Help me make a chocolate bar at home.

September 6, 2009 10:08 AM

Is it possible to make chocolate bars at home?

What ingredients and equipment do I need for making chocolate bars at home, and is this feasible? Please share any sources for ingredients and tips for a successful outcome.

posted by Wordwoman to food & drink (8 comments total)

Note: I'm not talking about melting down chocolate chips and simulating a chocolate bar. I'd like to use what chocolatiers use.
posted by Wordwoman at 10:13 AM on September 6

Here's Chowhound's take, with some good resources. You'll want to be tempering high-quality chocolate, not the semisweet chocolate chip crap.
posted by mynameisluka at 10:17 AM on September 6

Chow's, rather. I always get Chow and Chowhound confused.
posted by mynameisluka at 10:17 AM on September 6

Yes! Here's a good starting point for you. Also: Chocolate Bar: Recipes and Entertaining Ideas for Living the Sweet Life
posted by bigmusic at 10:18 AM on September 6

For full insanity, start with beans.

(Bugger, apparently egullet's down for the weekend. Here's a google cache)
posted by Phineas Rhyne at 11:38 AM on September 6

A cautionary note if you decide to try to really go from scratch (I think I'd have trouble sharing the author's positive conclusion of it all but, you know, different strokes...)

And how did it taste? It is undeniably the grittiest, nastiest chocolate I've ever had. The sugar was so coarse that at first I thought I'd bitten into a Hershey's Crunch bar. But, after forcing myself to ignore the texture, I could tell that the chocolate itself wasn't that bad: it had a very strong, almost bittersweet, flavor without any burnt notes. Adding a little more milk powder and sugar should mild it out to be more in line with my taste preferences.


The Final Analysis:

I calculate that this one bar of pitifully poor chocolate cost me $21.00 and eight hours of work. Valuing the labor as unskilled, certainly appropriate in my case, and worth $5.00 per hour, that means this chocolate cost $100 per pound. Was it worth it? YES! And I'm indebted to Mr. Nanci for providing the information needed to help my do it. Sure, the chocolate was a disaster, but I had a lot of fun making it, acquired a greater appreciation for professionally made chocolates, and look forward to figuring out ways to make better chocolate.
posted by nanojath at 12:38 PM on September 6

I learned from this absorbing article that "what chocolatiers use" is called couverture, essentially a big block of chocolate that they melt down and re-mold or combine with other ingredients.

See, especially, the differentiation between a "chocolate maker" and a "chocolatier" that appears on this page, just above and below the photo of the blocks of couverture.
posted by Orinda at 12:41 PM on September 6 [1 favorite]

I remember reading about a home coffee roaster who tried making chocolate and who was very very disappointed at the lack of pro material for the home chocolate maker.

Essentially, you need a few very specialised tools (especially for grinding the cocoa paste, iirc), which are only available for large amounts. Ah, but it seems they are becoming available now. Home coffee roasters are your friend if you want to roast cocoa nuts, especially the new Behmor.

I predict much insanity and "upgrade fever" if you go down this path. Before long, you will have a rusty 50 gallon chocolate vat in your garage that you salvaged, and a very concerned SO.
posted by NekulturnY at 1:03 AM on September 7