Tempering Tempering Tempering

The tempering machine is still kaputt - which make me the new tempering machine.  The process involves me constantly stirring, microwaving, and checking the temperature of big glass bowls of chocolate.  I was working on two bowls simultaneously.



I realize that this picture is terrible.  I just got a new camera and haven't learned how to take a good picture with it yet.

My goal for today, besides actually tempering the chocolate, was to keep the bowls and spatulas clean.  And not just clean after I was finished using them, but clean for the entire time.  It sounds easy, but takes a lot of practice.  I've gotten better at it - my spatula skills are coming along nicely - but I could do much better.


Once the white reached temper, I got to enrobe!

Yes.  This picture is terrible as well.  The top, dark squares are banana caramels.  The middle are banana caramels enrobed in white chocolate.  And the bottom are a meyer lemon ganache enrobed in white with a candied parsley leaf on top.  What is terrible is that all of the banana caramels that I enrobed weren't in temper and will likely have to be thrown/given away.  They looked like they were setting correctly, but were soft to the touch.



Got to help with these guys - mini mendiants.  I helped to make bigger one's as well.  The one's in the picture are covered in almonds, sea salt, and dried pomegranate seeds.  The big boy versions of these have coconut, mango, pistachios, currants, cranberries, pecans, and almonds on them.


I'm still working on my tasting skills.  I tried a piece of white chocolate and used a flavor wheel to see what it reminded me of.  I came up with orange, but that was a blind guess.  Here's an example of a flavor wheel:

Tempering Tired.