How to melt chocolate in a water bath so that it does not curl into grains? What needs to be done so that the decor prepared from it for desserts does not lose its shape at room temperature? These and other subtleties of tempering chocolate will be discussed in this article.

Which chocolate is best for tempering

The World Wide Web is full of various workshops on creating very beautiful flowers, spirals and other chocolate decoration elements. But in order to create sweet chocolate masterpieces on your own, it is not enough just to dissolve the chocolate and pour it into the mold. It needs to be tempered.

Tempering (or otherwise crystallization) of chocolate is a simple process of heating and cooling it with the aim of forming stable beta crystals, which will give the mass a shine, a characteristic crunch and help jewelry from it maintain shape even at room temperature.

In the process of heating and cooling chocolate, cocoa butter plays a key role in its crystallization. Only crystals of form V (beta-crystals) are able to form in it, therefore, only high-quality dark, milk or white chocolate is suitable for tempering, which does not contain various substitutes for the component under discussion.

In addition to confectionery glaze, in which there is no cocoa butter, it is impossible to temper chocolate with various additives and fillers (nuts, dried fruits, various creams). Often it is not possible to melt the porous chocolate either - it becomes grains or lumps into a lump.

How to make a water bath for chocolate

What is a water bath, most housewives are well aware, but how few can use it in the process of melting chocolate. Since if you just install a container with chocolate over a container with boiling water, the result will be not a fluid mixture, but an incomprehensible lump of brown color without the gloss and aroma inherent in chocolate.

Melting chocolate in a water bath step by step:

  1. Pick up two containers: one for water, and the other, smaller, for chocolate. Pour water into a large container, filling ¼ of the volume, boil and turn off the heat.
  2. When the water temperature drops to 50 degrees, put a container with chocolate on it and turn on a minimum fire, which will maintain the temperature of the contents of the larger container at the desired level.
  3. To cool the melted chocolate to the right temperature, professionals use marble slabs (boards) and scrapers, and at home, an ice bath and a silicone shovel will help. You can control the temperature using a cooking thermometer or pyrometer.

In various sources, you can find different values ​​of the melting and cooling temperatures of chocolate during tempering.

But the schemes shown on the product packaging for professional confectioners suggest:

  • heating dark chocolate to 45 - 50 degrees, cooling to 27 degrees and again a slight heating to 31 - 32 degrees;
  • for milk and white chocolate, these figures will be - 40 - 45, 25 - 26 and 29 - 30 degrees, respectively.

Method of melting using a multicooker

You can also melt chocolate in a multicooker if you can find a container that is not inferior in size to the diameter of a multicooker.

The melting process in this case will be as follows:

  1. Pour water into a clean bowl of the multicooker to the mark recommended by the manufacturer for steam cooking, close the device with a lid and wait for the liquid to boil.
  2. After that, open the lid, and on top of the bowl set a container with chocolate, detailed in small pieces. Stir constantly, melt the chocolate and bring it to the right temperature.

It is impossible to melt chocolate for tempering under a closed lid, since drops of condensate that can get into the mass will spoil the product irrevocably.

In a microwave in a water bath

Today's sweet tooth is not as reverent about chocolate as the ancient Aztecs, whose product was worth its weight in gold, so many housewives prefer to use the fastest and easiest way to melt it - microwave melting.

How to melt chocolate in the microwave:

  1. Chocolate should be crushed in small pieces and put in a bowl suitable for volume and for use in a microwave oven. It can be ceramic or glassware. It is better to refuse plastic, it can greatly spoil the taste of the product.
  2. Put a bowl of chocolate in the oven and turn it on in Defrost mode or at 50% power so that the heat is not strong. Melting time will depend on the weight of the product. For 50 g or less, one minute will be enough, over 50 grams and up to 240 on average will take up to three minutes. Every 30 - 35 seconds, the gadget must be stopped and the chocolate mixed.

In the bowl of the harvester

This method is often used by professional chocolatiers in various culinary competitions. Its main advantages: speed of tempering and a minimum of dirty dishes.

Tempering of chocolate in the bowl of the processor is as follows:

  1. We measure out the required amount of chocolate, which we will temper, divide it into three parts. Two of them should be finely chopped, and one melt in a microwave (or other way), heating to 50 degrees.
  2. Put two-thirds of the chocolate in the bowl of the processor, pour with melted chocolate and mix for 5 minutes, using the mechanical action of the rotating knives.

The faster the melted chocolate cools, the better its luster and crunch. It also guarantees the complete absence of white streaks on its surface.

How to melt chocolate with butter

Temperamental chocolate is used to create a sweet decor, and melted chocolate icing with butter is useful for coating cakes, pastries and rolls. Preparing this product is not difficult, but so that the butter and chocolate do not exfoliate, it will be necessary to take into account a number of nuances.

The ratio of butter and chocolate:

  • 125 g of dark chocolate;
  • 50 g of butter.

Working process:

  1. Break the chocolate or chop it finely with a knife and put it in a bowl of a suitable size. Remove the oil from the refrigerator in advance so that it has time to warm to room temperature.
  2. Boil water in a saucepan or saucepan. As soon as she begins to gurgle actively, make the fire minimal, and put a bowl with chocolate chips on top. Stirring the chocolate periodically to a liquid state.
  3. Once the cocoa product has completely melted, turn off the stove, but leave the bowl with it over hot water. Put soft butter on the chocolate and mix until smooth.

Chocolate is well drowned in a water bath, like natural butter, so if there are no sudden changes in temperature, then the glaze will turn out to be shiny and smooth.

But if you replace the oil with margarine, whose melting point is much higher, then you can only dream about a beautiful and tasty glaze.

What to do if chocolate does not melt in a water bath

Chocolate is a moody product, and it often happens that he refuses to melt at all in a water bath. Here, it seems, the tile began to melt little by little, and then abruptly grabbed and just crumbles.

There may be several reasons for this situation:

  • Low-quality chocolate, with an expired shelf life or one that was incorrectly stored in the hot season and dried out.
  • Chocolate overheated. If the product has been exposed to a temperature of more than 60 degrees for a long time, it will definitely curl up and will not melt.

But if, due to inexperience, the mistress overlooked the necessary temperature, and the chocolate grabbed a crumbling lump, the situation can be corrected. Remove a hot bowl of chocolate from the heat, pour in about a tablespoon of refined vegetable oil and grind everything quickly. On the taste of the final product, this does not significantly affect, and the chocolate will become liquid and suitable for further culinary use.

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