glaze which appears on many pastries and baked goods. Its creamy texture melts in your mouth and it also helps to keep baked goods moist. It's fairly easy to make and will store indefinitely at room temperature in a sealed container. You can also pour a thin layer of water on the surface to prevent it from drying out and forming a crust.

To make approximately 1.5 cups of fondant, you will need the following ingredients:

500 grams granulated sugar
250 ml water
50 grams glucose

To begin, use a very clean pot and bring the water and sugar to a boil until it reaches 113º C (235º F). Skim off any foam/impurities that may rise to the surface. This should take at least 10-15 minutes. Once the sugar reaches that temperature, add the glucose and continue to boil until the temperature reaches118º C (244º F). Immediately take the pot off of the heat and place into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

Carefully pour the hot syrup onto a marble or granite counter top. Using a bench scraper, move the sugar around to bring down the temperature. 

As you continue to agitate it, it will go from a clear syrup to a milky-white consistency.

As you work the sugar, it will eventually become crumbly.

When you have reached this stage, begin to knead the sugar, as you would dough, until it is nice and smooth. You don't have to knead it this far, but you can see that it becomes soft again.

Once you're done, transfer the mixture to a container. The fondant can be stored indefinitely and can be used a bit at a time.

To use fondant:

To use the fondant, you'll need to warm it slightly. Place the amount you're going to use into a bain marie over low heat. Bring the temperature up until it's just above body temperature. Whisk in 1-2 teaspoons of egg white and a few drops of lemon juice.

For flavoring, I added a bit of lemon zest to match the flavors for my baked goods, but you can use any flavoring or extract, and even add food coloring. It's also nice to keep it plain.

Tagged as: [ fondant howto icing pastry recipes sugar ]

How to Make Candied Almonds

For my last blog post of 2007, I want to share an interesting technique I learned back in Maryland. These candied almonds are completely addictive - you can't stop at just one. They slowly toast as the sugar caramelizes, and once hard, they clang together like tiny pieces of glass. Candied almonds are the extent of my contribution to the holiday goodies this year. And if I would have had the time, these go over the top when individually dipped in chocolate.

This technique is one of my favorites. After everything you learn about working with sugar and do everything to avoid its crystallization, you now go against the grain. Here you want to force crystallization, a technique called sablage (which literally translates to gritting from French).

10 ounces whole blanched almonds
4 ounces sugar
2 ounces water

Blanched almonds can be very expensive, so blanch your own. Simply place the skin-on, whole almonds into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for one minute, then drain and rinse with cold water. You'll be able to easily pop the nut out of its skin. Let the almonds dry completely overnight.

Preheat your oven to the lowest setting. Set up a silpat or sheet of parchment paper, along with a bit of vegetable oil and two forks. Place the nuts onto a baking sheet and into the oven - just enough to take any chill out of them. Do not toast. Place a large, stainless-steel fry pan over medium-high heat and cook the sugar and water to softball stage. Softball stage means cooking sugar to approximately 235°F to 240°F (118°C-120°C). You can use a candy thermometer to test the temperature. Be careful, as this sugar is extremely hot and can badly burn you.

Once the sugar has reached the proper temperature, add the almonds and stir. Turn the heat to medium-low. At first, they will look glossy.

As you continually stir, the sugar will turn milky and start to crystallize. This is called sablage and here you can see the almonds look sandy.

Continue to cook the almonds. Slowly, but surely, the sugar will start to melt again. The almonds will gradually toast from the heat of the pan, and the sugar will start to caramelize.

Be careful not to overtoast the nuts or burn the sugar.

As soon as all of the sugar has melted and caramelized, pour the nuts directly onto the silpat and immediately pull apart using oiled forks. They will be extremely hot. If you can't separate them quickly enough, you can also flatten them out and, once cool, just tap the ones that are glued together and they will fall apart.

Let cool completely before transferring to a serving bowl. I candied 4 kilos of almonds in the last 2 weeks, so make lots. These make a great snack at any party. They are even a nice addition to cheese trays. Click here for more pictures.

Finally, I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and here's wishing you a spectacular new year!

