Ganache Master

You can use any spice but spices that are not in powder form are preferred since they are much easier to remove from the continuous phase (liquids; cream, milk, fruit puree etc.) of the ganache after being steeped.
If you must use a powdered spice, then use a damp cloth to filter out the spices from the continuous phase after steeping. Failing to do this will have an impact on the hardness of the ganache. Whether this will increase or reduce the hardness level chosen for the recipe will depend on the hydrophobic/hydrophilic sites ratio of the powdered spice grain.

Although this approach would have made sense from the usability of the web page, most chocolatiers start their ganaches with a certain chocolate ratio in mind; for instance, if the primary chocolate is an 80% cocoa solids dark chocolate, a ganache formulation might also require an addition of perhaps 20% (by weight) of a certain milk chocolate. In such instances this percentage is always with respect to the weight of the first chocolate which helps set the flavor profile for the chocolate backbone for the ganache.

Yes, indeed there are. These limits are artificially imposed and are not derived from the theory. The min and max limits for various compounds are as follows: secondary chocolate: [min=5%, max=50%], nut: [1%, 50%], fruit: [1%, 50%], sweeteners: [1%, 40%], alcohol: [1%, 30%], oils: [1%, 15%], added liquids[1%, 30%]. As well, the overall sugar content of the ganache is limited at 40%.

For instance, one of the milk chocolate choices is designated as 40/21 Milk. This means that chocolate has 40% cocoa and 21% milk. 40% cocoa means the sum of x% cocoa butter and y% cocoa solids. In case of white chocolate; say 35/32,White, 35% indicates the total cocoa butter percentage (since white chocolate does not have any cocoa solids) and 32% milk.

You can simply substitute your preferred liquor in the recipe as long as it does not contain cream and/or sugar. presence of sugar in the liquor increases the sweetness of the final ganache beyond the parameter set for the ganache. Cream has more detrimental effect on the result since the AMF content of the liquor will change the hardness of the ganache.

First of all, please take a look at the question 19 "What are the sources of error ....". It has relevant comments about yogurt. From the perspective of its constituent elements, yogurt is similar to milk and hence can be substituted instead of milk. But please make sure that you are using normal, whole milk yogurt. Here "normal" means a yogurt which retains all its whey content. In recent years yogurts with reduced whey content became popular such as Chobani and others. Please do not use these yogurts since they have significantly less liquid content then the algorithm is expecting hence it will lead to an erroneous non-optimized recipe.

Such a practice is strongly discouraged. The reason is simple; if you are thinking in terms of percentages of ingredients in a ganache, if one element % is increased then the relative percentages of all other elements need to be adjusted. This is highly likely to lead to a ganache formula that is not properly balanced. This does not mean your ganache will immediately split. But it will deviate from the best it can be. It is of course up to you. If you want to convince yourself try modifying recipes after the fact and then compare it to the properly balanced recipes from Ganache Master.

Yes you are right. I could have eliminated the small percentages, but if you are making a few kilos of ganache then the small percentages will amount to measurable and scalable amounts. So on the whole I decided to leave them in.

No Cream: provides a ganache formulation which does not contain any cream. Please do not confuse this option with low calorie ganache formulations; Total AMF (anhydrous Milk Fat) amount does not change with this option.
Caramel: some recipes require caramelization of sugars. To this end if the Caramelization option is selected then the algorithm replaces all crystalline sugars with sucrose. This option does not impact syrups in the recipe; they remain. Please read the Appendix of Ganache Theory and Practice document on the "Learn" tab.
Sucrose Only: option is provided for those who do not have access to various syrups such as glucose and invert sugar or crystalline varieties such as sorbitol and dextrose. The algorithm solves the state equations considering only sucrose.

Hardness values of around 20 are generally good starting point for filled ganache use. For Truffles hardness values around 30 - 34 should produce a reasonable firmness level. For ganaches to be enrobed perhaps 38 - 40 will create satisfactory results. It is important to note that these values might not work for all imaginable flavor profile combinations. They are to be used as guides to be adjusted according to a specific flavor profile.

