OT: Anyone Use Sous Vide as Double Boiler?

Toxarch

I'm wanting to make some peppermint back, which is basically candy crack if you have never had. Sounds kinda interesting, tastes awesome. Anyway, chocolate should be melted at 115 degrees max, 120 for dark chocolate. A double boiler is best for this. You can microwave in short bursts but it' easy to overheat and burn the chocolate. 

So anyway, I wondered if anyone has used the sous vide to melt the chocolate. First I thought floating bowl like a double boiler. Then I thought sealed bags like a regular sous vide. Then I thought mason jars. They seal up enough to keep water out and can release pressure if needed. They'll float with a lot of air in them, but not a big deal. And with the sous vide, I can control the water temp easily. I can even tell Alexa to set the temp for me. 

Anyone try it before? I plan to try it this week.

Photo Egg

Can't think of a reason it would not work. Let us know.

HellrodKC

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/12/the-food-lab-best-way-to-temper-chocolate.html#sousvide

Toxarch

SO you are saying someone stole my idea before I came up with it?
Problem with tempering chocolate is that you can not let any water at all into it or it is ruined. Should be fun to try to keep all the water out when using a sous vide.

Moleman

For that recipe it should be just fine. Seal the bag and wait for it to melt. I've used it for melting chocolate for pretzels and oreo's. Stole the idea from someone off here actually, regretfully I can't recall who. It's tougher as you need to keep it melted for a long period of time. After looking the recipe up I'll be making it myself. Appreciate the post. Thanks 

Toxarch

By the way, that should be Peppermint Bark in the original post. Autocorrect on the phone changed it.

Some recipes such as the one below add a little veg oil to the chocolate. One explained that it gave the chocolate a smoother, more attractive look and also gave the chocolate a crisper break like you get when you temper chocolate. It would definitely be quicker without having to temper the chocolate. If I have enough chocolate, I might try it both ways and see which I like better.
https://www.atasteofkoko.com/desserts/peppermint-bark

nolaegghead

Yes

Moleman

I've just finished with it. Waiting until tomorrow for it to set. Just the chocolate and the peppermint for me. The dark chocolate was perfectly smooth after setting, the white wasn't as smooth but looks good. Thanks for the post. Quick and easy, nothing like the reviews using a double boiler. 

vb4677

Vacuum seal, perhaps?

Moleman

If that was for me, yes.  Occasionally agitate it.  I needed to get to 130 for it to melt though. 

Toxarch

I'm using pint jars in the sous vide with a pint jar full of water on top to hold it down. The dark melted easily at 115. Had to get up to 120 to get the white to melt. I got it to 125 on the first batch and then realized it was pretty much melted, I just had to agitate it (shake the bottle) to get the block shapes to collapse. First batch tastes good, already broken up, in a container, and back into the fridge. About to run a second batch. I have melting chocolates so I don't have to temper it.
Kinda wondered if I should just let the jars float and circle in the sous vide. That should let gravity and the jar spinning around agitate the chocolate, right? Tried it at first and then got worried about water getting in through the lid if it bumped the side wrong.

Toxarch

Moleman said:

If that was for me, yes.  Occasionally agitate it.  I needed to get to 130 for it to melt though. 

Are you using chocolate chips? Those are much harder to melt because they put additives in the chocolate so they hold their shape better when baked in a cookie.

Toxarch

Here's some pictures. The pics are from the 2nd batch except for the finished product, that's the 1st batch.

Loaded up pint jars with 5 oz chocolate each and a teaspoon of veg oil.

Stuck in the sous vide at 120 F and put a full jar of water on top to hold the chocolate jars down. The white bars did not want to pool and looked like they were not melting. Just had to shake them or stir it to get them to drop down.

I put parchment paper on an old glass cutting board for cooling the chocolate in the fridge. Recipe says 20 mins. The dark was plenty cool in under 10 mins, you could go less than that. Turn the board around to get the first layer really thin. Seems thinner is better when cutting/breaking them up.

I broke up the candy canes in a bag and sifted out the powder. I found that I didn't like the look of the fine powder on the top. So I decided to take the fine powder and mix it in with the white, then heat it back up and then spread it.



Then added the course peppermint and refrigerate.

Here's the first batch after I started cutting/breaking it up... and of course taste testing a few.


Thanks for any input earlier.

Moleman

I did use chips and never realized that. It will be my last time as I learned something else today. I appreciate all the information here. Merry Christmas to all. 

Toxarch

I kind of wonder if chocolate chips might be a better choice. The higher melting temp means they stay solid longer once out of the fridge, right?