 

Tagged as: [ almonds candied chocolate howto pastry ]

Celebrate Thanksgiving with Rouxbe

Since living in the U.S., I have become very fond of their Thanksgiving holiday. I like the timing of it, as it really gears you up for Christmas and the New Year. You are able to indulge in over a month of parties and superb, comforting dinners - the ones where calorie-counting is forbidden. And who doesn't like a four-day weekend, which includes parades and a shopping extravaganza? I loved it.

Being that I, once again, live north of the border, I really missed the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday last year. This year is different though - I feel especially connected this time around, and have already eaten more turkey in the past six weeks, than I have in the last 8 years! Why? Well, over at Rouxbe, we have been extremely busy testing 8 traditional Thanksgiving recipes. So busy, that I can't believe a month has passed since my last blog entry. But we've been working hard to perfect each one, so we can help you create an entire Thanksgiving meal with ease. Cooking for 12 this holiday season? No problem.

Aside from learning 8 new recipes, and the skills and techniques behind them, we have created the world's first-ever multi-task recipe player, showing you how to manage 8 dishes from start to finish. Cooking like a pro is all about being organized, so over the course of 3 days, these players walk you through the recipes, step-by-step. We have done the organizing for you - from printable shopping lists all the way to checking the turkey and how to carve it. Rouxbe's multi-task player is free until the end of the year, but make sure to check out Rouxbe's membership options and get sponsored!

What can be better than having a multi-task player, showing you how to cook multiple dishes at the same time? Hmmmmm...let me think. How about an online cooking school? At Rouxbe, we're already filming the first series of the Rouxbe Cooking School. Here, you'll learn all the skills and techniques that you would learn if you enrolled in culinary school...but all at your pace, in the comfort of your own home. How cool is that? Two of my most favorite chefs in the whole world, Tony and Christophe, are working alongside us to bring you the best-of-the-best instruction. Soon, you'll be able to understand recipes and not be a slave to them. 

You'd think I'd be sick of turkey by now...but I'm not. I've already planned to brine a turkey and cook Rouxbe's entire delicious dinner for my family this holiday season. Stay tuned for more exciting news through Rouxbe's blog.

Tagged as: [ culinary howto nwcav pastry rouxbe school videos ]

Food Porn at Rouxbe

I cringe when a bagger at the market places heavy items on top of fragile produce. I admit I'm totally anal when it comes to picking out unblemished fruits and vegetables, but after spending the time and money to find that perfectly ripe tomato or pound of strawberries, my heart stops when cans wind up weighing them down. It, unfortunately, happens more often than not. A cashier was once so brutal with a bag of apples; one fell out of the bag, bounced like a tennis ball, and rolled to another till. She nonchalantly picked it up, put it back in the bag, and continued. She seemed surprised when I told her I didn't want to take that one. She replied, saying it couldn't possibly be bruised.

My breathing temporarily stops when I see customers slam down and toss their own items onto a conveyor belt. I could be wrong, but these people can't possibly be foodies...boxes are squashing bread, which is squashing lettuce. No care is taken. For someone like me, I couldn't be happier to take my own reusable grocery bags to the market and bag my own.

I thought it may have been a tiny neurotic disorder, but I have discovered meaning to my madness. A few days into my job at Rouxbe, I found myself shopping for a video shoot. My mission: to find the sexiest and freshest onions, shallots, chilies, and red peppers. Since the food is THE STAR at Rouxbe, I was in my element. I had to decide who was going to make the cut, and so the auditions began. Was each item too fat? Too thin? Too old and wrinkly? Too genetically modified? A few vendors smirked when I told them I had to find the sexiest produce possible because it was going to be a supa-star.

So what's sexy at Rouxbe? Sexy is no food styling. The pictures you see are the end result of each dish. Sexy at Rouxbe is honest food and honest cooking. There is no hairspray on set...no glue, food coloring, shaving cream, or blowtorches. Pictures are taken immediately after cooking or baking, as the star of the show waits for nobody. Sure, the odd crumb may be brushed away or a splatter may be wiped up, but the food is never improvised. One of the best things at Rouxbe is we indulge in every dish that we test, pre-produce, and film. Thanks to Rouxbe, I breathe easy as I no longer feel like a psycho for searching out the best of the best.