Hardness limits are minimum=12, maximum=45 and Emulsion Ration limits min=0.8 max=2.0. These limits are chosen purely practical reasons. For hardness levels around 10 the ganache is very liquid and could take long time to solidify and in certain cases it remains fluid enough to prevent capping of the molds. On the higher end, ganaches might turn a crumbly upon cutting. If you find the impact of Emulsion Ratio is difficult to visualize then reading section 7: Microstructure of Ganache of the document in the "Learn" tab can provide a working image of what changing emulsion ratio does to the ganache. As well at about ER=2.8 the O/W type emulsion goes through a phase change and likely to become W/O type emulsion. Of course, this is not the correct physio-chemistry for ganache type emulsion.

Well, there are three reasons:1) Water activity of the ganache, 2) mouthfeel, 3) crystallization behavior
When a mixture of sugars is used in a recipe, its overall water activity is lower then if an only single type of sugar is used
Mixing sugars results in a smoother more accessible mouth feel for the ganache
Mixing syrups and different type of crystalline sugars results in a ganache which over a period will retain its moist mouth feel and less likely to end up with sugar crystals that are not very pleasant.

Salt: a tiny quantity of salt, below the point where you might think there is salt in the ganache. Usually somewhere around 0.02% of the total ganache weight. It enhances the chosen flavor profile.
Citric acid: Sometimes it is sold as lemon powder. A small amount used with fruit ganaches significantly enhances flavor. Generally, somewhere around 0.08% weight.
Extracts: All sorts of extracts of fruit and herbs are available. These should be used in small quantities. Also important is to be aware of whether your extract is oil or alcohol based. When you are getting ready to mix the ganache ensure that oil-based extracts go into the chocolate container (discrete phase) and alcohol-based extracts are blended into the liquids (continuous phase). If you are unsure then put the extract in while the ganache is being homogenized.

Let's start with dairy; cream 36%, whole milk 3.3%, skim milk 0.2%, butter 86% AMF. Fruit puree choice is based on Brand name "Les Vergers Boiron". For full disclosure; I have no formal or informal relationship with the company. Their product information provides more technical data and hence better suited for my algorithms. For nut pastes the primary assumption is that it is 100% ground nut without any additions such as sugars and sometimes replaced nut oil. You know, if you can grind your own chocolate then you can make many different nut pastes. So much better!

Emulsifiers are not needed for most ganaches since ganaches are solid particle stabilized Pickering Emulsions; unless Emulsion Ratios of 2 or higher are attempted. In these cases, a small amount of casein (~0.1%) can be added into the continuous phase. Casein is a milk protein (another perhaps more familiar milk protein is whey). It disperses slowly in water. To ensure lump free mixing of casein, it should be mixed with crystalline sugars first and then the mixture should be added to cold liquids (continuous phase). This mixture then should be mechanically agitated (use a powerful hand-blander).

Many chocolates come with declared or undeclared lecithin. In chocolate making lecithin is used not as an emulsifier, since chocolate is not an emulsion. It is used to increase the flow properties of the chocolate by binding water (moisture). Lecithin alternative for improving the flow properties of chocolate is of course cocoa butter but the cost difference between lecithin and cocoa butter is so large that most manufacturers opt for lecithin instead of cocoa butter. Having lecithin in the chocolate sometimes makes it easier to achieve a stable emulsion when ER is low.

When sugar is increased or decreased another recipe component/s must be increased or decreased so the total still is 100%. This will be even more interesting if the added or reduced sugar is a syrup since now not only the sugar value is changed but also the water value. Having said this if changes in sugar is only a few percent the overall recipe change will be small.

This is because many of the flavor profile elements such as chocolates, fruit, nut pastes and syrups contain sugar. If the maximum sugar amount at the top surface of the solution volume for the selected flavor profile, emulsion ratio and hardness values not large enough to accommodate all of the requested sugar amount then the algorithm provides the highest possible syrup amount for the recipe. To better understand please read through section 10.1 of the White Paper located at the "Learn" tab.

