Ingredients
What is in a Swiss milk chocolate bar
- Cocoa mass from fermented, dried and roasted beans
- Extra cocoa butter, which is why Swiss bars melt at body heat
- Sugar
- Milk powder or milk crumb, the Swiss innovation of 1875
- Soya lecithin, a fraction of a percent, to control flow
- Vanilla or vanillin
To temper and mould at home
- 500 gSwiss milk couverture, minimum 33 percent cocoa solids, in callets
- a marble slab or a clean cool worktop
- a digital probe thermometer, accurate to 0.5°C (40°F)
- polycarbonate bar or praline moulds, spotless and dry
Ganache filling, optional
- 150 mldouble cream
- 200 gSwiss dark couverture, chopped
- 20 gbutter, softened
- 1 tbspkirsch or Williams pear spirit
Directions
- Melt two thirds of the callets over a bain-marie or in short bursts in a microwave to 45°C (115°F), stirring, until completely fluid.
- Take it off the heat and add the remaining third of solid callets, stirring constantly.
- Cool the mass to 27°C (80°F), stirring the whole time, then warm it very gently back to 29 to 30°C (85°F) for milk chocolate, or 31 to 32°C (90°F) for dark. Never exceed those numbers or you undo the temper.
- Warm the cream to a simmer, pour it over the chopped dark couverture, emulsify from the centre outwards, beat in the butter and spirit at 35°C (95°F) and pipe it into the shells when cooled to 28°C (80°F).
- Leave 12 hours at 16°C (60°F), then cap with more tempered chocolate and scrape flat. Unmould with a sharp twist; the chocolate should fall out with a clean crack and a mirror surface.
Technique
- Two Swiss inventions define the category: Daniel Peter’s use of Henri Nestlé’s condensed milk in 1875 to make milk chocolate work at all, and Lindt’s conche in 1879, which drove off harsh volatiles and gave chocolate its flow.
- Temper is crystal science, not seasoning. You are trying to grow only form V cocoa butter crystals; the wrong ones give bloom, a dull grey surface and a crumbly snap.
- Any trace of water will seize chocolate into a stiff paste instantly. Moulds, bowls, spatulas and thermometer must be bone dry.
Substitutions
- No marble slab: the seeding method given here needs only a bowl and a thermometer, and is what most small Swiss workshops now use.
- No polycarbonate moulds: pour tempered chocolate onto baking paper, scatter roasted hazelnuts and dried fruit over and break it up when set, which is a Swiss festive standby.
Variations
- Milk chocolate with hazelnuts, the everyday Swiss bar.
- Champagne truffles from Zurich, dusted in icing sugar with a marc de champagne ganache.
- Cailler’s milk chocolate from Broc, still made with condensed milk from Gruyère district dairies.
History
Daniel Peter used Henri Nestlé’s condensed milk to make milk chocolate in 1875, and Rodolphe Lindt invented conching in 1879.
Frequently asked questions
What is Swiss chocolate?
Swiss chocolate is a dessert from Switzerland: silky milk chocolate pioneered here; bars, pralines, national pride. Daniel Peter used Henri Nestlé’s condensed milk to make milk chocolate in 1875, and Rodolphe Lindt invented conching in 1879.
How long does Swiss chocolate take to make?
Swiss chocolate takes 30 min of preparation and 1 hr including setting of cooking. The recipe makes about 40 pralines, or 2 moulded bars. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Swiss chocolate?
Yes, within limits. No marble slab: the seeding method given here needs only a bowl and a thermometer, and is what most small Swiss workshops now use. No polycarbonate moulds: pour tempered chocolate onto baking paper, scatter roasted hazelnuts and dried fruit over and break it up when set, which is a Swiss festive standby.
What is the most important thing to get right in Swiss chocolate?
Cool the mass to 27°C (80°F), stirring the whole time, then warm it very gently back to 29 to 30°C (85°F) for milk chocolate, or 31 to 32°C (90°F) for dark. Never exceed those numbers or you undo the temper.