Tagged as: [ cooking culinary gmo howto instructional pastry rouxbe school videos ]

My New Job at Rouxbe

During these past two months, my blogging has been light. With a hectic schedule and so much to say, it has been difficult to sit down and write.

Back in April, I wrote about a company called Rouxbe. Ecstatic to find out they were based in Vancouver, my first thought was to interview the co-founders Joe Girard and Dawn Thomas. I had started a blog series on Food Industry Jobs and was curious to find out about their journey in the industry. What prompts two Chefs to go from owning and operating a successful film catering company to teaching people how to become better cooks at home through online, step-by-step videos?

As I researched Rouxbe, their business model, vision, and goals intrigued me. This was a company I had to work with and so the stalking began I set up a meeting with them and things serendipitously fell into place. I began working at Rouxbe in July and every day since I have been overjoyed to wake up and go to work. Even though there is a lot to be done, I have a hard time calling it "work" in the traditional sense. For the first time in my life, I can truly say I love what I am doing. In an environment with such a positive and goal-driven team, it's hard not to.

There is so much exciting stuff coming up, I can hardly wait to share more news, along with my behind-the-scenes experiences. To take your cooking skills to the next level, go ahead and check out Rouxbe for yourself.

Tagged as: [ career cooking culinary howto instructional pastry rouxbe school videos ]

Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver Blog

If you haven't noticed already, the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver has launched their very own blog! It is a fantastic way for past students to remain connected to the school and read about what is going on. For future students, it will also provide an insight of the views and the genuineness of the people that run it. Student or not, I suspect in the process of reading their blog, not only will you learn something, but you'll be quite entertained by the entries that are contributed. Add NWCAV's blog to your reader now!

Tagged as: [ blogs culinary nwcav pastry school ]

How to Make Cherry Compote

I can't get enough of the fresh local cherries that are currently in season. They are remarkably sweet and juicy, and I have to consciously slow myself down when eating them. It brings me back to the time when I was about five years old and on summer vacation in the Okanagan. Our family made a pit-stop to pick pounds of cherries. I still remember climbing up the ladder with my dad and picking the fruit right from the tree. As we continued our route around interior BC, I sat quietly, watching out the window while eating the plump, ripe fruit. Now, switch that picture to a five year old overdosing on cherries and Orange Crush soda in the back of a hot station wagon that is curving up and down and around all the mountains...that visual doesn't stay very pretty. I got quite sick in the back seat, but it didn't deter me from liking them.

 

What is compote?

Compote is fruit (fresh or dried) which is cooked in a sugar syrup. It can be served either warm or cold and due to its lower sugar content, its shelf life is substantially shorter than jam. Compote can be served with many things: ice cream, crushed vanilla sugar cookies, French toast, pancakes, granola and/or yogurt. Compote finds its way into cakes, mousses, and many pastry items too. This recipe, although delicious by itself, is divine when spiked with a splash of Grand Marnier.

 

Ingredients:

1 lb. pitted sweet cherries 125 ml. freshly squeezed orange juice 50 g. granulated sugar strips zest from 1/2 a lemon 2 stems of mint with leaves 1/4 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients in a small stainless steel pot and slowly bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and let simmer 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not overcook the fruit. You want it to be tender but it should still hold its shape somewhat.

2. Pour the mixture into a fine mesh sieve to separate the solids from the juice. Place the solids into a bowl and pick out the zest, mint leaves and stems once cool.

 

3. Return the juice to the pot and reduce it by about half. Allow it to cool and combine with the cherries.

Yield: Approximately 1 3/4 cups.

Alternate Method: If you would like your compote to be thicker, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch can be added. After picking out the lemon zest and mint, return the cherries and the liquid to the pot. In a small bowl, dilute the cornstarch by using some of the liquid. Add it back into the mixture and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring continuously, until the liquid is clear again. The cornstarch needs to be cooked out so there is no chalkiness on the palate. Taste it to make sure that you have cooked it long enough, but be careful to not overcook the fruit. Pour into a bowl and let cool. Compote will keep for approximately 1 week in the refrigerator.

Note: Use any type of fruit and flavorings (juice, spices, herbs) when making compote. The amount of cornstarch needed to thicken the mixture will depend on the amount of liquid that is naturally present in your fruit.