Soaked solids must be steeped in the continuous phase of the ganache (liquids; cream, milk, fruit puree etc.) and then filtered out. If your original recipe has soaked solids, then the assumption is that the recipe must have adequate amount of liquids in its formulation to achieve this objective hence selecting a specific soaked solids will not impact the formulation of the ganache.

The reason is purely mathematical (combinations). Easiest way to visualize the reason is perhaps through an example. Let’s say you are preparing loot bags (for friends who do not live in North America; a loot bag is a collection of small candy pieces given to small children who came around during the Halloween night, dressed as something scary, for trick or treat). Each bag should have the same number of candies and for fun lets assume we want each bag to be unique (no two bags should have the same candies). If you have two types of candy to make loot bags with then you can only have 3 unique combinations: 2 mars bars, a mars bar, and a bounty bar or two bounty bars. There is no forth possibility. But if you had 6 different types of candies to start out with and two candies per unique loot bag rule, you then can have 15 unique bags.

Based on the above analogy, a ganache made with only a single dark chocolate will have a smaller number of unique solutions (hence a smaller solution volume) than a ganache containing two different chocolates, an alcohol selection and a nut-paste.

The second important factor is the state equation requirement of density of the continuous phase to be equal to the density of the discrete phase of the emulsion. This is described in the section 10.1 of the White Paper located in the "Learn" tab.

There are several parameters that are difficult to find accurate values for in the literature. The most annoying is the purposefully confounded chocolate composition data from almost all couverture producers. They do their utmost to translate the basic data into other forms so that the primary compound amounts are not disclosed. The more accurate numbers I can obtain, the more accurate ganache formulations Ganache Master can create using their own brand name.

Another source of error originates from not having good estimates on the densities of various compounds. This issue is more acute for powders. For instance, a fruit puree consists of water, sugars, and fibre. Density of different fruit fibres are hard to find in the literature. For other ingredients such as nut pastes, various dairy product options and other branded additions to the ganache this situation is even more annoying. For example, if you want to add yogurt to the recipe you can visualize the problem simply recalling the supermarket yogurt isle. I simply do not have the technical and financial resources to chemically analyze such diverse options and create brand named flavor options in Ganache Master.

The fundamental assumption on fruit purees is that they are 100% pure without any additions or subtractions. In certain instances the manufacturer adds invert sugar to the puree to adjust its flavor profile. Those are indicated with the "+" signs since in certain cases it is possible to buy the same fruit puree either as pure fruit puree or as sugar added version.

This can happen when the GKey is created via the Test page. The reason for this lies in the recipe being tested. If the recipe is such that it leads to Hardness or ER levels that are higher then the set limits set by Ganache Master algorithm (see questions 10 and 11 above) then the program resets the H and/or ER values back to the working range. This in turn changes the sugar percent of the recipe.

75% Dark is 60% cocoa beans and 15% cocoa butter, 70% Dark is 55% cocoa beans and 15% cocoa butter, 65% Dark is 50% cocoa beans and 15% cocoa butter. For the second part of the question Let's consider two different ganaches one made with 75% dark chocolate (70% cocoa beans, 5% added cocoa butter - lets call this sample #1) and another made with again 75% dark chocolate but with a different cocoa bean to added cocoa butter ratio (50% cocoa beans 25% added cocoa butter - sample #2). Also assume that these ganaches were designed for 100 gr. truffles containing 15% hazelnut paste. The algorithm generates the following recipes: for sample 1 => 75% Dark:44.7gr, Cocoa butter:3.1gr, Butter:8.7gr, Pure Hazelnut paste:10.0gr, Sorbitol:3.4gr, Invert sugar:5.2gr, Sucrose:2.7gr, Water":22.3gr. For sample 2 => 75% Dark:45.7gr, Butter:9.6gr, Pure Hazelnut paste":10.0gr, Sorbitol":2.7gr, Glucose":3.7gr, Sucrose":5.4gr, Water":22.8gr.
There are differences but I think it is debateable whether a blindfold test would be able to separate these two truffles.