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 Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:52 pm
 Cacao is derived from a tree native to the lower parts of North America-- and from cacao, we get chocolate. ----
White Chocolate isn't technically even "chocolate" at all, because it doesn't contain any cocoa. Instead it has cocoa butter and like milk chocolate has milk solids. In the US it's primarily packaged and sold as "white candy product" though it's still typically referred to as white chocolate.
---
Couverature In baking you may see a term called couverature.
To be a couverature, the chocolate must contain at least 31% cocoa butter. It will say the percentage on the label if it is couverature.
Couverature is high-end chocolate, essentially, in that it's easier and more stable to work with and typically will yield better results. If you're making chocolate chip cookies, couverature is silly to use.. if you're making a chocolate showpiece, however, couverature is essential.
Couverature is not always easily found at grocery stores, however baking supply stores or candy supply stores almost always sell a nice selection of chocolate, couverature and non-couverature, in the following varieties.----
Chocolate Varieties
Milk - basic dark chocolate with the addition of milk solids. Tends to have a sweeter flavor.
Semi-sweet (Bittersweet for Europeans)- basic dark chocolate
Unsweetened - Contains no sugar and is bitter and used almost always purely in recipes where it is mixed with sugar (and never eaten out of hand).
"White" - no cocoa added, and milk solids are added.---
Cocoa Powders
Besides your basic chocolate, which usually comes in chips or bars, there's also cocoa powder which is commonly used in recipes. There are two types of cocoa powder available: Natural and Dutched.
arrow Dutched or Dutch-Style cocoa has been processed to have a raised pH value, bring it up from acidic to either neutral or slightly alkaline. It's flavor tends to be more mellow and smooth. Also, the process darkens the cocoa powder which creates a darker finished product.
arrow Natural cocoa contains natural acids and therefore remains acidic on the pH scale. It's usually lighter and reddish in color and produces a lighter finished product. The flavor also tends to be more pronounced and intense and less mellow.
Why does this matter?
Well, besides issue of color and flavor, acidity and alkali are important to keep in mind especially when baking because it can effect the leavening (or ability to rise) of your product.
For instance, if you're using a recipe of cookie that calls for baking soda and there's no acid present in the recipe except for the cocoa, and you're planning on using dutched cocoa, your cookies are not going to puff up properly.
Plan accordingly!
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:55 pm
About, and How To, Work With Chocolate
When working with chocolate you should ALWAYS work with a double-boiler or bain marie.
To make one at home is simple-- take a pot and put about an inch of water in the bottom. Take a stainless steel or heat resistant bowl and set into the top of the pot-- it shouldn't touch the water but most of the bottom and a good portion of the sides of the bowl should be covered. Double-boilers make it much easier to work with chocolate because it makes the temperature change much more gradual and controllable. ----
Tempering Chocolate In order to work properly with couverature, it must be tempered. Tempering anything is essentially a way of making the end mixture as homogenous, or consistent, as possible.
Tempered chocolate sets quickly, has a proper texture, has good shine, and is easier to work with.
Untempered chocolate sets much slower, has an uneven texture, and is harder to work with. It also "blooms" which I'll go into later.
The process for tempering chocolate is essentially: melt, temper, re-warm.
- To melt the chocolate place it into the top part of your double boiler and stir constantly while on low heat. Keep stirring and allowing the chocolate to heat up until it gets to the designated point to melt ALL of the fats:
Final Melting Temperatures
Dark Couverture: 122°- 131°F (50° - 55°C)
Milk and White Couverture: 113° - 122°F (26° - 28°C)
It should be noted that you should never bring the chocolate up to the highest temperature listed due to carry-over cooking: meaning that it will continue to cook slightly even after you take it off the heat.
- Measuring in Fahrenheit is recommended over Celsius for chocolate work because Fahrenheit has more marks of measurement and is easier to be precise with.
- Once you've heated the chocolate, you then need to TEMPER it by cooling it down to the right heat.