Tagged as: [ howto pastry recipes ]

Chocolate Series | Piping Chocolate Decorations

Once you know how to fold a paper cone, piping decorations using chocolate can be a lot of fun. Half fill the paper cone with tempered chocolate and snip the tip off with scissors. Snip less of the tip off to achieve a finer thread/stream of chocolate, or more to obtain a thicker one. It is best to snip off a little at a time until you obtain the result you want.

Secure a large piece of clean parchment to a working surface by weighing the corners down so it doesn't slip around. Begin to pipe, keeping the top part of the paper cone folded at all times so that the chocolate doesn't ooze out of it. Apply even pressure, while bearing in mind that the heat from your hands could throw the chocolate out of the tempered range. This is one of the reasons that it is best to work with small amounts at a time, ensuring you only handle it for short periods.

Fine piping takes lots of practice. Here I am messing around to show that anything can be done. These aren't the fanciest decorations, but once set, these can be stood upon or stacked on any kind of dessert to give an added touch.

Here is a close-up to show that well-tempered chocolate does contract as it sets. The edges of the decoration actually lift off of the paper. If you want to prevent a decoration from curling, you will need to place something of a suitable and even weight on top of it. Don't do this until the chocolate has set though, or you will mush your design. Once set, cover it with a piece of parchment, and apply a light weight on top overnight. Chocolate can take up to 24 hours to fully set/contract, so don't be tempted to take the weight off early. This applies to all things chocolate that you want to keep flat.

Obviously, the finer the piping, the more fragile the decorations will be. Once the paper cone is empty of chocolate, dispose of it. It cannot be re-used.

Related posts:

• Chocolate Series | How To Dip Chocolates by Hand
  
• Chocolate Series | How To Temper Chocolate
• Where to Find Pastry and Chocolate-Making Supplies
• Chocolate Series | The Simplest Way to Finish the Simplest Truffles
• Chocolate Series | How to Make a Simple Ganache
• Cleaning Up Hardened Chocolate The Easy Way

Tagged as: [ basics chocolate decorations howto pastry piping techniques temper tips ]

How to Fold a Paper Cone

Rather than using a large piping bag, paper cones are very handy in the kitchen when you need to pipe small amounts for decoration. Folding a paper cone can be awkward at first, but with practice it will take literally seconds to create one. All you need is a right triangle piece of parchment paper (not wax paper). Many pastry supply shops carry pre-cut triangles but it is easy to cut your own. Just cut a rectangular piece of parchment in half, along the diagonal, and away you go.

I have created a slide show in Flickr to demonstrate how to fold a paper cone. If you click on each individual photo, I have included helpful notes.

Tagged as: [ basics howto pastry techniques tips ]

Chocolate Series | How to Dip Chocolates by Hand

Once you get the hang of tempering chocolate, the world is your oyster, in terms of design and decoration. Shapes can be formed, decorations can be piped, and all sorts of confections can be dipped. In a previous post on simple ganache, truffles were rolled in cocoa powder to finish them. To finish truffles the professional way, they need to be coated with a thin layer of tempered chocolate. This protects the center, giving products a longer shelf life, and also makes them look pretty.

Equipment Needed:

• kitchen towel
• bowl of tempered chocolate
• appropriate dipping forks
• parchment paper
• a paper weight (to prevent the parchment from moving)
• desired topping(s)
  
• room temperature truffles or confections

Directions:

1. To begin, place your bowl of tempered chocolate onto a towel so it is resting at an angle, with the chocolate reaching the rim of the bowl, as shown below.

This angle makes it easier to dip, if you don't have a filled-to-the-brim bowl of chocolate.

2. Toss a truffle into the tempered chocolate and submerge with your dipping tool. For round truffles, use the circular dipping tool. Scoop up the truffle from underneath and begin to bounce up and down, using the viscosity of the tempered chocolate, to pull off the excess from truffle. It will help to just touch the surface of the chocolate on the downward motion. Click on the picture to see more detailed notes.

3. Before moving over to the parchment paper, catch a bit of the drip on the edge of the bowl that may remain underneath the truffle (this avoids dripping everywhere). Move over to the parchment, hold your hand still, and turn directly over in a quick and steady motion. The truffle should easily release from the dipping tool. If you take too long, the truffle may stick to the tool. Quickly re-dip before the chocolate sets.

