so I am new here, but am almost to the point of never wanting to work with chocolate again(gads).....

I bought a pound of really expensive untempered chocolate, and followed ALL of the directions I could(even watched the ghiradelli web instructional online)....
I have a marble slab table and all.

I poured the"tempered"chocolate into the molds, and it never set. not even almost.
even after refrigerating it in the mold, the minute I took them out of the fridge, the chocolates would melt instantly.

I hate using candy melts in molds becuase they arent techinically "chocolate'...

I ended up adding some ghiradelli "dipping" chocolate hunks to it, and crisco....the tast is so not even almost the taste I was looking for. THe original expensive chocolate was supe rich , dark and decadent.now it the taste of regualr ole' modeling chocolate.


does anyone have any tips??I have wasted over $30 in the past 2 days messing with this stuff , now I am on a mission to figure out what went wrong.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

thanks

I don't know what went wrong for you but I HATE tempering chocolate, I can do it most of the time without horrible results. I don't dislike the melts but they aren't as good as the real stuff but normally that's all I use since tempering is a pain in the rear.

did you try to heat it up too quickly?? or get it too hot???? did you use a thermometer???

The only thing I can think of is did it cease??

Oh I feel for you! Tempering is a pain but worth it if you can get it right. Did you test it out before you poured it in your moulds? You can always restart the tempering if it doesn't work the first few times.
Make sure you thermometer is calibrated, and make sure your kitchen is not to hot, you can bring it over the correct temp so quickly its not even funny.
If you do figure it out, I have an awesome Carioca filling that is to die for if your interested.
Good luck!

I find the easiest way to temper chocolate is the seeding method. All chocolate that you buy is actually in temper already. In the seeding method you melt the majority of your chocolate (breaking the temper), and then add back a chunk about equivalent to 30% the weight of the melted chocolate. Adding the still-tempered chocolate to the liquid chocolate encourages the crystals in the melted chocolate to line up properly, or temper. What you do is add the unmelted chunk and stir constantly (adding more solid, tempered chocolate if needed) until the proper temperature is reached. Then simply remove the remainder of the unmelted chunk.

Some chocolate purists claim that you get the best possible temper using the marble slab, as you did, but I get fabulous temper using the seeding method. Give it a try!

I did the seeding method twice,
I tried to unmold my final batch and they broke off(it is the bowling pin molds) ........

I give up, did the chocolate defeat me???

I have used all of the "good" chocolate, and now have moved onto the ghiridelli bars from sams.yes, they are safer, but so much less decadent.

I feel like I cheated, but they are just party favors. I am worried about the heat and humidity here in texas and if they will make it through the party.

Also , I did use a thermometer(candy) and made sure I did the step-by-step instructions from the ghiridelli website, but I still failed miserably.

maybe I will try again, if anyone has a simple step-by-step method to explain , please let me know. I need to be taught like I am a 4 year old(BABY steps)........

ugh.
thanks everyone.
thankg god for the ghiridelli bars from sams, they are only $5 by the way!!!!!

If you go to the Food Network and search Working With Chocolate you will find an easy method for tempering by Jacques Torres. It is the recipe in his Dessert Circus book. If you get serious about this there are some small tempering machines. I think they are called Sinsation. Many of them are advertised in Choclatier Magazine. I do lots of chocolate. Not that it means much but I do use Callebaut for baking. When it comes to the molds though I use the Merkens melts. I don't want to waste my $$ on these. Like I said that is just my opinion.

thanks for all the responses.
I feel much better knowing I am not the only one.

I have read the J Torres page over and over , still nothing. It is like my hands just cant do it.(or maybe it is my mind).....

I give up , for now, but I will one day, conquer it. maybe, sorta.

kinda.

it sets in the fridge, but once I pull it out of the mold, it it starts to melt, FAST.

it is such a tease.

thanks everyone!

Oh, Please don't give up on the choc. Once you get the hang of it you have the hang forever and you will develop a feel for it. It's much like baking bread: my mom could do it without a recipe but I couldn't. I just didn't have the feel. If you plan on doing favors or something that needs to be heat tolerant then you should use the candy melts. Why not start with another project for you tempered choc. You could do some candy, perhaps truffles done the American way and not the classic French tradition, by making the truffles and then dipping in chocolate that has been tempered. Later, if they start to bloom or you are not satisfied with the way they turn out just roll them in cacoa powder to disguise them.

My first attempts were failures too. I was just too impatient and tried to do things too quickly and apply too high a heat. Go slow, really slow and then go slower. It will melt at such a low temp, you will be completely shocked, but it won't do it instantly. Apply lots of low heat but don't be tempted to increase the heat. It will seem like it is never going to get warm and melt and then all of a sudden it happens - liquidity! If the water is simmering or boiling - it is too hot. If the water feels hotter than a warm babies bath or a babies bottle than you are using too high a heat. Go low and slow.

you can keep a hair dryer blowing on the bowl of chocolate to keep it true to temperature also, you need to monitor the temp to make sure that it keeps level.

well i definitely understand your frustrations!! I am a self taught chocolatier, and you have no idea how many batches i have had that just did not temper properly.

My best advice is to look at your thermometer!! Think about it, you have such a small window of temperature that u must be in, and it takes time for your thermometer to read that temperature, so by the time the therm. says it is ready you have heated or cooled it too much.

What i did was go to one of the home depot's and buy an insta-read thermometer (it has a cool laser beam too..LOL) and you just point and shoot and BANG u got your temp right away. Now my choc. tempers every single time! Now i must warn you, they are a bit pricey, but i use it so often and it keeps me sane... so it's "priceless" (there's a MasterCard commercial for ya!)

HTH, pm me if you have any questions.
Daniella

EEEEGADS! I had no idea chocolate could be so hard to make.
I'm scared.
Not at all ready to try that.
I do kinda relate to the difficulty.
One day I locked myself in the kitchen and refused to leave until I could make pie crust.
What a mess!!!!
Now I whip up a pie quick as a cat can wink an eye...
People rave over my flaky beautiful pie crust.
Sooooo, I may do the same thing with chocolate.
Except it costs more.

what does temper actually mean/ is it when you get it to the correct temp. I tried a mold and did not realize any of this thus it came out awfully but have not given up I love some of the transfers on here/ so will perservere after christmas