As a baker, if you were to make a delicious chocolate cake, what would be the key ingredient? It isn’t hard to guess. Chocolate! Tempering chocolate is one of the essential steps everyone who handles it needs to do. But, what does tempering chocolate mean? What purpose does it accomplish in baking? This blog post will share everything that you need to know about tempering chocolate. You may also put them to practice at any one of the professional bakery courses in Chennai. 

Even though this concept would seem a bit difficult to learn, a baker needs to be well-versed with it to make pretty-looking chocolates.

What does tempering chocolate mean?

Tempering is the process of altering the temperature of the chocolate to change its crystal composition. If we venture into science for a second, temper refers to the act of heating and cooling metal to increase its hardness. The same process happens in chocolate. But, why do we need to do this? 

Why is tempering chocolate needed?

Now we know what tempering means. It is time to learn why we need to do it. And also what happens when we choose to skip this step. Here are some inputs from the baking classes in Chennai Velachery. 

There is a lot of difference between untempered chocolate and a tempered one. It is mostly on the texture, looks, and consistency. 

Why untempered chocolate is not a good choice?

• It is very vulnerable to white streaks and spots.
• The surface of the chocolate will look very bland.
• This chocolate would have a crumbly, dry feel when chewed.
• Cannot be easily removed from molds since it gets stuck to its surface.
• Melts quickly

Why prefer tempered chocolate?

Tempered chocolate will have a smooth texture and silky feel when chewed. It will also take on a shiny appearance. Most importantly, this chocolate will be solid for a long time. 

Methods of tempering chocolate

Here are some common techniques for tempering chocolate. You will get practical, hands-on training at any one of the bakery classes in Chennai. 

1 – Seeding Method

In this method, the chocolate is tempered by using un-melted pieces of chocolate. 

• Melt the chocolate at a temperature of 40℃ with the help of a chocolate melter.
• Add the chocolate chips to the melted chocolate after reducing the temperature to 32℃. 
• Finally, adjust the temperature according to the type of chocolate you use:
• Milk Chocolate – 31℃
• Dark Chocolate – 32℃ 
• White Chocolate – 29℃

Keep stirring until the mixture gets to the right consistency and ensure there are no lumps.

2 – Tempering with Microwave

This is the easiest and quickest way to temper chocolate. Most cake making classes in Chennai prefer this over other methods.

• Keep the chocolate in the microwave for about 30 seconds at full power but only for short intervals.
• Stir the semi-solid chocolate once you take it out of the microwave. As you begin to mix, the small lumps of chocolate will begin to melt. If you encounter big chunks, keep it again in the microwave and mix it well. That should do the job for you.

You can learn a lot about tempering chocolate at our bakery training in Chennai. Happy baking!