The most common mistakes when working with chocolate or couverture
The most common mistakes when working with chocolate or couverture
Seven types of fault, seven remedies
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What you will learn
- Why chocolate does not set after tempering
- What grey spots, a grey bloom and grey streaks each mean
- What happens when water gets into the couverture, and how to save it
- Where air bubbles come from and how they disappear again
- What fat bloom is and why it has nothing to do with spoilage
- How sugar bloom differs from it
- At which room temperature working with chocolate makes sense at all
Melting chocolate and letting it set again sounds like two simple steps. Then the couverture turns grey, develops spots, stays soft or suddenly clumps together.
Almost all of these faults have to do with temperature, and almost all can be rescued once you know the cause. The faults look similar but come from different things: a grey bloom means something other than grey spots, and grey streaks mean something else again.
Here are the faults we encounter most often in the bakery, each with what you see, what lies behind it, and what you can do about it.
For how to temper correctly, step by step, see our article Tempering couverture, Kuvertüre and chocolate properly. This article is the troubleshooting guide that follows it.
1The couverture does not set
After ten minutes at room temperature it is still soft and wet.
The test sample stays soft, does not shine and can be pressed in with a finger. There are two causes, 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.
Remedy
Add a handful of extra finely chopped couverture pieces to the overly warm couverture and stir gently, so they melt well and the stable fat crystals spread evenly.
The kitchen is too warm
The room temperature is above 24 °C. Then the sample cannot set quickly at all, even when the couverture is tempered correctly.
Remedy
Put the sample in the fridge for five minutes. It should have set afterwards. To be sure, press on it with your finger again: if only the top layer is firm and the layer underneath is still soft, 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, many 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 forms mix with the unstable ones, and this is what creates the grey and white dots.
Remedy
Use the same remedy as for the first fault: add a handful of extra finely chopped couverture pieces and stir gently until they have completely melted.
3An even grey haze
It sets very quickly, and afterwards it turns dull all over.
Unlike the dots, here an even grey haze covers the entire surface.
Processed too cold
The couverture contains enough stable fat crystals, but it was processed too cold. That is why the sample turns grey.
Remedy
Warm the couverture gently over a water bath or with a hot air gun until the optimal final temperature is reached. Measure as you go instead of estimating.
4Grey and white streaks
At first everything looks good, but streaks appear as it cools.
The couverture sets well and keeps its colour at first. Only as it cools do grey and white streaks form.
Not stirred enough
If the couverture is not stirred sufficiently during tempering, warmer couverture can remain, for example in the corners of the bowl, without mixing with the cooler couverture. As it cools, this shows up as streaks. This very often happens towards the end of processing or when it has been reheated too much.
Remedy
Temper the couverture again, or stir it thoroughly at a suitable temperature. This does not affect the quality: you can easily use it for your next creation.
5Water in the couverture
The only fault that cannot always be rescued.
During melting or reheating over a water bath, water or steam has 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.
Remedy
As soon as you notice that water has got in, stop stirring immediately. Never stir the water in: it is lighter than the couverture, floats on top, and can simply be soaked up again with kitchen paper.
If the bowl does not sit snugly on the pan, steam rises up the side and condenses into the couverture. Use a bowl that is clearly wider than the pan, and let the water below only simmer, not boil.
6Too many air bubbles
The mould has to be tapped for ages, and the surface stays uneven.
Air bubbles run through the couverture. When pouring into a mould, it has to be tapped for a long time, and instead of a smooth surface, small bumps form.
Stirred too vigorously
The couverture was stirred too vigorously during tempering, often with a whisk, which is generally not recommended for this. A hand blender also whips air into the mass.
Remedy
Stir gently with a mixing spatula and warm the mass slightly. Gentle stirring and warmth let the bubbles rise. For small quantities, tapping the bowl a few times on the table helps.
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 gloss 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 "sweating out of cocoa butter": the cocoa butter is finely distributed in the chocolate but is only stable within a certain temperature range. If that range is exceeded, the fat slowly migrates to the surface. Faulty tempering during production or improper storage greatly increase this.
The second cause is fillings with a high fat content, such as hazelnuts, nougat, cream fillings or marzipan. Their oils and fats migrate from the filling through the chocolate to the surface. This is why filled pralines are particularly 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, although it forms again as it cools. It has no effect on smell or taste.
8Sugar bloom: looks similar, but it isn't
Rough instead of greasy, and it doesn't disappear when warmed.
Sugar bloom mainly develops when chocolate is stored at high humidity above 75 to 80 percent. Packaging that lets water vapour through, damp air or strong temperature swings cause the chocolate to mist over, especially when it moves from a very cold environment into a warm, humid one and the moisture condenses on the still cold surface.
In the process, sugar is dissolved out of the upper layers. When the water evaporates, the sugar crystallises into a grey coating on a now rough, matt 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 health and does not change the taste. However, because it is caused by moisture, it can be accompanied by microbial spoilage, and mould breaks down the chocolate enzymatically, which noticeably worsens the flavour. Store chocolate dry at 15 to 18 °C, not in the fridge.
9What you need
Most tempering mistakes come from the temperature, and you can't judge that with your finger.
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