4. Once you have placed the truffle on the parchment paper, be careful to not move it. Sprinkle on a topping, if desired, while the surface is still wet. This will make the topping adhere to the truffle. Alternatively, you can line a sheet with a smooth layer of your chosen topping and rest the dipped truffle directly onto the layer of topping. Let set and then remove the truffles. This is a faster method and will give you an even coating of topping on the top of your truffles.

Here I have sprinkled the surface with raw cacao nibs. To obtain a shiny surface on raw cacao nibs, place them on a tray, in a very low oven for 30 seconds at a time. You do not want to heat them or burn them. Just stir them around and take them out as soon as they have a nice, dark sheen.

5. If you discover any bubbles, you can gently poke them before the chocolate sets. Bubbles occur when the tempered chocolate is too cold/thick, or you may have incorporated too much air during the tempering process. Warm the chocolate to the proper range and continue. While dipping, remember to keep the chocolate at the proper working temperature, by occasionally placing it over the bain marie. Stir often and scrape down the sides of the bowl, to keep the temperature of the entire mass consistent throughout. Click on the picture to see more detailed notes.

6. The goal is to have a very thin and even layer of chocolate on the truffle, with a minimal "foot". A foot is the base/underside of the truffle. You don't want globs of chocolate on the bottom, as it doesn't look as refined. If you wind up with a mess, pick the chocolate up quickly and re-dip it before it sets. Click on the picture to see more detailed notes.

Happy dipping! More chocolate work to come...

Related posts:

• Chocolate Series | How To Temper Chocolate
• Where to Find Pastry and Chocolate-Making Supplies
• DontMessWithOurChocolate.com - Maintaining Chocolate Standards
• Chocolate Series | The Simplest Way to Finish the Simplest Truffles
• Chocolate Series | How to Make a Simple Ganache
• Cleaning Up Hardened Chocolate The Easy Way

Tagged as: [ chocolate howto pastry temper tips ]

Chocolate Series | How to Temper Chocolate

I previously posted on how to make chocolate truffles from simple ganache and the easiest way to coat them. The professional way of finishing a truffle is to cover it with a thin layer of couverture chocolate. Aside from it looking prettier, there are many reasons for wanting to do this. To successfully coat items with a thin layer of chocolate, one must know how to temper it. Tempering is the process of heating, cooling, and re-heating chocolate to achieve a desired state, which allow us to be able to work with it properly.

Why do we Temper Couverture Chocolate?

The goal is to take manufacturer’s blocks or chips of quality couverture chocolate and turn them into your own personalized delicacies. By using tempered chocolate, it allows you to coat candies or pastries, make molded and filled chocolates, or create any imaginable shape, showpiece, or decoration. Chocolate’s structure is quite complex, and if you simply melt it and allow it to harden, you will not wind up with a glossy end product. By going through the tempering process, the finished result will be aromatic, aesthetically pleasing, hard, and although it will have a good snap when you break it or bite into it, it will luxuriously melt in your mouth. Proper tempering encourages chocolate to shrink as it sets, so molded chocolates will release easily from their slots. Tempered chocolate also helps to extend the shelf life of products.

Improperly tempered chocolate results in many disasters. Chocolates can become stuck in molds because it cannot contract. It can turn streaky gray, develop fat bloom quickly, be gritty, or melt quickly when you handle it. It is a headache and waste to spend all that time creating a tasty center and not get the finished product out of its mold. For all of these reasons, it is important to know how to temper.

Chocolate's unique structure has six different fat crystals. Two of those are stable and are responsible for producing glossy, hard chocolate. The remaining four crystals are unstable. If chocolate is not tempered properly, those four crystals dominate the entire mass and make it impossible to work with.

I have been avoiding this post for a while because I knew it would difficult and lengthy to explain, which you will understand if you make it to the end of this post. No matter what you read, there is no magic formula that will make it work for you every time. I will try my best to explain the process, but nobody would expect someone to pull off perfectly tempered chocolate on the very first try. It is not solely about having temperature guidelines and away you go. A big part of tempering chocolate has to do with the environment of the kitchen you are in, and since that easily fluctuates, you just have to practice going through the tempering curves to know what to look for during each stage.

