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I tempered 70% bitter chocolate (Lubeca brand) following the instructions on the Anova site using sous vide: first to 115 degrees, then 81 and lastly 90 degrees (all Fahrenheit). The resulting chocolate was nicely tempered after cooling in the fridge but it would not hold its shape at room temperature.

How can I correct this?

Tal
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    Do you have a link to the product you're talking about? I'm not familiar with the concept of "butter chocolate". Do you mean white chocolate (chocolate that is only made with the cocoa butter). – Catija Sep 12 '17 at 23:44
  • It was a type. I meant to write bitter, not butter. Sorry! Thanks :) – Tal Sep 13 '17 at 04:12
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    One possibly silly question, but I am sitting in a very cold room today after some very hot days: what is your current room-temperature? Chocolate can be SO tricky.... – Layna Sep 13 '17 at 06:55
  • @Layna - can't tell for sure, but I use AC in my house and it's pleaseant for me at least. – Tal Sep 14 '17 at 06:48

1 Answers1

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In my experience, those temps work for milk chocolate, but not for bitter chocolate. Instead of 115/81/90, give 135/83/90 a shot. That ratio works well for me.

Good luck!

ChefAndy
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  • Thanks @ChefAndy. I will give it a try. Quick question though - according to this reference (http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/1155856) the temperature of the skin is above 90F, which means that by definition, since in 90F we expect the chocolate to be workable (i.e. melted), it will be melted on touch. So how can I work with it after it's set? For example, I want to mold it and then keep working on the molded figure. Do you know? – Tal Sep 14 '17 at 06:46
  • What do you mean when you say work with it? You mean moving the set pieces around? Waiting until the chocolate is completely cooled, working in a cool environment so the chocolate is cooler and immediately heat up to 90 degrees upon touch, and wearing food service gloves helps a lot to mitigate smudges and finger prints. You can try using cool, dry kitchen towels for moving larger pieces. Overall, you should touch them as little as possible. This is one of the reasons that working with chocolate is challenging. – ChefAndy Sep 14 '17 at 15:58
  • Working with it meaning moving it around. See this video, minute 13 - https://youtu.be/Unh4iqffJjM if I would have tried to touch the chocolate I had I would have made a hole simply by touching it. But the chocolate in the video seems pretty snap. – Tal Sep 14 '17 at 20:24