Dipping chocolats/petits fours/biscuits

Preparation

• receiving bowl
• dipping fork
• paper

Temper the chocolate and pour it into the receiver. Ensure that the receiver is well filled. That way the tempered chocolate remains at temperature for as long as possible without becoming overcrystallised too quickly (becoming too thick).

If you are using a hard coating or a baker's coating, you need not temper the chocolate: the coating melts at 40°C and cools very quickly after the dipping (see later).

Are you working on marble or a cold plate? Then put a piece of cloth or something warm under the chocolate receiver so that the temperature of the chocolate doesn't decrease too rapidly. That prevents too rapid a crystallisation.

The closer the temperature of the filling is to the temperature of the tempered chocolate, the better the end result. Naturally this is impossible for certain fillings (e.g. buttercream fillings). In that case, ensure that the filling is not too cold and is still stiff enough to be dipped. With coatings, temperature plays a lesser role. You can even dip deepfrozen fillings.

Step by step

For a thin enrobing layer:

1. Are you right handed? Then place the filling to be dipped on the far left, the receiver with the chocolate in the middle and the paper to slide the pralines on to the right. If you are left handed then reverse these instructions.

2. Push the filling quickly into the tempered chocolate until only the top of the filling sticks out above the chocolate. 1

3. Pull the chocolate over the filling with the dipping fork. 2

4. Lift the praline out of the chocolate with the dipping fork. Take care that ±2/3 of it lies at the top of the fork and 1/3 projects over the fork top. 3

5. With up and down movements shake the surplus chocolate off the filling. With each upward movement touch the upper surface of the tempered chocolate in the recipient. This lets the surface tension of the chocolate 'pull' the surplus chocolate off the praline. 4 5

6. Brush the fork off against the edges of the recipient. 6 7

7. Place the praline with the front side down onto the paper.

8. Pull the fork gently from under the praline. 8

9. Before you completely withdraw the fork, gently push the praline a little forward. This avoids an unesthetic thickening or socalled 'foot' under the praline.

For a thick enrobing layer:

1. Push the filling into the tempered chocolate with the upper surface downwards. 9 10

2. Turn it round with the dipping fork. 11 12

3. Remove the praline from the chocolate. Ensure that ±2/3 lies at the top of the fork and 1/3 sticks out over the fork top.

4. With up and down movements, shake the surplus chocolate off the praline. With each upward movement touch the upper surface of the tempered chocolate in the recipient. This lets the surface tension of the chocolate 'pull' the surplus chocolate off the praline. 13

5. Brush the fork off against the edges of the recipient.

6. Place the praline with the front side down onto the paper.

7. Pull the fork from under the praline.

8. Before you completely withdraw the fork, gently push the praline a little forward. This avoids an unesthetic thickening or socalled 'foot' under the praline.

Tips for cooling

- Have you finished with the dipping? Then don't place the pralines immediately into the refrigerator, but first let them set at room temperature for about a quarter of an hour. Abrupt temperature changes take off the chocolate glaze and should the chocolate layer be thin, can even break it. Is it really too warm in the workroom (over 20°C)? Then allow the pralines to set in the workroom for a few minutes before placing them in the fridge (at 10°C).

- Are you using a coating of imitation chocolate? Then put the pralines into the fridge as quickly as possible. Don't wait until you have dipped all the pralines. As soon as you have a small quantity ready: cool them! This is because the sharp temperature change is necessary to protect the glaze of the coating.

Which type of chocolate is the best for enrobing fillings?

- For a medium chocolate shell

All chocolates with a medium basic viscosity (SSS) are suitable for enrobing with a medium thick layer. They have a viscosity designed to be used in a wide range of techniques, including the enrobing of pralines.

The basic viscosity of white chocolate is a little too fluid. For a medium chocolate shell you can opt for the basic viscosity or choose a type with a little less cocoa butter: 2% to 3% less. You identify these by the letter B or C before the basic code.

- For fine enrobing

Some chocolate lovers and craftsmen want the chocolate layer of an enrobed praline to be as fine as possible. A more fluid chocolate type, one that contains 2% to 4% extra cocoa butter, is more suitable in this case. Through its greater fluidity, it is possible to apply a thinner chocolate layer over the filling. You identify these types by the number 2, 3 or 4 that goes before the basic code number (SSSS).