What is tempering?
Chocolate tempering involves melting the chocolate while controlling its temperature curve. This allows you to work the chocolate as you wish and to obtain a perfect result for all your creations.
Why temper?
The tempering of chocolate allows it to acquire properties sought after in pastry, chocolate making and confectionery.
Successful tempering will:
- Keep chocolate shiny and smooth
- Facilitate the demolding of your parts
- Ensure a clean break
Tempering is therefore a crucial step in making beautiful chocolates and obtaining shiny, smooth and solid chocolate.
It is important to follow all the steps of the process to obtain the result you want. However, if the steps in the process are not followed, the chocolate risks being brittle, having a dull appearance, having an irregular surface or white marks, and being more difficult to unmold. Good tempering is the key to a successful chocolate creation.
The temperature curve
The maximum temperature that your chocolate should not exceed depends on its type and the stage in progress.
| Temperature | Dark chocolate | Milk chocolate | White Chocolate & Blond Dulcey |
|---|---|---|---|
|
T°1 |
50°C – 55°C |
45°C – 50°C |
45°C – 50°C |
|
T°2 |
28°C – 29°C |
27°C – 28°C |
26°C – 27°C |
|
T°3 |
31°C – 32°C |
29°C – 30°C |
28°C – 29°C |
The different tempering methods
Temper in a bain-marie
This technique is both the easiest to do and the most classic.
It consists of melting chocolate (which you will have chopped beforehand) in a bain-marie while mixing and controlling the temperature frequently.
- Place the container in the bowl of cold water while stirring regularly to bring the water down to around 35°C, all types of chocolate combined.
- Remove the container from the bowl of cold water while continuing to stir the chocolate to bring it to the indicated temperature T°2.
- Finally, place the chocolate again in a bain-marie for a short time to heat it up to its working temperature, noted temperature 3 above.
Sowing tempering
This second technique is also quite simple to implement.
It consists of cutting the chocolate into small pieces (smaller than the squares of a bar), unless you are using pistoles, in which case this step is not necessary.
- Melt ¾ of your chocolate in a bain-marie to T°1.
- Remove the cul-de-poule from the pan and remove ⅓ of the melted chocolate, set aside in a bowl.
- Add the remaining ¼ of unmelted chocolate to the melted chocolate in the cul-de-poule, mix until the temperature reaches T°2.
- Reintegrate the third of chocolate set aside in step 2. The temperature difference should bring everything up to temperature 3.
Tabulation for tempering chocolate
The third method is that of tabulation. It is the least easy to achieve since it normally requires a marble worktop.
- The basic principle is the same. You have to chop the chocolate into small pieces then heat it in a bain-marie to its temperature T°1.
- Then, pour ⅔ of the melted chocolate directly onto the marble to bring it down in temperature, down to T°2, while stirring continuously with a spatula. Reserve ⅓ in the cul-de-poule.
- Finally, all you have to do is pour the chocolate from the marble into a bowl then gradually add the one reserved in the container in step 2, until the temperature reaches T°3.
The chocolate tempering machine
A tempering machine is a very practical device for people who have to temper chocolate regularly since it is impossible to miss the operation.
With a tempering machine, the couverture chocolate will automatically follow the ideal temperature curve to obtain a perfect result without you needing to put your hand to the dough.
