Dubai chocolate

I suspect they are much more adept at producing confectionary than moi :joy:

Possibly :wink:

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coconut oil is not necessary and may be detrimental - it lowers the melting point and softens the ‘snap’ of tempered chocolate

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Is some sort of oil needed if the chocolate is not going to be tempered,? There are some comments below that article, iirc, saying to just temper the chocolate instead. I’m not really set up in my kitchen to temper chocolate, so was going to do some reading around substituting the coconut oil.

I was daunted by tempering for years, but all you really need is something to stir with and a thermometer Melt to ~120F, cool to ~90, stir to induce crystallization.

Chocolate solidifies in the fridge just fine on its own. Coconut oil will make a viscous chocolate more fluid and is more readily available that plain cocoa butter but not necessary. Just use high quality chocolate, not chips meant for cookies.

I’Ve had on and off results with tempering. I usually add 20% chopped chocolate to the melted portion and stir until the chopped bits melt. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes a bit streaky.

How long does it usually take for your chocolate to get to tempered when you stir?

I over-simplified but yes, the ‘seed’ method you use is a good one. You want the last bit of seed to melt out right around when the chocolate has cooled to 90 or below. Without seed, a few minutes in the fridge can help create stable crystals. And you may need to cool to like 86 and warm back up a bit. Really the only way to check your temper is by dabbing a bit on parchment paper and seeing how it sets up at room temp. IIRC, streaky means the chocolate was still a bit too warm.

Thank you for the advice.

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Thanks for this advice. I don’t have a thermometer. Is it a candy thermometer I would need?

No, just a regular meat or digital or even infrared thermometer. Candy thermometers for sugar work are at a much higher temp range, chocolate is all between 85-120F

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To me, the most obnoxious part of this trend is all the bloggers with no chocolate experience trying to “hack” it and publishing something that worked once or twice for them. Yes, chocolate is finicky; no, you don’t need a sous vide set-up or coconut oil.

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Ravneet Gill is actually a well-regarded pastry chef in the UK. I can’t vouch for her chocolatier skills, but other recipes that I’ve tried making have been a success. Working with chocolate probably seems a bit daunting to a layperson.

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Huh, I wonder what her theory behind the coconut oil is.

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I looked through the comments in the article, and one says:

“I think adding the coconut oil to the chocolate is meant to create a tempered-like result without the faff of tempering. Although I’ve mostly seen this technique in recipes meant for freezing (to mix into home made ice cream or cover frozen treats), where it helps create a thin hard shell, and the lower melting point means it melts in your mouth as you eat, where regular chocolate would remain hard and feel waxy. In this recipe, I see it says to keep the bars refrigerated - probably because of the coconut oil.”

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This is the last tempering “trick” I tried. She mentions temperatures, but doesn’t seem to use a thermometer. I only mess with chocolate a few times a year. To @Babette 's point, I only tried it this way once, and can’t brag about the results, but it was easy!

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Sure, but magic shell on ice cream is a different application than a bar that is typically kept/eaten at room temp. I wonder if people think coconut oil is a “healthy” alternative to paraffin, despite having a vastly different melting point.

Regardless, you didn’t want to use the coconut oil & you don’t have to use the coconut oil.

That’s a good video.

Temperature is important in that beta crystals won’t form or remain when it’s too high, but having the ‘right’ temp doesn’t automatically mean you have beta crystals. Like she said, do a little test, add more un-melted chocolate, or just let it cool and stir for a few minutes more. Cooling and agitation both help with crystallization. Un-tempered chocolate will solidify in the fridge but won’t be as stable.

I’m not usually a fan of silicone molds but I see why most of these recipes suggest them. For a home cook just trying a few bars you don’t have to worry about perfect temper because you can peel the mold off instead of needing the chocolate to contract enough to pop out, like with hard polycarbonate molds. I admit I’ve mostly forgotten the frustrating learning curve part :sweat_smile:

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