Chocolate tempering at home: process description

To make chocolate yourself, you must strictly follow a certain technology. To do this, all source components must go through certain stages of production. One of them - tempering chocolate - is not so easy to do at home. It is necessary to clearly understand the process itself and the need for its implementation.

The essence of the procedure

To correctly temper chocolate at home, you need to understand what happens to products as a result of such processing. The main ingredient in the original mass is cocoa butter. In molten form, it has a liquid and viscous consistency. After cooling, the mixture solidifies. If the process proceeds uncontrollably, crystals of different sizes are formed. This negatively affects the quality of the finished product. Tempering chocolate at home allows cocoa butter to gradually take on the most stable form. After that, the product will be easier to process. In this form, it will crystallize more uniformly.

The essence of the process is that the chocolate mass is first heated to a certain temperature. Then it needs to be slightly cooled. And after that, the mixture is again heated. The result is a product of the desired quality, which will be stored for a long time without visible changes in its structure.

Process goal

Before tempering chocolate at home, you need to clearly understand the consequences of such processing. As a result of this procedure, it is possible:

1. Increase the temperature at which finished chocolate products will melt in your hands. It is very important. After all, few people will like, for example, a candy that will begin to melt immediately upon contact with the fingers.
2. Partially reduce the size of the finished product. So it will be easier to get it out of shape.
3. To exclude spontaneous formation of an unpleasant whitish coating on the surface of finished products in the form of stripes or individual spots.
4. Speed ​​up the final cooling procedure. Experts have determined that tempered chocolate hardens much faster. This is especially important when the mass must be given a certain complex shape. Here, sometimes the counting of time is seconds.
5. Give the product a pleasant gloss. Characteristic gloss makes the product more attractive.

Such a product looks beautiful, breaks well and can be stored for a long time at room temperature without visible structural changes.

Special equipment

For such processing in production conditions, as a rule, a tempering machine is used. It consists of a container, inside of which there is a mixing device, which is driven by an electric motor. The casing is equipped with a steam jacket. From it, heating elements work, which provide heating of products placed in the tank. You can set the required temperature or make other settings using a special control panel. The steam jacket also has connections for cold water and waste waste. The tempering machine is needed in order to ensure uniform viscosity of the chocolate mass, as well as guarantee the mechanical resistance of the finished product. These devices may differ:

• the capacity of the working capacity (from 5 to 1000 liters);
• overall dimensions;
• type of mixing body (auger or mixer).

The choice of a device depends on the volume of production and frequency of use.

At home, as a rule, more compact devices with a mixer with a capacity of up to 1 kilogram are used.

Marble processing

Anyone who likes to make all kinds of sweets himself needs to know how to temper chocolate at home. You can do this in many ways. Each of them has its own advantages. The hostess can only choose for herself the most convenient option. As an example, consider the method using a marble board.

In this case, you must:

1. Heat dark chocolate in a container to 45 degrees.
2. Pour 2/3 of this mass onto a marble board.
3. Carefully "drive" it on the board with a spatula and palette until the product begins to crystallize. The temperature of the chocolate should drop to 27 degrees. This can be checked with a thermometer. For safety, it is better to use a special device with a laser device.
4. Transfer the treated mass back to the container. The temperature of the mixture will reach 32 degrees. At the same time, it must be constantly stirred.

Now the mass can be poured into the mold, and if the work is done correctly, then literally after 3 minutes it will harden.

Steam bath processing

If there is no marble board available, you can try another option. So how to temper chocolate at home? To do this, you will need:

• pan;
• Bowl;
• scapula.

The procedure includes the following operations:

1. Chocolate must be chopped at random and put into pieces in a bowl.
2. Pour water into a saucepan and put it on low heat.
3. Place a bowl of chocolate on top of it so that its bottom touches the liquid. In this case, the product will begin to gradually melt.
4. As soon as the mass becomes liquid and its temperature reaches the desired value, the pan must be removed from the stove and wrapped with a towel to save heat. Content should not freeze ahead of time.
5. For seed, add a piece of solid, previously tempered chocolate to the bowl.
6. Stir with a spatula until the temperature of the mass reaches the desired level.

Further, the prepared mixture can already be used for its intended purpose. It can be poured into a mold or molded into a figure, using special tools for this.

Main indicator

It is necessary to ensure that in the process of tempering chocolate, the temperature corresponds to the desired level. Otherwise, all efforts will be nullified.

It should be noted that each stage has its own temperature regimes. Moreover, for different types of chocolate, they are slightly different. This circumstance must be taken into account before starting work.

Adhering to these modes, you can get chocolate, which after solidification will correspond to all the declared characteristics. After processing, you first need to make a test. To do this, a couple of drops of the mixture must be applied to a film, table or paper. After 5-7 minutes, it should harden. If the piece turned out to be smooth and glossy, the work can be considered completed. Otherwise, the procedure will need to be repeated.

Classic methods

There are certain methods of tempering chocolate, with the help of which the initial product can be turned into a plastic mass with a pleasant glossy shine without foreign impurities. In cooking, there are three main options:

1. On a cutting board made of marble.
2. Using seed in a steam bath (or in a double boiler).
3. In the microwave. In this case, the crushed product must be collected in a special container. Put it in the oven and heat at low power. Every 15 seconds, the dishes should be removed and the melted chocolate mixed thoroughly. In this case, small solid lumps must remain. As soon as the whole mass becomes liquid and homogeneous, the container must be removed from the microwave and cooled to the desired temperature.

Any of these methods are applicable for home use. The choice of a particular option will depend on three factors:

• the amount of the original product (for small volumes it is better to use a microwave);
• the presence of the necessary equipment in the house;
• the wishes of the hostess.

Once all these questions are answered, the work can begin.

Temperature control

If the hostess does not have a special non-contact thermometer, do not despair. This is not a reason to abandon the plan. As practice shows, it is very easy to temper chocolate without a thermometer. In this case, an ordinary kitchen thermometer is suitable. It is ideal, for example, to work on a marble board. You just need to lower its contact part into the chocolate mass and follow the indications on the dial. True, not everyone likes this method. Indeed, during the measurement process, the device must be in contact with the product, and this is not entirely hygienic. Some housewives find another way out of the situation. They use a microwave for initial heating. There you can set the temperature yourself and control the result on the monitor. In the remaining stages, the mass heating level is checked manually.

To do this, a drop of the mixture must be applied to the lower lip. This is the most tender and sensitive organ of the human body. The drop should be cool. After all, the normal temperature of the body is 36.6 degrees. Such control in practice is very convenient and does not require additional equipment costs.