There are three steps to tempering chocolate: melting, cooling, and reheating. It seems easy, right? Chocolate, however, is very temperamental and you can either love or hate working with it. Some days, I hate it. It’s funny how I was never really stressed out years ago while working with chocolate…this is because I wasn’t aware of all the reasons one should temper!

When I look back, I can thankfully say that my chocolate eating and my chocolate making skills have evolved. Years ago, when I ran a small chocolate-making business out of my home, I will admit, I didn’t really know what I was doing, in terms of “technical” chocolate making. I picked up books, gathered recipes, tweaked them, and away I went. I didn’t push myself to develop a more advanced line of chocolates, because I was happy with the end results. I’m not tooting my own horn, but I think one of the reasons I didn’t bother to research more technical ways of doing things was because I always got excellent feedback from my customers. My chocolates tasted great, looked pretty, and were beautifully packaged. I think a lot of it had to do with the care I put into it. All the truffles I made were based on simple ganaches, which were rolled in different toppings. They did not have a protective layer of couverture chocolate around them.

When I think back to those chocolate making days, I giggle. I never really understood why my chocolates came out glossy, and at other times they had a matte finish. I didn’t investigate the reason why - all I knew was that they tasted yummy. Knowing what I know now (and there is so much more to learn), I get a kick out of looking back and understanding why things worked and why they didn’t. When I broke up large sheets of nut bark, sometimes they would have a clean, hard, snap, and sometimes they didn’t.

The importance of tempering obviously wasn’t something that I was aware of back then. Even though I took an amateur chocolate course at the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, I was a bit lost in translation. I had a semi-decent translator for the most part, because I was the only English-speaking person there. I remember the Chef demonstrating the temperature curve of the tempering process, but the focus in that course was more on putting the pieces we built together. If I would have caught on a bit more, it might have made my life a little easier when I was back in my own kitchen, twisting and slamming flexible plastic molds to get the morsels of chocolate out of them. I drove my brother crazy during those years with all of the noise of banging molds.

 

Recently, I made a bunch of chocolates to give to our family. I put the task off until crunch time, because I wanted the centers to be as fresh as possible. Unfortunately, the days that I was forced to make them turned out to be the hottest days so far this year in Vancouver. I couldn't get good air circulation through my kitchen to keep things cool, so, in turn, it was a chore to keep my own cool! Frustratingly, I managed to temper the chocolate, although, I had to go through the motions a few times. I had lost the tempering range because my kitchen was so hot. It made me think of the pastry chefs out there who encounter the challenge of dealing with the heat from culinary kitchens, baking ovens, and steam. Quite often pastry chefs have little space in which to work and need to be able to adapt to the environment. When the ideal room temperature for working with chocolate is between 68-72ºF (20-22ºC), and my kitchen was hovering around 84ºF (29ºC), things got tricky.

In the end, I managed to make the chocolates, but it wasn’t the least stressful round ever. To not drive myself completely crazy, I wound up scaling back from 10 flavors to 5. My end products were acceptable, and although I could tell it wasn’t my best work, nobody else noticed because, once again, they tasted delicious. Marcelo actually thought the "bloom" on a few was an intentionally cool design…what they continue to not know won’t hurt them; right? Lesson learned: if you don’t have a cool kitchen or air-conditioning, and especially if you are a novice at tempering, don’t bother trying this on a hot day.

Methods for Tempering Chocolate

Assuming your kitchen is dry and cool, you are calm and relaxed, your biceps are rearing to go, and perhaps you have a nice glass of red wine tucked off to the side, you can begin…

There are many ways to temper chocolate, however, the three most common and basic methods are: 1) using a marble; 2) seeding; or, 3) using a cold-water bath. Each method has their pros and cons. On a marble, extra beneficial conching (agitating the chocolate) is performed, but this method can be messy, as you are required to pour a portion of melted chocolate on to a marble and work it around using tools, such as offset spatulas, to cool it down. If you aren't coordinated, the chocolate could wind up all over the place.

