The chocolatier´s blog #6: Tempering chocolate!

daniellozada (56)in #steemiteducation • 7 years ago (edited)

It is possible that you have tried to bathe a cake or cookies with melted chocolate and this has been matte or uneven color. Well, this happened to you because you had not tempered the chocolate. It is more if you are fond of pastry, surely you have heard more than once the expression "temper the chocolate" and you have asked yourself what it is and what exactly it consists of. Well, let's get into the world of chocolate to find out.

To try to summarize, the tempering or tempering of chocolate is a process to which this food is subjected to obtain an optimal result when it is used as a cover for cakes or in the production of chocolates and chocolates. This process consists of taking it to certain temperatures to control the crystallization of the cocoa butter that contains the chocolate and thus achieve a bright and attractive finish in our sweet creations.

That said, it may seem complicated. For that reason we are going to know the technique of tempering chocolate with a little more detail.

Why is it necessary to temper the chocolate?

As you may have already imagined, tempering chocolate is necessary, not only to bring brightness and presence to our chocolate toppings, but to obtain a crunchy, firm and pleasant texture on the palate. Although it is true that the flavor between and chocolate cooled in any way and a well tempered one does not vary, its texture and final aspect does.

The process of tempering, therefore, is important for that chocolate coating that we use to bathe biscuits, cakes and other desserts. It is also necessary to make chocolate elaborations such as chocolates, chocolates or decorative elements, because it is very important that these sweets have a firm texture, that can withstand all kinds of fillings and decorations.

By the way, it is not necessary to temper the chocolate to make elaborations such as ganache, fillings or similar preparations.

What is chocolate made of?

Chocolate is a food that is composed mainly of sugar, cocoa paste and cocoa butter. Cocoa butter, the substance that confers most of its properties, is the fat contained in the cocoa seeds. This cocoa butter is composed of a series of molecules that are placed forming a certain crystalline structure. When we melt the chocolate, the molecules of the cocoa butter are placed differently from the one they had in the solid state. When the chocolate cools, the molecules of the cocoa butter are repositioned, but in a disordered way, which generates a series of crystals of different sizes. This network of crystals is unstable and irregular, which gives the chocolate a softened texture and that matt aspect so ugly.

Not all chocolates are worth to make preparations that require tempering. We need the so-called chocolate cover, that is, the one that has a certain proportion of cocoa butter. The ideal is to use chocolates that have at least 32% cocoa butter. This percentage should not be confused with the amount of cocoa that chocolate has.

What is tempering chocolate?

Tempering chocolate consists, precisely, of controlling the process of melting and cooling of chocolate so that these molecules of the cocoa butter return to form orderly and stable crystallites. With time you will go catching the trick and it will not cost you to carry out this process.

What utensils do I need to temper the chocolate?

The necessary utensils are simpler than you think:

A precise and well-functioning kitchen thermometer

A container and a saucepan to heat the chocolate in a bain-marie

A kitchen spatula.

A large spatula if you wanted to temper considerable amounts of chocolate, like a marble plate. However, for the amounts that we usually handle at the domestic level, this would not be necessary.

Steps to temper the chocolate:

In general terms we could say that to temper the chocolate it is necessary to melt it, cool it a bit and finally warm it up slightly again. The chocolate will be tempered while we maintain it at this last temperature. Let's see the steps in more detail:

First we melted the chocolate in the water bath. You have to be very careful that the water does not come in contact with the chocolate, because it would spoil it. With the thermometer we control its temperature. This step can also be done in the microwave, although we must be very, very careful, because some parts of the chocolate can be burned if we heat it excessively. In any case, you have to gently stir the chocolate so that it melts evenly.

Then, cool the chocolate. To do this, we submerged the container we had in a water bath in cold water (taking care that it does not splash on the chocolate) and we controlled with the thermometer that its temperature drops to the desired temperature. During the cooling we do not stop stirring the chocolate with the spatula. To perform this step, the professionals pour the chocolate on a cold marble surface and move it. If we are going to make a small amount of chocolate it is not necessary.

Finally, we heat the chocolate again. That is, we perform the tempered or tempered itself. To do this, we return the container to the water bath. The chocolate will be tempered as long as it maintains that temperature. Watch out! If we heat it excessively, we melt it completely and we will have to start the process again.

As you can imagine, each type of chocolate has its correct ratio of melting, cooling and tempering temperatures. We detail them here.