Melting chocolate!

stormbreaker

Does anyone have a fool proof way of melting chocolate?

Decided to try and make banofee balls, but managed to use double the amount of chocolate needed and only covered half the balls as I burnt the chocolate ☹️️

peachyprice

The best way is in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water. You're supposed to be able to do it in the microwave, I've always found that too hit and miss.

JIL

I melt mine in the microwave, but I do 30 seconds and then a big stir, then repeat this but 15 seconds apart. I don't completely melt it, once most has melted stirring it together works.

markfj

definitely best way I find is over a pan of hot water, some chocolate still wont work depending on the quality of it

elsien

Another vote for bowl over simmering water, but you need to make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl or the chocolate goes funny.

jackyann

The main thing is that it needs to be at quite a low temperature(just think - chocolate melts at body heat). If you have a warm place, and are starting in plenty of time, you can melt it there. Otherwise, the pan of water is, I think, best - I boil it and turn it down very low (or off) before putting the bowl of chocolate on it.

VfM4meplse

peachyprice wrote: »

The best way is in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water. You're supposed to be able to do it in the microwave, I've always found that too hit and miss.

Agree with this. Even at low settings microwaves can burn some of the chocolate without even melting the rest. White chocolate seems particularly vulnerable.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

As Mary Berry says, chocolate melts in a child's hand; it takes much less heat than you think to change this particular solid to a liquid.

I have an electric hob which is very slow to respond. I bring a pan of water to the boil, then move it to a new ring and simmer on a low setting with a bowl of chocolate. If you leave it on the original ring it stays too hot for too long.

LameWolf

JIL wrote: »

I melt mine in the microwave, but I do 30 seconds and then a big stir, then repeat this but 15 seconds apart. I don't completely melt it, once most has melted stirring it together works.

That's what I do, too, and have never had a problem. I use the stuff the supermarkets sell in the baking section - but you have to make sure to get the actual chocolate, not the chocolate-flavoured stuff, the packaging is very similar.

stormbreaker

elsien wrote: »

Another vote for bowl over simmering water, but you need to make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl or the chocolate goes funny.

Thanks for the replies. I think this is where I went wrong! The bowl was touching the water .

It didn't help that I was making banana ball and the recipe said to put them in the freezer, so they were hitting the melted chocolate frozen!