If you are using large amounts of chocolate, the seeding method is useful. Here, bits of chocolate are slowly added to the melted chocolate to bring the temperature down. However, you can wind up with lumps in the chocolate if you don’t know when to stop adding. What is funny is that in those old chocolate-making days, I unintentionally used the seeding method of tempering without knowing it. It worked beautifully!

I think the easiest method for home use is the cold-water bath method. It is the fastest, but it involves working with chocolate's number one enemy - water. The utmost of care must be taken with this procedure, as just one tiny droplet of water or steam will cause your entire bowl of chocolate to seize and render it completely useless. So, be careful, and most of all, be patient. This task can be very trying!

Equipment Required:

• Bain marie
• Medium-sized stainless-steel bowl
• Cold-water bath that your medium-sized bowl fits into
• Two clean, dry towels
• Large spatula

Step 1. Melting the Chocolate

To successfully temper chocolate, you must start off with a healthy amount, a minimum of 2 to 3 pounds. The more chocolate you use, the greater control you will have over fluctuating temperatures. Place the bowl of evenly chopped chocolate (or the manufacturer’s chips) over a bain marie that has barely simmering water. Make sure to adjust the water level so that the bowl does not touch the water underneath, and keep an eye on it to replenish so it doesn’t completely evaporate. Evenly chopped chocolate will melt evenly over a shorter period of time. Stir often. Low temperatures must be used when melting and reheating chocolate, as all types of chocolate scorch easily; milk and white chocolate have a higher milk solid content than dark, and will scorch at lower temperatures. Stir often, as chocolate loves to be stirred.

With practice, you will recognize the chocolate’s appearance to determine what stage it is at. Each of the 6 fat crystals melt at different temperatures, so you need to heat it well enough to ensure everything is broken down. To avoid scorching, do not exceed these temperatures.

Dark chocolate: Melt to 115-120ºF (46-49ºC)

Milk or white chocolate: Melt to 110-115ºF (43-46ºC)

Step 2. Cooling Chocolate and Promoting Crystallization

Be careful when you take the bowl of chocolate off of the bain marie, as there will be water droplets attached to the bottom of the bowl. I always set the bowl on a towel and wipe it dry. Carefully place it into the cold-water bath and continually stir, scraping down the sides and the bottom of the bowl. You will need to keep moving the bowl in and out of the cold-water bath to slowly and evenly bring down the temperature. Again, wipe any water away from the exterior of the bowl. If you don’t scrape the sides of the bowl, hard chunks of chocolate will form and it will be harder to work with and melt out evenly during the next phase. Keep stirring, be patient, and keep your hands dry. You should see the chocolate getting thicker.

Dark chocolate: Cool to 80-82ºF (26-28ºC)

Milk or white chocolate: Cool to 78-80ºF (25-26ºC)

Step 3. Reheating to the Working Range

Moving on and off the bain maire, while constantly stirring and being careful of water droplets, gently increase the heat of the chocolate as follows.

Dark chocolate: 87-90ºF (30-32ºC)

Milk chocolate: 86ºF (30ºC)

White chocolate: 82ºF (28ºC)

At this point, you will need to test the chocolate to see if you have successfully tempered it. There are many ways to do this. You can dip an offset spatula into the chocolate and set it aside. You can use a small piece of parchment, or a metal pastry tip , and dip either in the chocolate and set aside, or you can simply drizzle some onto a granite counter top or marble. The chocolate should firm up and be glossy within a minute or two. If it sets really fast, your chocolate may be a bit too cold. No worries there. Momentarily put it back on the bain marie and stir…but be careful. You don’t want to exceed the temperatures mentioned above and fall out of the temper range. If the chocolate doesn’t set at all, you haven’t been successful in going through the stages, and will have to start all over again – yes, all over again. The chocolate will have to be brought back to the melting temperature, cooled down, and reheated. That is the only way to properly form the crystal structure, and this is where frustration can set in.

These temperatures are guidelines, and your environment plays a huge roll in the success of tempering. It is best to not get accustomed to using a thermometer, as they are not always accurate and different brands of chocolate have different tempering ranges. By continuing to go through the process, you will start to recognize what the chocolate should look like, how it feels when you are stirring it, and the viscosity of how it drapes over what you are covering. It all takes time, practice, and most of all, patience. Did I mention patience?

