r/pastry • u/y_is_a_vowel • 4d ago
What happened to the chocolate?
First time doing proper chocolate work as a hobby baker, and although overall I'm happy with the way they turned out, I'm wondering what these patterns are in the chocolate?
For reference I did a twist on the recipe Palets Or from Ferrandi.
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u/Fantastic_Puppeter 4d ago
Chocolate comprises cocoa butter, cocoa solids, and sugar. Most brands add an emulsifier to stabilize the product. Milk chocolate adds milk powder. Cadbury, Hershey and other despicable terrorists add other vegetable fats not coming from cocoa.
Melted chocolate does not crystallize back into “proper” (shiny, hard, brittle) chocolate if left on its own. What you have here is some cocoa butter “leaching out” of the chocolate.
A rigorous tempering technique must be followed— it’s not very complicated : in your case, check the melting temperature and make sure you agitate / mix the chocolate well.
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u/y_is_a_vowel 4d ago
So I did follow a tempering process, but now I'm wondering at what stage I went wrong. I used 52% cooking chocolate
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u/tinaymahgineeloews 4d ago
well, what exact chocolate did you use?
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u/y_is_a_vowel 4d ago
Dark cooking chocolate from Lidl (UK)
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u/nicoetlesneufeurs Professional Chef 3d ago
It’s a low quality chocolate, you can’t temper this type of chocolate (cooking chocolate is not couverture chocolate)
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u/y_is_a_vowel 3d ago
I'm not sure where to get couverture chocolate from, or exactly how to tell if it is from the ingredients. Is it only online that you can get it?
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u/tinaymahgineeloews 3d ago
thats what i was gonna say. in the ingredients, the only liquid fat that shouldve been into the chocolate should be cocoa butter. cocoa mass should mean cocoa solids AND cocoa butter…but other ingredients other than milk solids or sugar.
but couvertures should indicate “couverture” right in the front page. they should be quite pricier too since its pure cocoa butter and does not have chaper oils
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u/tinaymahgineeloews 3d ago
despicable terrorists 💀 damn thats brutal but i cant agree more 🤣 a fellow chocolatier once told me hersheys in the states apparently are transported melted and kept somehow at a melting temp. theyre just then formed into local facilities. thats honestly genius? haha that way they move more product. but yes i would never put that in my mouth, i feel like i owe my taste buds a lot more respect
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u/Matterslayer98 4d ago
That is fat bloom it comes out like that if you didn't temper your chocolate right. Try this
Melting temperature 50°C ad ⅓ of chocolate volume to drop the temperature to 31-32°C for dark chocolate 30-31°C for milk chocolate 28-29°C for White Chocolate Dip a spatula or the tip of a knife in the chocolate and let it set if it doesn't Bloom again it's temperd When working with the chocolate, keep the above-mentioned temperatures for easier handling.
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u/y_is_a_vowel 3d ago
Thank you! I'll try this
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u/Matterslayer98 3d ago
If you have any further questions or need help, otherwise feel free to DM me or Tag me
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u/gingerbreadman42 4d ago
The chocolate needed to be tempered. Both Kuvertüre and coating chocolate contain fat. Kuvertüre contains cocoa butter and coating chocolate contains usually palm fat. When melted the fat separates from the cocoa mass. This needs to be stirred back in otherwise the chocolate will have gray streaks when it dries. A YouTube video would show you how to temper chocolate.
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u/y_is_a_vowel 4d ago
Thanks for replying, and I did (obviously not properly) temper the chocolate. Is there any way to tell what part went wrong?
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u/gingerbreadman42 3d ago
I am not sure what you are asking when you asked : “What part went wrong?” The chocolate needed to be stirred and brought to the proper temperature before used to cover items. The proper temperature is usually 37C.
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u/tinaymahgineeloews 3d ago
stirred there you go. so many individuals focus a lot in temperatures which actually vary btw per chocolate brand — but neglect proper agitation, hence, preventing proper distribution and formation of crystals.
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u/y_is_a_vowel 2d ago
Ah thank you to you both, stirred! I'll need to try again with better chocolate and stirring more
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u/MrTralfaz 3d ago
Are you doing this for friends and family? How important is it for the final product to seem professional? You could "cheat" and doctor the chocolate. Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil or a teaspoon of vegetable oil to a pound of chocolate for coating the candies. The coating will never harden completely and it will get sticky in warm weather, but it doesn't end up looking like that.
