Chocolate tempering

1. Chocolate tempering

Elemanov Nurlan
CHOCOLATE TEMPERING

2. PLAN

I.
II.
III.
IV.
Tempering Chocolate and Why
How To Temper Chocolate
Tempering Chocolate
Prepare different types of Chocolate

3. I. Tempering Chocolate and Why

I. TEMPERING CHOCOLATE AND WHY
Cocoa butter is the fat in the cacao bean that
gives chocolate its unique mouth-feel and
stable properties. To be considered “real”
chocolate, a chocolate bar or chunk can
contain only cocoa butter, not any other fat.
Cocoa butter is the reason why you have to
“temper” real chocolate.

4. I. Tempering Chocolate and Why

I. TEMPERING CHOCOLATE AND WHY
Cocoa butter is fat that is
composed of three to four
glycerides of fatty acids.
What complicates matters
in chocolate making is that
each of these different fatty
acids solidifies at a different
temperature. Once you melt
a chocolate bar, the fatty
acid crystals separate. The
objective in tempering
melted chocolate is to
entice the disparate fatty
acid crystals of cocoa butter
back into one stable form.

5. I. Tempering Chocolate and Why

I. TEMPERING CHOCOLATE AND WHY
Tempering is like organizing individual
dancers at a party into a Conga line.
For chocolate, temperature and motion
are the party organizers that bring all
the individual dancing crystals of fatty
acids together in long lines and, in the
process, create a stable crystallization
throughout the chocolate mass.
Also, strange as it may sound, the
temperature at which well-tempered
chocolate melts is much higher than
untempered chocolate because the
fatty acid crystals in tempered
chocolate are locked together tightly—it
takes a higher temperature to pull
them apart. Being tightly bound, welltempered chocolate is resistant to
developing chocolate bloom—that
whitish film, streaks or spots of cocoa
butter that form on the surface of
chocolate.

6. I. Tempering Chocolate and Why

I. TEMPERING CHOCOLATE AND WHY
In the tempering process, melted chocolate is first
cooled, causing the fatty acid crystals to form nuclei
around which the other fatty acids will crystallize. Once
the crystals connect, the temperature is then raised to
keep them from solidifying.
To help the chocolate to crystallize during the tempering
process, chocolate makers use one technique called
seeding. The "seed" is tempered chocolate in hunks,
wafers or grated bits. It is added at the beginning of the
tempering process. These crystals of tempered
chocolate act like magnets, attracting the other loose
crystals of fatty acids to begin the crystallization process
that results in well-tempered chocolate.

7. II. How To Temper Chocolate

II. HOW TO TEMPER CHOCOLATE
How do you temper chocolate, and why do you do it? The
short answer is that chemically, chocolate is composed
of lots of different little crystals (six to be exact) but the
desirable ones are called beta crystals. The
development and formation of these beta crystals are
what makes well-tempered chocolate.
If the cocoa butter rises to the surface, some people
commonly think their chocolate has gotten moldy and
toss it out. If you’ve done that, you’ve tossed out
perfectly good, but unattractive, chocolate.

8. II. How To Temper Chocolate

II. HOW TO TEMPER CHOCOLATE
As you can see, there is a dull white sheen on
the surface of this piece of chocolate. And
that’s what happens to chocolate that’s not
properly tempered: the cocoa fat rises to the
surface and “blooms”, making it unappealing
and unattractive. When you buy chocolate, like
a candy bar or chocolate in bulk, the chocolate
has been tempered and it should be nice and
shiny and snap when you break it. Yet if you
leave your candy bar in a warm car and later
open it up, often it’ll become white and gray.
The heat caused your chocolate to lose it’s
temper. When you buy chocolate for baking, it
should arrive well-tempered. (If buying pistoles
in bulk, they may be dull from becoming
scratched during transport, which is not to be
confused with untempered.) But once you chop
it up and melt it, thebeta crystals change, the
chocolate loses its temper, and you’ll need to
re-temper it again if you plan to use it as a
coating.

9. II. How To Temper Chocolate

II. HOW TO TEMPER CHOCOLATE
Pages and volumes of technical research have been written about tempering chocolate,
but here are the main reasons for all you home cooks out there:
To avoid fat (and sugar) bloom, characterized by unappealing white streaks or
blotches on the surface.
To raise the melting temperature of finished chocolate so it doesn’t melt on contact
with your fingers.
To preserve the keeping quality of chocolate by stratifying the fat.
To cool chocolate quickly. Tempered chocolate cools fast, within 5 minutes.
Tempered chocolate will shrink slightly when cooled, which allows it to slip out of
molds easily.
To give chocolate a glossy, shiny appearance, and a crisp, clean snap when you
break it.

10. II. How To Temper Chocolate

II. HOW TO TEMPER CHOCOLATE
As I’ve said, you don’t need to
temper chocolate if you’re going to
bake a chocolate cake or
make chocolate ice cream. The
only time you need to temper
chocolate is when you need an
attractive, shiny coating for candies
that will sit at room temperature.
You can get around tempering by
dipping chocolates in melted,
untempered chocolate and storing
them in the refrigerator. Just
remove them from the refrigerator
a few minutes prior to serving
them. The coolness of the
refrigerator will stratify the cocoa
fat and it won’t bloom.