Dipping Chocolates and Ganache

The viscosity of tempered chocolate is crucial when coating chocolates. If the chocolate is too cold, it will not drape and conform to the shape of whatever you are trying to cover. You will wind up with a thick and goopy mess. As you are dipping items, you will have to shift from dipping to placing your bowl of tempered chocolate on and off the bain marie, to keep it at a consistent working temperature. Once you have reached that tempered stage, you also have to work to keep it there!

Keep in mind, if you are dipping ganache that has a high butter content, or if you are dipping a butter cream center, and your chocolate is too hot, part of the center will melt, ruining both the shape of the candy and the supply of tempered chocolate.

Dipping cold items can also throw tempered chocolate out of whack and the coating can cool too quickly, creating a fat bloom on your chocolate. The drastic change in temperature can alter the finished appearance. When starting out, try to dip items that are at room temperature.

Fat Bloom Versus Sugar Bloom

There are two kinds of bloom: fat and sugar, both of which are unappealing. Fat bloom creates unattractive gray streaks on the surface of chocolate. This can be caused by improperly heating and cooling chocolate during processing, or the chocolate has been stored at too warm a temperature. The emulsion breaks down and the fat begins to melt and separate from the mixture. Think of a chocolate bar that has been left in a hot car. When it solidifies, it most likely will have streaks of gray on it, and the chocolate will not snap because it is out of temper. While fat bloom doesn't affect the taste of chocolate, it doesn’t look as pretty. Here are some truffle shells that have developed fat bloom while in storage. You can still use them because they will eventually be covered with couverture anyway.

 

 

Sugar bloom occurs when the chocolate has been exposed to too much moisture in storage. This is one of the reasons you should not store chocolate in the refrigerator. Sugar bloom can appear like fat bloom but the chocolate can feel gritty. You can still use sugar-bloomed chocolate in recipes, but it is much harder to temper for couverture use.

Some chocolate info:

• If a droplet of water splashes into your bowl do not stir it. You can try to save the bowl of chocolate by scooping out a large area around the water droplet to try and salvage what remains.
• Don't keep the chocolate on the cold-water bath for long periods of time. Put it on and take it off to bring the temperature down slowly.
  
• When stirring chocolate, avoid incorporating excess air into the mass, which makes the chocolate thick and unmanageable.
• When working with all types of chocolate, the ideal room temperature is between 68-72ºF (20-22ºC) with low humidity.
• Never heat over 49ºC (120ºF) since it may cause the cocoa butter to break down and make proper tempering extremely difficult.
• A serrated knife works well to chop chocolate blocks into small, even pieces.
• Every type and variety of chocolate tempers slightly differently. High quality chocolate will display the recommended temperature curve on its packaging.
• High quality chocolate uses quality cocoa beans and quality processing techniques. The longer chocolate is conched (stirred and agitated), the more luxurious and expensive it is.
• What does 60/40 mean? Manufacturers of high quality chocolate will display the grade on the package. 60/40 means that there is 60 percent cocoa solids and 40 percent sugar in the mixture. If the mixture contains less than 60 percent cocoa components, the couverture is considered semisweet. If it is higher, it will be classified as extra bitter (i.e., 70/30). Milk chocolate has approximately 36 percent cocoa solids.
• The total fat content affects the viscosity of the couverture. For chocolate to be classified as couverture, it must have a minimum of 31 percent cocoa butter. The higher the total fat content, the greater the viscosity. Protect the chocolate that you love by supporting the current standard. 
• Dark chocolate contains cocoa butter, cocoa mass, and sugar. Milk chocolate contains cocoa butter, cocoa mass, milk solids, and sugar.
• White chocolate is really not “chocolate”. It contains cocoa butter, milk solids, emulsifiers, sugar, and vanilla. There are no cocoa solids in white chocolate.

Want more blog entries?

Here are a few relevant posts on chocolate:

• Where to Find Pastry and Chocolate-Making Supplies
• DontMessWithOurChocolate.com - Maintaining Chocolate Standards
• Chocolate Series | The Simplest Way to Finish the Simplest Truffles
• Chocolate Series | How to Make a Simple Ganache
• Cleaning Up Hardened Chocolate The Easy Way

Enjoy and feel free to comment and share your experiences, add more tips, and info to this list!

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