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Hand Dipping Chocolates

#1
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5/9/05 at 7:38am
  • Joined: April 2005
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I have a small enrobing machine (top and bottom) that I use to enrobe my truffles, using a fork to remove the truffles. I would like to try (again!) to master the art of hand dipping instead, however every time I've tried this in the past, with the two-finger method, I end up with a mess. So much chocolate adheres to my fingers along with the truffle that it's hard to separate. Maybe the chocolate needs to be way thinner to hand dip? Does anyone have any "secret" tips on how to perform this deceptively simple looking task?

Thanks in advance,
BKchocolate
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#2
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5/9/05 at 12:25pm
  • Joined: April 2003
  • Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Try leaving a layer of melted chocolate on 1 hand while using 2 fingers from the other hand to roll the truffle around the melted chocolate. Usually 2 thin coats this method is more then enough.
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#3
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5/11/05 at 7:06am
  • Joined: April 2005
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thanks, I'll give it a try. But I was hoping I could just hand dip in the kettle I'm using rather than transferring chocolate to shallower pan that would allow me to roll. If I could leave the chocolate in the kettle (tempered), then I wouldn't have to worry about chocolate cooling/drying as I go. Also, my centers that I'm dipping are more square than round, so rolling isn't as easy as the usual truffle. I'll keep experimenting with the hand dipping, but open to all suggestions.

BKchocolate
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#4
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5/11/05 at 7:45pm
  • Joined: July 2001
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cool fingers are always a help. Dry ice wrapped in brown paper is a good thing to have around. Inexpensive and bag are free at the piggy-wiggly :D
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#5
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5/11/05 at 8:54pm
  • Joined: April 2003
  • Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Keep the chocolate over a waterbath, that'll keep your chocolate warm but keep another pot of boiling water going incase the baine marie cools. Just do a quick exchange of pots and your back up and running. And don't play around with the rolling too too much, the chocolate will adhere to the truffle and take on it's shape. A little neat baking tip I got in class when dipping, repeatedly dip the truffle with a quick motion. This will release the excess chocolate and don't create much of that chocolate toe when you place it on a sheet or rack.
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#6
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5/12/05 at 7:45am
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Good ideas, thanks. Obviously I've not been classically trained. Dipping and rolling then are two different things entirely, I take it. I may have been using the terms interchangeably by mistake. Please, when does one dip versus roll in chocolate? If it's a matter of personal preference, I'd like to hear your opinions.

BKchocolate
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#7
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6/19/05 at 5:28pm
  • Joined: June 2005
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hello i used to dip and make chocolates . frist are you dipping from a baine marie or a machine where the chocolate is flowing out.
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#8
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6/20/05 at 4:23am
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  • Location: norwalk, CT USA
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You can try dipping in the choc. with a fork, and depositing it on a cake cooling rack. Before it cools, roll it around on the rack, and transfer it to parchment before it sets.
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#9
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6/20/05 at 8:41am
  • Joined: April 2005
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I'm using a tempering machine where the chocolate flows.

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I think perhaps one of my problems was going to slow, trying for perfection (???) -- and certainly the quick dip suggested earlier is a help. I still tend to bring up too much chocolate with the truffle, but I'm afraid the chocolate will go out of temper if I bring up the temperature to thin it down a bit.

I will continue to experiment, and as always, your suggestions are MOST helpful and I will be grateful for any.

BKchocolate
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#10
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6/20/05 at 8:44am
  • Joined: April 2005
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Thanks, I'll give that a try. By the way, just to let you know, since you're a moderator, I search cheftalk by entering the word "chocolate" in to the search function -- and I missed yours because you abbreviated it as choc. So maybe just a ntoe to fellow searchers to search for common abbreviations of what you're looking for, and maybe lots more relevant posts will come up. I'm going to go search under "choc" now and see what I find!

bkchocolate
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#11
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6/21/05 at 2:47pm
  • Joined: June 2005
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hello what we used to do when the chocolate got a bit thick we either waved a hair dryer over it a few times not to close that worked or added a bit of hot chocolate to it these things helped us keep it tempered all day we didnt need to touch the heat .
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#12
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6/21/05 at 6:22pm
  • Joined: March 2000
  • Location: norwalk, CT USA
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bk, thanks. I'd never thought of that. I'll try to write my words in full to make searching easier. :)
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#13
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9/7/05 at 11:43pm
  • Joined: August 2005
  • Location: suburbs of Chicago, IL
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Couverature

Just wondered what kind of chocolate you are using. There is a type of chocolate known as couverature which is thinner when melted as it has a higher cocoa butter content than other chocolates of the same type (dark, milk, white). Couverature chocolate is usually a better and more expensive chocolate and is designed to be thinner for that really thin outer shell on dipped and coated chocolates.
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