The Art of French Pastry

to use a microwave at 50 percent power rather than a water bath or double boiler to heat the chocolate. I ...

will clump. Trying to stir in the clump actually speeds up the clumping process. You will not be able t ...

pieces of chocolate couverture to it (the seeding method) to even out the crystallization. Always have 33 percent of ...

more you use, the more it retains its heat. If you are working with a small amount of chocolate it will ...

leftovers. DIRECT METHOD The direct method is simple; it assumes that the chocolate couverture you are using is mad ...

melting the chocolate couverture slowly so that you always have more crystallized cocoa butter crystals than m ...

bar, chop it finely and evenly into ¼-inch pieces. Place 300 grams of the finely chopped chocolate couverture ...

chocolate. Remove from the microwave, stir with a rubber spatula, and microwave for another full minute. Stir ...

enough to allow this. It’s very important that you stir and not fold, as when you fold you introduce ai ...

melt, which is good news. The trick is not to overheat it at this point. Dip the end of a paring knife o ...

Troubleshooting section at the end of the recipe. 3 Now you will heat the chocolate in shorter and shorter ...

chocolate you are tempering, the quicker this process will be. By observing the proportion of lumps remaining in ...

fewer lumps of hard chocolate you will see. Seeing a couple of unmelted chocolate coins or pieces in the c ...

chocolate, the more careful you have to be with your microwaving; some microwaves are more powerful than ot ...

a final test with the paring knife. If the chocolate sets within 2 minutes you are ready to go. SEEDING METH ...

The amount you add to the mix is 33 percent of the weight of the first amount you melted. For example, if you begin ...

coins. This method requires a thermometer. 1 Place 300 grams of finely chopped dark chocolate couvertu ...

rubber spatula, and microwave for another full minute at 50 percent power. Stir again for 20 seconds. When ...

allow this. It’s very important that you stir and not fold, as when you fold you introduce air into the c ...

2 Take the temperature of your melted chocolate. Melt dark chocolate in 30-second increments at 50 ...