How to Temper Chocolate at Home!

How to Temper Chocolate at Home!

Hello and thank you for reading my article,

The reason why you temper chocolate is to make it have a higher melting point, prevent seizing,make it more rigid and have a snap and to achieve a glossy look. Seizing is when chocolate comes into contact with water and clumps up into a messy glob much like a drop of water into a sugar bowl.

The classic way of tempering chocolate is to use a marble slab, pour half the chocolate onto the slab work around with a spatula until the viscosity gets thick and the dripping chocolate forms thick ribbons. Then return this to the melted chocolate and stir together. This is the way you will see a professional pastry chef do it in the bake shop, however even that pastry chef doesn't have the time, space, or money for a marble slab.

The best way to temper chocolate at home is the Seed method. Start by taking however much chocolate you need and holding aside a 1/4 of it. Melt the rest in a stainless steel bowl over simmering water. Stir often and don't let the flame of the stove come out the sides of the pot. The two enemies of Chocolate are high heat and moisture. So when melting be sure the steam isn't getting into the chocolate and make sure the chocolate does not burn. When the chocolate is melted, lower the heat and add the reserved chocolate and melt that into the chocolate slowly. Dip a spoon in the chocolate and allow the spoon to rest at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. If its glossy, breaks with a snap, and is hardened you have tempered chocolate.

Here are a few cool things you can do with your tempered Chocolate!

Chocolate Truffles- Take equal amounts in weight of Heavy Cream and Chocolate. Breakup your chocolate into very small pieces or use chocolate chips. Add whatever liquers or spices to your cream such as bailey's, grand marnier, kirsch, or cinnamon. Boil your cream and pour over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted thoroughly.At this point you can add peanut butter, crushed peanuts, marshmallow, crushed cookies, etc... Refrigerate until hard and roll into balls then coat in tempered chocolate!

Chocolate Dipped Items- Whether it be strawberries, bananas, apples, or marshmallows you want to make sure it is dry or else it won't coat well. Other then that the dipped stuff is pretty self explanatory. You can temper some white chocolate to drizzle on top. and also roll in peanuts or crushed cookie crumbs while chocolate is still liquidy.

Molded items- You can buy tons of molds from local bakery shops or online chocolate stores. Just pour your tempered chocolate into molds, refrigerate and goto town!

Hope this helps you to impress your loved ones this Valentine's Day!

Please check out my website at Learnfromachef.com for more cooking tips and tricks!

by Brandon Shapiro; Saturday, December 12, 2009 @ 08:06 AM [240]

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