Melting Chocolate
Instructions
How to melt chocolate (Double boiler method)
1. Place a saucepan half-filled with water over medium heat and cover with a heatproof mixing bowl large enough to snugly rest on the rim of the saucepan. Bring water to a simmer.
2. Chop a block or bar of chocolate into small pieces.
3. Place about two-thirds of the chopped chocolate into the bowl.
4. Use a rubber spatula to stir occasionally until the chocolate reaches about 100F. Make sure that the water in the pan does not boil or you may burn the chocolate.
5. Carefully remove the bowl from the pan. Stir in the remaining chocolate.
How to melt chocolate (Microwave method)
1. If you would rather use a microwave to melt the chocolate, chop the chocolate into small pieces, place into a glass bowl and heat for 15 seconds and stir. Continue to heat for 15 seconds and stir until melted. Make sure the chocolate does not smoke, as this will ruin the chocolate.
How to temper chocolate
1. As the chocolate cools to a temperature of about 83F-84F, you will see the chocolate start to crystallize (harden) around the outside edge of the bowl. Use the rubber spatula to stir the crystallized chocolate into the melted chocolate. If the chocolate is tempered, a knife tip dipped into tempered chocolate will set with a nice shine after 60 seconds in the refrigerator.
Using tempered chocolate
1. Being careful not to overheat it, place the bowl of tempered chocolate over simmering water until the chocolate reaches the ideal working temperature of 88F-90F.
