Tempering Chocolate

There is nothing more frustrating when making chocolate than having your beautiful creations develop that horrible white stain on them. That stain is called bloom, and appears when chocolate has not been properly prepared for work. It is not dangerous, just terribly unsightly. The way to prevent this is to temper the chocolate before use. Tempering also gives your chocolate a beautiful shine, and that very satisfying ‘snap’ when you break them.

Different types of chocolate will have different temperature requirements. I find that the method described here works for 60% dark chocolate.

Break your chocolate up into small pieces; the smaller the pieces the quicker the chocolate melts. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water. Be careful not to have too much water in the pan, or to let the water boil too rapidly, or it might splutter and pollute your chocolate with water. If this happens your chocolate will curdle and go grainy and you’ll have to discard it and start again.

Let the chocolate melt in its own time, until it reaches 47^oC, and then take it off the heat. Not all the chocolate pieces will be melted by this time, but don’t worry; the chocolate will continue to melt even after you’ve taken it off the heat due to the heat contained in it.

Wipe the bottom of the bowl with a tea towel to ensure that no water is accidentally transferred to the molten chocolate.

Slowly stir your chocolate until all the pieces have melted. Don’t be tempted to whisk it vigorously; this introduces air bubbles which are a nightmare to get rid of later.

Pour 2/3 of the melted chocolate onto a clean cold surface. A slab of marble or granite is perfect, but any unscathed worktop is ok too. Quickly spread the chocolate thinly on your work surface with a metal spatula. Then scrape it back into a puddle and spread it thinly again. Use a digital thermometer to keep an eye on the chocolate; don’t let it get too cold. The temperature you want to reach is 27^oC. This technique is called tabling and is often used by pastry chefs.

Once the chocolate has reached the desired 27^oC, use the spatula to add it back to the 1/3 reserved chocolate that you left in the glass bowl. You now want to stir it all carefully until it reaches 32^oC. At this point the chocolate is ready to be worked with. It will quickly cool down, so unless you have a hotplate where you can keep it at a constant temperature you must work quickly, or else reheat it carefully at intervals.

Equipment needed:

Saucepan

Glass bowl that will fit over the top of the saucepan

Digital thermometer

Tea towel

Cold work-surface

Metal spatula