The most common mistakes when working with chocolate or couverture
The most common mistakes when working with chocolate or couverture
Seven problem patterns, seven countermeasures
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What you'll learn
- Why chocolate doesn't set after tempering
- What grey dots, a grey haze and grey streaks each mean
- What happens when water gets into the couverture — and how to rescue it
- Where air bubbles come from and how to make them disappear again
- What fat bloom is and why it has nothing to do with spoilage
- How sugar bloom differs from it
- At what room temperature it even makes sense to work
Melt chocolate and let it set again — that sounds like two simple steps. And then the couverture turns grey, gets dots, stays soft or suddenly clumps together.
Almost all of these mistakes have to do with temperature, and almost all of them can be rescued once you know the cause. Because the problem patterns look similar but come from different things: a grey haze means something different from grey dots, and grey streaks something different again.
Here are the mistakes we encounter most often in the bakery — each one with what you see, what's behind it, and what you can do about it.
How to temper correctly is explained step by step in our post Tempering couverture chocolate and chocolate correctly. This post here is the troubleshooting that follows.
1The couverture doesn't set
After ten minutes at room temperature it's still soft and wet.
The sample stays soft, doesn't shine and can be dented with a finger. There are two causes for this, and they can be told apart.
Tempered too warm
The couverture was tempered too warm and therefore has too few stable fat crystals to be able to set.
Countermeasure
Add a handful of extra finely chopped pieces of couverture to the too-warm couverture and gently stir them in, so that they dissolve well and the stable fat crystals distribute evenly.
The kitchen is too warm
The room temperature is above 24 °C. In that case the sample simply can't set quickly, even if the couverture is tempered correctly.
Countermeasure
Put the sample in the fridge for five minutes. After that it should have set. To be sure, press on it again with your finger: if only the top layer is firm and it's still soft underneath, the couverture was tempered too warm after all.
2Lots of small grey dots
It sets, but slowly — and then dots appear everywhere.
After a while, lots of small grey and white dots appear on the surface.
Tempered too warm, but not entirely
Not all, but many of the stable fat crystal forms in the cocoa butter were destroyed. The remaining stable ones mix with the unstable ones — this creates the grey and white dots.
Corrective measure
The same corrective measure as with the first mistake: add a handful of extra finely chopped couverture pieces and gently stir in until they are completely dissolved.
3An even grey veil
It sets very quickly — and then turns dull all over.
Unlike with the dots, here an even grey veil lies over the entire surface.
Processed too cold
The couverture contains enough stable fat crystals, but was processed too cold. That is why the sample turns grey.
Corrective measure
Gently reheat the couverture over the water bath or with a heat gun until the optimal final temperature is reached. Measure as you go instead of guessing.
4Grey and white streaks
At first everything looks fine, then streaks appear as it cools.
The couverture sets well and initially keeps its colour. Only as it cools do grey and white streaks form.
Not stirred enough
If not enough stirring was done during tempering, warm couverture can be left standing, for example in the corners of the Bowl, which has not mixed with the cold. As it cools this becomes visible as streaks. This very often happens towards the end of processing or when it was reheated too much.
Corrective measure
Temper the couverture again or mix it very thoroughly once more at a suitable temperature. This has no effect on the quality — you can readily use it for your next creation.
5Water in the couverture
The only mistake that cannot always be salvaged.
While melting or reheating over the water bath, water or steam got into the couverture.
The mass clumps
The couverture becomes lumpy or thick and can no longer be used for pure couverture products. If only small lumps form, you can sieve them out. If a single large lump forms, nothing more can be done and the couverture must be discarded.
Corrective measure
As soon as you notice that water has got in: stop stirring immediately. Water must never be stirred in — it is more fluid than the couverture, floats on top and can simply be soaked up again with a paper towel.
If the Bowl does not sit snugly on the pan, steam rises up the side and settles in the couverture. Use a Bowl that is clearly wider than the pan, and let the water beneath it only simmer, not boil.
6Too many air bubbles
The mould has to be tapped forever, and the surface stays uneven.
Air bubbles run through the couverture. When pouring into a mould you have to tap for a long time, and instead of a smooth surface small bumps form.
Stirred too intensively
The couverture was stirred too intensively during tempering — often with the Whisk, which is generally not recommended for this. A hand blender also whips in air.
Corrective measure
Stir gently with a Mixing spatula and warm the mass a little. Gentle stirring and warmth allow the bubbles to rise. For small amounts it helps to tap the Bowl on the table a few times.
7Fat bloom — the white coating
Not spoilage, but migrated cocoa butter.
Fat bloom occurs when the crystal form of the fat it contains changes: first the shine changes, then a white to greyish coating forms. In the chocolate industry, fat bloom is one of the most common reasons for complaints.
There are two main causes. The first is called "cocoa butter sweating out": the cocoa butter is finely distributed in the chocolate, but only stable within a certain temperature range. If this is exceeded, the fat slowly migrates to the surface. Faulty tempering during production or incorrect storage clearly intensify this.
The second cause is fillings high in fat — hazelnuts, Nougat, cream fillings or marzipan. Their oils and fats migrate out of the filling through the chocolate to the surface. That is why filled Pralines in particular are especially susceptible. How quickly this happens also depends on the ambient temperature and the type of chocolate.
At 35 to 36 °C the small fat crystals melt and the coating disappears — though it forms again as it cools. It has no effect on smell or taste.
8Sugar bloom — looks similar, but isn't
Rough rather than greasy, and it doesn't disappear when warmed.
Sugar bloom is caused mainly by storage in high humidity above 75 to 80 percent. A packaging that lets water vapour through, damp air or sharp temperature swings make the chocolate fog up — especially when it comes from a very cold environment into warm, humid air and the moisture condenses on the still-cold surface.
In the process, sugar is drawn out of the upper layers. When the water evaporates, it crystallises into a grey film on a now rough, dull surface.
The difference from fat bloom: sugar bloom does not disappear when warmed to 36 °C, and it feels rougher.
Sugar bloom is harmless to your health and does not change the taste. But because it is caused by moisture, it can be accompanied by microbial spoilage — and mould breaks down the chocolate enzymatically, which significantly worsens the flavour. So store chocolate in a dry place at 15 to 18 °C, not in the fridge.
9What you need for this
Most tempering mistakes come from the temperature — and you don't measure that with your finger.
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