Did you know that the high quality chocolate blocks you buy at the grocery store are already tempered? The only reason we home cooks temper at home is because when we need to melt the chocolates to remold and work with them, we melt them at a high enough temperature to bring the chocolates out of temper. I’ve long since given up on the heating-cooling-reheating monitored with a candy thermometer process that’s taught to most home cooks. It’s time consuming and produces more dishes to clean. After many experimentation, here’s my simple three-step method:
- In a shallow, heatproof bowl (I use Corelle), initially melt about 3/4 of the chocolates (chips or chopped) in the microwave on high for just under a minute. Stir and reheat in bursts of about 20 seconds until all the chocolates have melted and is warm to the touch – just below your body temperature. You can use a candy thermometer but after many tries, you, too, will get a sense for what that temperature feels like. See the Callebaut site for detailed pictorial instructions.
Seed the chocolate by adding the remaining 1/4 chocolates until melted. Heat for a few seconds in the microwave if needed. Tip: seed with high quality white chocolates, if available, as they generally contain a higher cocoa butter content and will ensure more beta crystals in your chocolate.
Add about 1% (by weight) of cocoa butter and stir until melted. I.e., for 10 oz of chocolates, add about 0.1 oz of cocoa butter. To understand how cocoa butter helps, refer to Tempering with Mycryo® at the Callebaut or Cacao Barry site. Many professionals use Mycryo® – it’s one of their best kept secrets for achieving consistently well-tempered chocolates with the sought-after sheen and snap. It is sold in chef supply stores and it’s expensive. Guess what it is? 100% cocoa butter! The only difference is that it’s been cryogenically processed into a convenient-to-use powder form. For chocolates, you don’t need the powder form. Cocoa butter is solid at room temperature. Simply scrape what you need with a spoon and you get shaved cocoa butter that easily dissolves into your melted chocolate.
Below is a picture of two chocolate barks (with chopped nuts) made from the same batch. I poured out half the batch to make one bark (bottom), then added the cocoa butter to the remaining chocolate for the second bark (top). Ignoring the terrible picture, you can visually see the difference that adding cocoa butter significantly reduced the blooming effect.
Two more days until Valentine’s Day! Now that you know how to achieve tempered chocolates like the pros, surprise your loved one with homemade chocolate candy. I will be making a less sweet version of Hershey’s Symphony bar, my husband’s favorite.
