July 20th, 2021
Cooking with chocolates – as easy as this may sound, working with chocolates is no mean feat!
It doesn’t matter whether you’re trying your hand at something as simple as making brownies or a complex dessert like homemade praline, you need to follow its recipe to the T. Not only that, while making desserts, the most crucial thing that you need to know is – how to temper chocolates.
This is because tempered chocolates can give your cocoa creation a professional quality while also enhancing its overall taste – thanks to its nice, smooth and shiny texture.
However, when it comes to tempering chocolate, you need a lot of patience and precision from your end to get it right.
At Melt Chocolates, our professional chocolatiers have vast industry experience, meaning they know a thing or two about tempering chocolates. Take a look at this guide to learn about the best tempered chocolate tips.
Before that, let’s understand what it means to temper chocolates and the two crucial melting rules.
The process of tempering chocolates involves slowly heating and then slowly cooking the chocolates while constantly stirring it. This is primarily to make sure the fat in it crystallises uniformly and creates a coating that’s not only glossy and smooth but also has a satisfying “snap!”
Sure, this might seem quite intimidating at first, but with patience and constant practice, not to mention the right tempering chocolate tips, you can certainly nail the process.
To understand the process better and learn from the experts, why not sign up for our chocolate master class?
When learning how to melt or temper chocolates the right way, there are two crucial things you need to keep in mind.
These include:
Do not heat the chocolate above 120 to 130°F as that might ruin its flavour.
Do not expose or add water (not even a droplet from steam) to your melted chocolate as that will cause it to seize and result in a lumpy texture.
Now that you’ve got a basic idea of what tempering chocolate means and the two important rules, let’s take a look at our tempered chocolate tips.
When it comes to tempering chocolates, the one thing that you need to keep an eye on is the temperature!
Since the process requires you to have good control over the melting, cooling and reheating of chocolates within a specified range of temperature (120 to 130°F to be precise), ensure you’re using a thermometer.
While you’re at it, also ensure that your worktop, tools and pans are completely dry because even a drop of liquid can ruin the texture of the entire chocolate.
Here are our top two tempered chocolate tips:
The process of tempering chocolates in a microwave includes four simple yet crucial steps. These are:
Chop or grate 12 oz of chocolate in your silicon or plastic bowl and place it in the microwave for 30 seconds on high; take it out and stir the chocolate using a spatula.
Again keep it in the microwave for 30 seconds, followed by 15 and 10 seconds. Make sure you’re stirring the chocolate in each interval, but do not rush the process.
Use a candy thermometer to check the chocolate and ensure its temperature isn’t going beyond 90°F.
Check if your chocolate is properly melted and has reached the temperature range of 90-95°F. If yes, then it’s ready to be used for dipping, molding or coating your sweet treats.
Unlike the microwave tip, the seeding method requires the use of a double boiler to properly melt and temper your chocolates.
Here are the steps you need to follow:
Chop 2/3rd of your chocolate and melt it over a double boiler until it reaches the temperature of 115°F; do stir it occasionally to avoid hot spots. While melting your chocolate over a double boiler, ensure that your bowl sits properly over the simmering water to prevent drops of steam or water from entering.
Once the chocolate has reached 115°F, remove it from the heat. Now, add ½ of the remaining un-melted chocolate in the bowl and stir it continuously till it melts – this will help you cool down the chocolate.
If you want to speed up the cooling process, transfer the melted chocolate in another bowl and stir until it reaches 100°F.
When your melted chocolate reaches 100°F, finely chop the remaining bits. However, add the chopped chocolates in the bowl only when it reaches the temperature range of 96-98°F and keep stirring.
Since 95°F is when the crystals in the chocolate start to bloom, it’s better to add the remaining bits right before that temperature is reached. That way, you can make sure the crystals grow properly while also tempering the remaining untempered chocolates.
Once all the chocolate bits are added in the bowl, keep stirring it every 5 minutes until its temperature comes down to 79°F.
Once your chocolate has reached 79°F, it’s time to warm it again over a double boiler, although for 5 seconds until it reaches 86-90°F. This is the perfect working temperature, especially when you’re making candies.
While the tempered chocolate tips mentioned above are a good way to understand how to temper chocolates on your own, an even better way to learn the process is through our professional chocolatiers.
From teaching you how to make your own ganache to making bonbons and luxury chocolate bars, Melt has got you covered!
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