Question regarding bittersweet chocolate, please

E

emtd

Well-known member
I would like to make the chocolate hazelnut torte from another site and it calls for 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened) in the base as well as another 6 oz in the glaze. We prefer milk chocolate in our family. Could I prepare this recipe using a mixture of the two chocolates? All milk chocolate would perhaps be too sweet. Any suggestions?

Thank you

Betty

 
You could but might not be happy with the results. Because you prefer milk chocolate

to eat alone doesn't mean you prefer it in cooking. You probably like brownies and they are generally made with unsweetened or bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate -not milk.

 
Even though I don't have the recipe in front of me, I would say follow it as is this first time.

Milk Chocolate has very different melting and cooking qualities than bittersweet. If there is cream or milk in the recipe, it will give a similar taste to milk chocolate anyway.

Baking is more precise than other cooking, so I don't like to mess with a recipe until I've tried it once as written, to see what the intended result is, before making alterations.

 
Betty, it will depend on the chocolate you get. You might try this with a good semi-sweet

rather than bittersweet. Semi ranges around 52-60%, while bitter can go as high as 80%. The higher the %, the less sugar in the chocolate.

Milk chocolate is around 35%, so it has a lot more sugar and milk products in it.

The sugar in the recipe will have been adjusted for bittersweet. So...to avoid adjusting the recipe, give semi-sweet a try. I would NOT recommend just melting semi-sweet chips for this. They have been tempered to remain in shape. Try Ghiradelli bars.

 
Thank all of you for your suggestions and advice.

I will try the semi sweet I think. Thank you also for letting me know about the chocolate chips Marilyn. I didn't know that they were not interchangeable. I will try either Ghiradelli or purchase Bernard Callebaut.
As there is milk in the recipe perhaps it will taste sweeter as suggested.
Betty

 
It dpends on the recipe, but I usually sneak in 1:4 milk chocolate to

a recipe that says to use all bittersweet. I don't really see why in this recipe you couldn't, too. But using all semi-sweet would probably give you the same results so...

Especially in the glaze - you might try all milk chocolate in the glaze. That would lighten it up quite a bit. (I prefer milk chocolate too. DH would eat anything chocolate!)

 
Not to confuse...you can melt semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I prefer

to use blocks of semi-sweet that hasn't been tempered as chips.

 
ISO emtd: Would you mind sharing the recipe you mentioned? I'd like to add it to my files. TIA!

 
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