If you’re into baking, chocolate is likely your hero ingredient. But instead of melting bars of store-bought compounds, have you tried couverture? Hearing it for the first time? Don’t worry, that’s exactly what we are trying to unfold in this article. From couverture chocolate meaning to how to use it for your baking needs, we bring you all the details.
Understanding Couverture Chocolate
The Couverture word comes from French, meaning ‘covering’. It is a high-quality chocolate with extra cocoa butter. Usually available in a bar or a thick slab, this is a very popular baking chocolate used by chocolatiers, pastry chefs and professional bakers.
In comparison with traditional eating chocolate, couverture chocolate has up to 32-39% of cocoa butter. As stated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Couverture Chocolate must contain not less than 35% total cocoa solids. This should not have less than 31% of cocoa butter and not less than 2.5% of fat-free cocoa solids.
Couverture chocolate is thus darker and creamier, making it suitable for moulding or coating confectioneries. It gives the richness to pastries, truffles and ganache.
Wondering if couverture is made differently to give it these properties? It also comes from the humble cacao beans. After drying and roasting the beans, they are ground into a rich paste to make chocolate liquor. The variation in time and temperature during these processes affects the overall flavour. Couverture chocolate is further refined with cocoa butter and sweetener to achieve a smooth consistency. It can then be shaped into different forms, as convenient for baking.
Baking With Couverture
If you try your hand at baking with chocolate once in a while, you’ll know it can be time-consuming to keep melting chocolate. But couverture is the ideal baking chocolate as it is easier to temper as required. You can use it for covering a cake, enhancing a flavour or even garnishing your creations with a melted dip.
From dark chocolate, milk chocolate to savoury ones, couverture chocolate is available in different flavours too. Once you start using coverture, you may not go back to regular compounds. For regular baking, the trick to master the tempering using low heat. Because it has a higher percentage of fat, it needs to be treated with care. The process can be slow for a first-time learner, but once you master tempering, the rest of baking goes easy with couverture.
You can start experimenting with it as a coating or dipping and then gradually include it in your recipes. Indian couverture chocolate is available in different forms from thick bars, callets and nickels, perfect to use in your baking process as per convenience.
How to Create Amazing Treats with Couverture Chocolate
For chocolatiers, couverture chocolate could turn into their ‘best friend’ ingredient. Once tempered, it can be smoothly applied into varied moulds, easily to achieve the desired shapes. For professional bakers, who want to keep their menu and offerings with the latest trends, this baking chocolate makes designing that variety easier.
From making cake pops and chocolate figurines or delicate decorations on tier cakes, couverture helps to craft it all together. Need a glossy finish on a pastry? Melt a couverture for a final layering and turn a simple dessert into an attractive indulgence. Think glazes for gateau.
Couverture can also be used to make brownies, mousses and ganaches. Another sweet treat you can create is cookies filled with couverture melts. Chocolate lava cakes, chocolate chip cookies, tarts, truffle balls to cupcakes, think of every chocolate dessert that makes you drool and experience a sweet success with couverture.
Want to know how to bake these confectioneries? Check out our couverture recipes!
A Touch of Savory
With chocolate, you may think of a bittersweet flavour profile but not necessarily. Couverture chocolate in India is also available with a twist of savoury!
BAR of Choc is significantly raising the bar with their variety in couverture. Beyond our dark, darker and darkest variety of premium couverture, we have a Khari Sign couverture with has 60% of Mangalore’s coffee beans with a bold crunch of roasted salted nuts! If you appreciate a mix of contrasting flavours, this is one of the unique flavours in Indian couverture chocolate. Use it in fruit and nut varieties of chocolate desserts. And if you love a tinge of coffee in your desserts, you should try their Filter Coffee Couverture.
Tips and Tricks for Mastering Couverture Chocolate
Want to switch to couverture but fear you won’t get it right? Don’t worry, these simple tips and tricks should help:
- For tempering the chocolate, chop/break it into small, even pieces and microwave it in small intervals. Keep stirring in between until the chocolate is completely melted.
- It is essential to keep even the room temperature regulated when working with couverture. A too-hot temperature within the room can also affect the setting of the chocolate. You can regulate this by either keeping it in the fridge for a few seconds or working from an area which has an AC.
- Do not mix water with melted couverture. In case, water drops do end up in the bowl, try to remove it using kitchen tissue.
- If you’re going to mix it with cold ingredients like milk or cream, don’t mix the hot melted chocolate with cold ones immediately. This might affect the overall texture of your preparation.
- If you’re a frequent baker, you can also consider investing in a chocolate-tempering machine.
- Do not store the couverture with other strong-smelling foods. It can absorb this odour and impact the overall flavour.
The Perfect Ending: Where to Find the Best Couverture Chocolate
Are you excited about making the switch to couverture as your baking chocolate? You can shop for an excellent variety from Bakers Artisanal Recipes or BAR of Choc. We bring you the best Indian couverture, available in dark, milk and white chocolate variants. Whether you need a classic milk chocolate or an intense one with 99.5% cocoa, we have a range of couverture chocolates to choose from. If you’re a little too careful about your sweet intake, there’s a sugar-free option too!
We know that every baker has different needs, which is why we have easy-to-store packages of our couverture chocolates. Crafted in India, BAR meets your needs, whether you’re tempering, moulding, or simply indulging.