TIP: Melting Chocolate

Beginner bakers often overheat and burn chocolate, but there are two easy ways of melting it into a perfect, silky cream without using water bath (too much hassle and dishes for me).

01
If you melt only chocolate, simply weigh the amount you need, break it into smaller pieces and place it in a pot. Set the temperature to the highest setting and once chocolate starts properly melting (after about a minute), switch it off completely and stir. The remaining heat from the pot and the already melted chocolate should be enough to finish the process, but it will not burn as you are not adding any more heat.

02
If you need to melt butter and chocolate together, it is even easier. Weigh both, but start from melting butter. It melts much easier and keeps the temperature, so heat up the pot at the maximum heat, melt the butter, then add the chocolate and switch the heat off. The butter will melt chocolate without burning it.

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TIP: Rising Your Dough

To rise quickly and be light and fluffy after baking, your dough needs perfect temperature during resting time. Optimal fermentation range is between 27ºC and 40ºC. In summer, it works well to rise your dough in the sun. In winter, place it next to a radiator. To me, the most tricky is time in between seasons, without direct sunlight and without heating working yet. Then, I place my dough in the oven on the minimum temperature mark. It cannot be more 50ºC, though, or your yeast will get killed in the process.