Tempering Temperatures
Dark Couverature needs to be cooled until it reaches 80°-84°F (27°-29°C).
Milk and White Couverature needs to be cooled until it reaches 78° - 82°F (26°-28°C).
- There are two methods for cooling or tempering the chocolate: Tablage and Seeding.
- Tablage involves spreading 2/3rds of the chocolate on a marble top and re-spreading and scraping quickly to cool the chocolate before mixing it in with the remaining and moving on to the re-warming phase. This is messy and not good for beginners.
- Another method of tablage is using an ice bath to dip the bottom of the bowl in and monitoring the temperature with a thermometer until it's correct. This works quickly and is relatively easy except that the temperature drop happens quickly and if you get ANY water into the chocolate it will be seized up and ruined for future chocolate work.
- The method of seeding is when you use pieces of cooled, tempered chocolate to mix in with the chocolate you are trying to temper and using them to bring down the heat. Make sure they're completely melted before adding more and watch the temperature carefully.
- Once the right temperature is achieved either way, you should re-warm your chocolate.
Warming Temperatures
For Dark, re-warm to 86°-89°F (30°-32°C)
For Milk and White, re-warm to 84°-86°F (29°-30°C).
Once your chocolate is tempered you should work with it immediately.
Tempered chocolate can be re-tempered to work with again and again, as well, as long as it never gets sugar bloomed.
---- What is Bloom? I'm sure we've all seen chocolate that's "bloomed". The surface of the chocolate is usually grainy or dusty in appearance and the taste of the chocolate isn't very smooth. When this happens it's known as bloom.
There are two types of bloom, fat bloom and sugar bloom.
- Fat bloom occurs when the fat in the chocolate comes to the surface and crystallizes there. Tempering is a process done to prevent fat bloom and keep it from happening as quickly. ALL chocolate will eventually bloom, however, tempering merely prolongs the time in which it does not bloom.
The good thing about fat bloom is that it doesn't damage the chocolate itself and therefore, chocolate that has fat bloom can be re-tempered and used.
- Sugar bloom occurs when water gets into the chocolate. The water dissolves sugars in the chocolate, and then the water is evaporated, leaving behind the sugar crystals which form into even bigger sugar crystals and ruins the chocolate. This type of bloom makes the chocolate permanently grainy and unfortunately, the chocolate cannot be re-tempered to be used again.
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 3:37 pm
Reserving This Post, and the Next Post just in case!
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 3:38 pm
Reserved!
And anyone who wants to post now can ^_^
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:56 am
you reserved the posts... I dont get that!
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:38 pm
It just means that she wants to have some spare speech bubbles at the top of the thread, just in case if she ever wants to add anything, she can put it up top so everyone can see.
@ Lady Adriata: heart heart
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:56 am
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:07 pm
A tidbit on chocolate: It is oil based, so dont let water get in it. If you want to color it, then use oil based food coloring (which you can find at craft stores).
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Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 2:47 pm
This thread is awesome! Thank you Lady Adriata for making it!
*goes off to scrounge for chocolate* blaugh
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:43 am
Note: I made this a sticky because it needs to be. biggrin
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Barbaro Barbaro- Barbaro-
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Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 5:44 am
 yummy! this is my first chocolate cake that i baked.
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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:32 pm
Barbaro yummy! this is my first chocolate cake that i baked. Is it a pink cake? I think you may have posted the wrong picture, 'cause all I'm seeing is a pink drink with ice cubes in it.
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Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:17 am
how do u make dark chocolate different than milk chocolate?
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Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:14 pm
mikayla96angel how do u make dark chocolate different than milk chocolate? You can't "make" dark chocolate different from milk chocolate. You'll just have to buy different types of chocolate to work with.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 2:53 pm
ottery mikayla96angel how do u make dark chocolate different than milk chocolate? You can't "make" dark chocolate different from milk chocolate. You'll just have to buy different types of chocolate to work with. but wut is the difference? cuz dark chocolate is supposed 2 be "healthier" than regular milk chocolate.
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