How to Temper Chocolate at Home

Tempered Chocolate moulded to Easter Egg shape.

How to Temper Chocolate at Home

Learn how to temper chocolate at home using precise temperatures for dark, milk and white chocolate so you can make your own chocolate truffles, chocolate bark and hand filled chocolates.

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Total Time20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Servings: people

Calories: 179kcal

Author: Georgina Hartley

Ingredients

300 grams 70% dark chocolate

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Measure out your chocolate, then set aside ⅓ of the chocolate to create the seed.
Place the first ⅔ of the chocolate in a bain marie, double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan with 1 inch of hot water in it. The water should not be boiling and should not be touching the bottom of the metal bowl.
Melt the chocolate very slowly, stirring occasionally but always checking the temperature. You want it to reach 55°C (131°F) which is usually just after all the chocolate has melted.
As soon as the melted chocolate reaches this temperature, remove the metal bowl from the heat and place on a tea towel to halt the heating.
Tip your ⅓ of chocolate seed into the molten chocolate and stir in very quickly and firmly so that the chocolate melts completely. You need the temperature to reduce to 27-28°C (80-82°F). This could take about 10 minutes of constant stirring. If by this stage your seeded chocolate has not completely melted you need to remove the lumps as these will impair the finished temper of the chocolate.
As soon as the temperature has dropped to 27-28°C then place the metal bowl back on the heat and bring back up to 31-32°C (88-89°F). It can take just moments so keep stirring with the thermometer at hand to monitor.
When your chocolate has reached 31-32°C it is now in temper and is ready to use.
If you are able to keep the chocolate between 31-32°C whilst you are using it then that is ideal. However, if not then you need to work very quickly coating your truffles or filling your moulds otherwise the temperature will drop out of temper. As the chocolate cools it will thicken and become impossible to manipulate.
If you let your chocolate rise above 31-32°C then you will have over-tempered the chocolate and will need to start again by raising it to 55°C (131°F) and taking it from there.

Notes

These instructions are for tempering 70% dark chocolate only.

You should temper at least 300g, any less chocolate and it will be harder to achieve accurate results with. You can certainly increase the amount, the method remains the same.

Milk and white chocolate can be trickier to work with. For tempering white or milk chocolate follow the following different temperatures to work with, the rest of the method remains the same.

Milk chocolate

Initial melt: 50-55°C (122-131°F)
Cooling temp: 26-27°C (79-80°F)
Working (tempered) temp: 29-30°C (84-86°F)

White chocolate

Initial melt: 50°C (122°F)
Cooling temp: 26-27°C (79-80°F)
Working (tempered) temp: 29-30°C (84-86°F)

I learnt how to temper chocolate through classes I attended with Paul A Young who is a master chocolatier in the UK.

The chocolate that I recommend using is Callebaut’s 70% dark chocolate chips.

This seeded method is the easiest way to temper chocolate at home. You can use the microwave but I find that’s a more nuanced technique and you’ll still need to know the basics of the seeding method so actually it’s just easier to do it in the double boiler or bain marie so you have more control.

In perfectly tempered chocolate you are looking for very pretty chocolate. It should have a high gloss to the surface and a good snap when broken. Chocolate which is dull, soft or has white streaks hasn’t been tempered correctly.

You can re-temper the chocolate 3-4 times. Don’t worry if you don’t get it right first time, you can melt the chocolate down and begin again.

Store your tempered chocolate in a cool dark place, away from direct sunlight, fluctuating temperatures or the refrigerator otherwise it will drop out of temper and start to bloom.

Nutrition