@sebastian
03/06/17 13:44:03
754 posts
You will not be able to affect the softness change with your processing only. IF (and this is a really, really BIG IF) you can control your bean sourcing to ONLY source beans (including the cocoa butter) from very high altitude trees, then you have some hope. But i know of 3 people in the world (two who aren't typing at the moment) who can do this, and I suspect you're not one of them.
If you want to avoid milk entirely, you can get a similar affect by using small amount of liquid vegetable oil (or semisoft vegetable fat). Note: doing so may result in your chocolate loosing its standard of identity (it's legal in some countries, but not others), and the more you use the more difficult it will be to temper (if not impossible.)
If you undertemper your chocolate, you can also achieve a textural softness, but you're playing with fire here, as, well, it's not really tempered any more, and you're likely to get bloom along with your softness (depending on your degree of temper, your bloom may not show up for a week or longer, but it will show up). Given the amount of information we have at this point, this is likely what happened in your first batch. It will be very difficult for you to replicate consistently.
Edited to add: or my personal favorite, add some hazelnut paste and make it a gianduja. Ranks high on the delicious-ometer, and it definitely softens it.
updated by @sebastian: 03/06/17 13:45:43
