Dipping Chocolates

How do you get the chocolate thick when dipping chocolates. Someone told me to add a little bit of water when you are working the chocolate on the marble slab. Is this true or can you achieve this just by the way you dip?

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Permalink Reply by Robyn Wood on August 31, 2011 at 9:13pm

Adding water to chocolate is going to make it seize, and then it is useless.

You may just have to try different chocolates to test viscosity, they are all different. I personally don't want my chocolate thick for dipping. I prefer a more fluid chocolate so the dipped items look better.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Karren on September 1, 2011 at 11:34am

Thank you. Have you found anything that helps you keep more chocolate enrobed around the centers. When I dip my chocolates my chocolate isn't very thick on the finished product. I'm using guittard

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Permalink Reply by Andrea Bauer on September 1, 2011 at 1:22pm

I have been in a class where a small amount of water was added to the chocolate, it was stirred vigerously (immediately from when the chcolate was added) and it did not seize. It does thicken the chocolate but I think if you did that the chocolate would be too thick to work with for dipping. I asked for a scientific explanation of why the chocolate did not seize but didn't really get an adequate explanation.

The chcolate is not useless after it has seized. It can be used for ganaches. It just cannot be used for tempering even if remelted.

You might try double dipping the chocolates for a thicker coating or as Robyn suggested look for a chocolate with a thicker viscosity when tempered that would give a thicker coating. www.chocosphere.com has product information, at least on some brands, about differing viscosities of the various chocolates.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Ingram on September 1, 2011 at 5:17pm

I melt chocolate for fondues, I like to dip fruit and marshmallows in. I use both dark and milk chocolate, i would say what I use is pretty thick. This is one of my faves and has always done the trick for me Butlers Dark 70% Chocolate Bar. Another trick is to add a tiny bit of cornflour sieved in. Hope that helps.

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Atkinson Kendrick on September 2, 2011 at 12:27am

Which Guittard are you using? They have many different viscousities for different purposes. You may be using one intended for molding rather than for hand dipping.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Karren on September 2, 2011 at 12:32am

I'm using guittard old dutch milk, the 10 lb blocks

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Atkinson Kendrick on September 2, 2011 at 10:18pm

I have always found OD to be quite thick. Are you sure it is in temper?

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Permalink Reply by Mark Heim on September 2, 2011 at 11:46pm

Look for a lower % cocoa butter chocolate, ask for it from your supplier, or if looking for higher quality, a similar % cocoa butter in what you're using now but without the emulsifier such as lecithin. Look at the viscosity given for your paste and request a higher one.

Water brings on problems with how the chocolate melts down in the mouth and texture when eaten. Water can absorb up to twice its weight in the sugars, making a syrup, and the sugars can crystalize to larger and larger sizes over time making it gritty.