Melting chocolate

[Oleanda]

I have just tried to melt a bar of milk chocolate, I put it into a bowl over a pan of hot water, but it has not melted, it's just gone crumbly. What's going on?

[Bert]

Was the bowl dry before you put the chocolate in? I would expect it was, but even if there were a few drops of water I would not have thought that would be a problem. All I can say is that, when my wife was making a chocolate sauce to pour over profitteroles, the instructions said to melt the chocolate (which was plain) and that went OK, but the next step was to add a spoonful or so of water and stir. As soon as she did this, it all went crumbly. She panicked a bit, as there was no mention of this in the recipe, but I just carried on stirring and added more water, and it quite quickly went to a smooth sauce. Is your milk chocolate unusual in any way? Which country are you in? What does the ingredients list say about cocoa solids and cocoa butter?

[puddicat]

Is the chocolate of a high cocoa content,it has to be high to achieve a decent melting consistency!!!

[missrandom]

Ive done that so many times too, apparently its because you have heated it too quickly and too high. Try a lower heat and take it slowly - it does work, good luck

[Oleanda]

I'm in UK. It's just an ordinary bar of Morrison's milk choc, 30% cocoa solids. I was hoping to use up some rice krispies by making cakes. I'm sure the bowl was dry.

[Oleanda]

Is it too late to rescue it, maybe by adding some golden syrup?

[missrandom]

whenever ive done it, ive just totally knackered the chocolate and had to buy more

[Oleanda]

Thanks all, I'll get some more choc tomorrow and try again, slowly this time.

[mrrobbo15]

stick it in the microwave....

ive never had any trouble with that method

[pastafreak]

Hate to say this...but try to get a better quality chocolate next time.....one with a higher cocoa solids content. I had the same problem when I had to use Morrisons chocolate where I was working.

[LucyThomas5]

Do you mean milk chocolate or white chocolate?

[tamborine]

just sit on it......it'll soon melt

[Bert]

I don't see that you can heat it too fast over boiling water, especially if you are using a ceramic or glass bowl. Possibly if you used a metal container it might heat up too fast.