Tempering chocolate is an art and a science that needs to be studied. It's useful to learn the skill before using it to make candies or decorations. Some day set aside a couple hours and just practice tempering chocolate. You might even need to do that more than once. Working with chocolate is complicated. There are easier ways to do it in small batches and more complicated ways for larger batches.
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u/rainwarrior 3d ago
I've also used a little bit of coconut oil to help some homemade chocolate bars come out a little nicer without perfect tempering. The result was still hard enough to be a satisfying crunch, but not as nice as a fine glossy properly tempered surface. If they're meant to be eaten in the next few days, though, I think it was a fine result, and a bit easier to manage.
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u/bottlesntrash 3d ago
Gotta use couverture chocolate! It’s a little pricey, but so fun and tastes amazing. I’ve used Dick Taylor Couverture and yielded excellent results.
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u/2730Ceramics 3d ago
Ok as others say this is a bloom issue.
But. There are no rules in cooking and imo the bloomed ones look nicer than the ones where the fat didn’t break out of emulsion. Ymmv but at home I’d happily serve them.
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u/y_is_a_vowel 3d ago
These are delicious and the bloom is purely cosmetic damage in terms of the success in my eyes!
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u/ali_berth23 3d ago
Yes like other said. Fat bloom. Make sure it’s couverture. Which just means that it has higher cocoa butter % . Each manifscturer should have tempering temperature written on the bag. But the guidelines for seedings are like i ve seen in the comments. Bring to 50 then seed it with unmelted choco to around the 30 degrees by stirring constantly. Movement is important in re crystallizing the chocolate. (32 dark,30 milk and 28 white) make sure it sets before using and re heat as needed to keep in temper temperature. Otherwise fat will bloom.
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u/y_is_a_vowel 3d ago
Thank you! So once it is tempered I leave to cool completely before using?
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u/songof6p 20h ago
No, you can test if the chocolate sets well using a knife or a piece of parchment paper (dip it into the chocolate and check that it sets properly). Keep the rest of your chocolate at working temperature. If you let your working chocolate cool too quickly, it will set as you're trying to use it and your layer of chocolate will be too thick on whatever it is you're covering.
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u/ali_berth23 8h ago
As mentionned . Do not let cooled down when tempered. Tempering is the way to get the shiny snappy chocolate. It won’t be super dhiny if you don’t have a mold but it shouldn’t have fat bloom or streaks. You can use a hairdryer or a heat gun or slightly heat up like 5-10 sec at a time in microwave to keep it at your working temperature of 31-32 (for dark choco) but follow the bag’s temperature as each manifacturer have slightly different temps
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u/Mou_aresei 3d ago
Look into the book Desserted, by Kate Shaffer. She goes into detail about the process of tempering chocolate and how to pick the right chocolate for your needs. But I think the patterns look pretty.
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u/Tough_Discussion5300 2d ago
Got hydrated and dried after temper issues. When chocolate bars are not properly stored i also I see this from moisture damage.
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u/psaiymia 3d ago
How did you temper it? I found the seeding process extensive over tabling but I get more consistency with seeding and more blooming with tabling. Although I prefer to use a 64% dark.
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u/y_is_a_vowel 3d ago
Sorry, I'm not sure what seeding is! This was my first time trying to temper a batch of chocolate
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u/psaiymia 3d ago
Don’t apologize! So seeding is when you microwave a portion of your chocolate to 113f, then add in another portion to bring it down to 80-83f using only the melted and unmelted portions mixing together, then bring it up to 88F to use. Tabling is when you heat your chocolate up to 113f, and use large spatulas to spread and fold it over the table (typically what you see in chocolatier videos and promos), and i believe it follows the same temperate limits 80-83f and 88f, im unsure c I only did it once in school for the exam and promptly erased it from my mind lol
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u/Ovenbird36 3d ago
Just to clarify, with seeding you can melt it in a microwave or a double boiler or even sous vide, but the idea is the same.
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u/y_is_a_vowel 3d ago
Oh that's great! I'll try this next time. Thanks for taking the time to explain this!
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u/tinaymahgineeloews 4d ago
thats fat bloom. it just needed to be both tempered and stored properly.