Here's another good question for Lisa Yockelson, our guest expert this week on all things baking and chocolate. Lisa is the author of the rich chocolate encyclopedia ChocolateChocolate, a treasure trove of chocolate recipes and tips.
Here's the third of several reader questions for Lisa. Tempering chocolate can be tricky, but it's essential to good homemade molded chocolates. Read on for Lisa's answer...
Q: What method do you recommend for tempering chocolate at home? I've had inconsistent results with my attempts in the past.
Also, is there a chocolate thermometer you'd recommend for this? Thanks for your help!
Tempering chocolate requires a climate-stable and controlled environment, patience, and specific equipment. I use best-quality couverture (Ed: See our definition of couverture here) for tempering and temper chocolate manually, at least 4 or 5 pounds at a time, on a marble slab (by heating the chocolate, cooling it, "seeding," and heating).
Since you did not mention any specifics of your problematic results, let me point you in the direction of a wonderful book called CHOCOLATES AND CONFECTIONS by Peter P. Greweling and The Culinary Institute of America (Wiley, 2007): the book is a treasure of first-rate information on obtaining professional results and is worth the investment.
The temperature probe I use is the Thermapen Digital Thermometer (available from The Baker's Catalogue/King Arthur Flour). I recently bought a second thermometer to use when I bake while travelling.
I hope that this information helps you!
Thank you Lisa!
(Image credits: ChocolateChocolate cover photo and author photo both by Ben Fink. Cover design by Vertigo Design, NYC.)
Alton brown recommends melting tempered chocolate using a metal bowl set over a heating pad. By heating it enough to soften it but not ruin the crystals, you can skip the tempering process.
Haven't tried it myself, but might be something to try before reading a whole book on the subject.
view OneEyedMan's profile
I have tried the Alton Brown method OneEyedMan mentioned and am totally won over by it, particularly if you don't need to temper very much chocolate. One modification to his prescription, since I found the heating pad took an inordinately long amount of time: I heat the chocolate in the microwave in five-seconds bursts, stirring between, until it just starts to melt, and then I use the heating pad between two heat-proof bowls to take it the rest of the way, using a thermometer to make sure I never bring chocolate above 94 degrees F. I've done this method twice now and have had beautifully tempered chocolate each time. (The chocolate you start with must be in temper, smooth and shiny.)
view Katie in Berkeley's profile