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help with truffle ganache base!

post #1 of 11
12/3/07 at 6:44pm
Thread Starter 
i think i must have a dark cloud over me at the moment, which i hope someone can remove!...soon!!...i'm not a pastry chef, but i have been making truffles for forever..this time, the ganache has not set up..before i go any farther i would like some advise..only thing i did differently is i doubled the recipe instead of making 2 separate batches..recipe was 16 oz of chocolate and 1 cup heavy cream...i heated the cream just to boiling and poured it over the chocolate..let it sit for a few minutes, stirred then added some liquer, then cooled and put in fridge..it has not set up...what can i do at this point to salvage this...anything? was thinking either to slightly reheat the ganache and add some butter, then when it was chilled the butter would harden the whole batch..or make another normal batch and use this soft ganache as the coating for the truffles...any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated...thanks
joey
p.s. i measured out the 16 oz. i didn't have a scale, so i eyeballed it, which normally is pretty good..what is the weight difference..huge enough to not set up?i know that volume and weitght measures are different, but when you are in this situation, how do you compensate? of course its probably rote to you
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post #2 of 11
12/4/07 at 6:01am
my guess would be not enough heat in the ganache to get the liquor up to temp.

Glass bowl and a microwave or a bain marie will fix the problem. Bring it up to 104 F and let it sit there for 20 minutes. Seed it, stir it and into the reach-in or walk-in, it will set then. I have about 1 out of 30 not set up for one reason or another and always get it back this way. Seeding is just adding a non-heated chip of chocolate to the ganache. You will see it shimmer when the crystal structure starts correctly.
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post #3 of 11
12/4/07 at 7:49am
Fridges ain't great for ganaches, because once refrigerated, the ganache won't set up properly anymore. I would use your refrigerated ganache for glazing pastries or sauce, and start over again for truffles, but don't refrigerate the ganache. The CIA has an excellent book called "Chocolates and confections" where it explains the system of ganches in greater detail--probably one of the best books I ever spent my money on so far.

Hope this helps
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post #4 of 11
12/4/07 at 10:02am
When you added the liquour did you just add extra to it? You should keep the ratio of liquid the same. Ie: if you added 2 oz of liquour you should have only used 6 oz of cream. The additional liquid will throw off the setting.
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post #5 of 11
12/4/07 at 1:34pm
Thread Starter 

truffle base saved!!!

i did indeed add the extra liquers when i doubled the recipe, instead of the 2 tbl, i added 4..anyway, i softened the already made ganache just a wee bit in the nuker and added some more melted, tempered chocolate as was suggested..after it sat a bit, i refrigerated it and now it just fine..ready to roll in whatever! thanks to you all!..truffles are not hard to make obviously,and i would have redone the whole batch if necessary, but boy i hated to have to waste all that chocolate, if i could redeem it...thanks again all..have a great day..just got 3 feet of fresh powder here..i think my mind is on skiing, not truffle making!
joey
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post #6 of 11
12/4/07 at 6:34pm

You chose the correct solution

In my course of couverture study, we use a much higher percentage of chocolate to heavy cream in a ganache formula for truffle fillings, instead of equal amounts. So I do think you chose the correct solution here... just add more chocolate. I have never heard of tempering ganache (only bringing it to working temp, not to exceed 90 degrees F if you are filling shelled molds), nor a need to bring the liquor up to a certain temp, nor that refrigeration ruins ganache??

I'm surprised by all the varied advice here... it is quite different from what I have learned and the production I have done...
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post #7 of 11
12/5/07 at 10:52am
In spite of only two basic ingredients, ganaches are complex fat-in-water systems. Stirring the ganache ABOVE 32 c/90 f has no effect, but below this point and the ganche will almost always split.

Many bakers have different views on when to add booze to the ganache, with some adding it to the cream prior to boiling, some scream that by boiling the booze with the cream you evaporate all the alcohol and flavour. However if you make a normal ganche by pouring boiling cream over chunk couveture and stir it, the temp is already at around 30, so any further stirring will probably result in splitting, but if the booze is hot, the temp rises above 32, and the odds of it splitting are greatly reduced.

There are many formulas for ganache, and many have lower proportions of cream to couveture. These result in very firm ganaches, good for rolling, but the texture and mouth feel is very heavy. The more liquids you have, the smoother and creamier the mouthfeel, but then the shelf life is reduced because of higher water content.
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post #8 of 11
12/5/07 at 11:03am
Taken from CIA's "Chocoaltes and Confections"

Refrigerating ganache has a detrimental effect on its texture, making it too soft to handle at room temp. and causing the formation of large fat crystals during storage. Like choc., ganache is polymorphic, when it is properly made it will contain stable Form V fat crystals which will seed the ganache and prompt it to set to be firm at room temp. .... When the ganche is force set in the refrigerator, however, the fat crystals that form in it are unstable lower crystal forms. Such crystals will cause the ganache to be excessively soft when it is returned to room temp, making it impossible to work with--unless enrobed when cold. Enrobing while cold presents a host of other problems.....


That book (CIA's Choc&Conf.) spends just as much time on my night table as it does at work....
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post #9 of 11
12/6/07 at 7:39pm
this seems to work for me .and -% the chocloate of solids added to the ganache .then - % liquids if you add booze or purees
5k 47% chocolate to 6 qt creme 40% fat. heat creme add chocolate turn off flame and mix slowly .strain and use .
we made this once a day for years and no real problem unless some ond did not zero out the scale .
Tommy
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post #10 of 11
4/17/11 at 9:55am

Lol I done the same just trying to remedy it by adding some more chocolate 

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post #11 of 11
4/17/11 at 4:36pm

We make chocolate on a regular basis and NEVER chill the ganache.

 

Truthfully, I'd stop eyeballing your measurements. If you don't have a scale go get one. Walmart has a decent digital one for less than $20. Being off in a recipe by a few ounces can screw things up. I am in Texas so humidity plays a HUGE role for me. A cup of sugar on a humid day will weigh differently than it does on a dry day.

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