Tempering takes chocolate through a specific, and quite narrow, temperature curve to ensure that it is at the correct crystalline structure to work with, giving the finished creation a pleasing snap and shine. The rule of thumb for dark chocolate is from 113°F down to 84°–86° and back up to about 91°. Milk, semisweet, and white chocolates have slightly lower temperature profiles. The classic artisan method for tempering chocolate involves pouring melted chocolate onto a marble slab, swirling it around to cool, and then returning it to a bowl—which is impractical (and messy) for the home cook. Seed tempering is the more practical option when working with smaller quantities. Here’s how.

Step 1: Melt 70 percent of your chopped chocolate very slowly in a bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, not letting the base of the bowl touch the water, with a candy thermometer in the bowl. Do not let the chocolate go above 113°F for dark chocolate or 104° for milk, semisweet, or white chocolate.

Step 2: Once the chocolate has melted, take the bowl off the pan, place on a cool surface, and add the remaining chopped chocolate. Stir with a rubber spatula to melt it in and cool the chocolate down to about 84°–86°F. Milk and white chocolate can go down to 82°. The chocolate will thicken as it cools, which you can check by placing a little on your lower lip. It shouldn’t feel hot or cold to the touch.

Step 3: Put your bowl of chocolate back on the saucepan and stir to bring the temperature back up to 91°–93°F using the residual heat from the water in the saucepan. As it warms it should become slightly thinner. To double- check whether your chocolate is tempered, place a thin layer of chocolate onto a palette knife and put it in the freezer. Once set, if it breaks with a snap and has a good shine underneath, you have tempered chocolate to use in your recipes.

To put this knowledge to good use, check out these recipes from the Vanilla Who? article.