Tool
Tempering calculator
Pick a chocolate type, a method and a batch size. You get the three temperatures to hit, how much seed chocolate to hold back, and the order to do it in.
- Chop or weigh out 500 g of couverture. Set aside 150 g as seed.
- Melt the remaining 350 g over a water bath to 45.0 to 50.0 °C, stirring. Keep every drop of water out.
- Off the heat, stir the seed in three additions until the mixture falls to 27.0 to 28.0 °C.
- Warm gently, in short bursts, to 31.0 to 32.0 °C and hold there while you work.
- Test on a knife tip: set and glossy within five minutes at 20 °C means you are in temper.
Work in a room at 18 to 20 °C with low humidity. Above 22 °C the chocolate will not set properly. Use couverture rather than chocolate chips: chips are formulated with less cocoa butter so they hold their shape when baked, which makes them poor at tempering.
Bring the chocolate shop home with Sephra. Chocolate fountains, fondue melts and couverture-grade wafers shipped to your door.
See the chocolate fountainsWhy these numbers
Cocoa butter crystallises in six forms and only form V gives gloss, snap and mould release. The melt temperature clears every existing crystal, the cool temperature forms both IV and V, and the working temperature melts IV back out and leaves V behind as seed. Milk and white run cooler throughout because milk fat lowers the whole crystallisation range, and they scorch sooner because milk proteins brown.
The full method, the failure modes and how to test a temper are in our guide to tempering chocolate at home.