11. II. How To Temper Chocolate

II. HOW TO TEMPER CHOCOLATE
There are many different methods
for tempering chocolate. Some
are a bit complicated, and some
are really messy, especially for
home cooks. I rely on a
thermometer, which is foolproof.
It’s best to use a dark chocolate
that is no higher than 70% in
cocoa solids. Higher percentage
chocolates (and some artisan
bean-to-bar chocolates) can be
quite acidic, and may behave
differently.
I developed a simple 3-step
method that’s a snap for home
cooks. All you need is anaccurate
chocolate thermometer, although
a good digital thermometer will
work.

12. III. Tempering Chocolate

III. TEMPERING CHOCOLATE
1. The first step is to melt
the dark chocolate in a
clean, dry bowl set over
simmering water, to about
115º-120º F (46º-49ºC.)

13. III. Tempering Chocolate

III. TEMPERING CHOCOLATE
2. Remove from heat and let
it cool to the low 80ºs F
(27ºC.) Drop a good-sized
chunk of solid (and
tempered) chocolate in,
which provides insurance by
‘seeding’ the melted
chocolate with
good beta crystals. While
cooling, stir frequently.
Motion equals good
crystallization, aka,
tempering.

14. III. Tempering Chocolate

III. TEMPERING CHOCOLATE
3. The last step is the most important: It’s
bringing the chocolate up to the perfect
temperature, where it’s chock-full of those
great beta crystals. This occurs in most dark
chocolates between 88° and 91° F (31º-32ºC.)
(Milk chocolate tempers at 86º-88ºF, 30º-31ºC.
Please note that chocolates can vary, so check
with manufacturer if unsure about your particular
chocolate.)

15. III. Tempering Chocolate

III. TEMPERING CHOCOLATE
4. Remove what’s left of the
chunk of ‘seed’ chocolate,
and your chocolate is dipworthy: you can dip all the
chocolates you want and all
will be perfectly tempered.
Don’t let it get above 91° F
(32ºC) or you’ll have to begin
the process all over again. If it
drops below the
temperatures, rewarm it
gently to bring it back up.

16. IV. Prepare different types of Chocolate

IV. PREPARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHOCOLATE
Step 1. You need to heat the
chocolate to melt all fatty acid
crystals.
Chop the chocolate into small
pieces. The smaller the pieces, the
quicker your chocolate will melt
and temper. Set aside about 25 to
30 percent of the chocolate. There
is no need to be exact on this
measurement, as you just want
enough unmelted, tempered
chocolate to start the seeding
process.
Place the remaining 70 to 75
percent of chopped chocolate in a
microwave-safe bowl and
microwave on half-power, being
very careful to stir the mixture
every minute until it
is almost completely melted, which
should take about four to five
minutes.

17. IV. Prepare different types of Chocolate

IV. PREPARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHOCOLATE
Step 1. You need to heat the chocolate to
melt all fatty acid crystals.
Remove the bowl of chocolate from the
microwave and stir to cool it slightly.
Removing the bowl before all the chocolate
is completely melted will help prevent over
heating. You don’t want your chocolate to
burn. Those last bits of solid chocolate will
melt as you stir. Using a thermometer,
check the temperature of the melted
chocolate—it should be between:
Dark Chocolate: 114 – 118° F (46 –
48° C)
Milk Chocolate: 105 – 113° F (40 –
45° C)
White Chocolate: 100 – 110° F (37 –
43° C) Note: be very careful as the
high milk and sugar content in white
chocolate will cause it to burn easily.
I’ve indicated a range of temperatures
above as not all thermometers are
perfectly accurate.

18. IV. Prepare different types of Chocolate

IV. PREPARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHOCOLATE
Step 2. Add the seed chocolate you
have set aside.
Start adding handfuls of the grated
chocolate you set aside to the melted
chocolate. Stir in the seeding
chocolate bits continuously until the
desired temperature (see below) is
reached and the bits have dissolved
completely. This could take anywhere
from 10 to 15 minutes, depending on
the temperature of your environment.
Your chocolate should now be
tempered.
Dark chocolate should be between
88 – 89° F (31° C)
Milk and white chocolates should
be between 84 – 86° F (29 – 30°
C)

19. IV. Prepare different types of Chocolate

IV. PREPARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHOCOLATE
Step 2. Add the seed chocolate you have
set aside.
Make sure to stir the tempered
chocolate and check the temperature
during the time you are using it for
dipping or molding. You can put the
tempered chocolate mass in the
microwave for 10 – 15 seconds at halfpower if the temperature starts to drop.
Just make sure that you don’t raise the
temperature above 90° F (32° C) or
you will lose your temper and have to
start over again at Step 1.
A heating pad put around the bottom
and sides of the bowl will help if you
are doing a lot of work at one time.
Again, make sure the heating pad
doesn’t raise the temperature of the
chocolate too high. Keep stirring and
checking the chocolate mass with a
thermometer.