Water and chocolate. No, I’m not here to talk about Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel’s famous novel.
What I am here to talk about, though, is the importance of balancing water in your ganache recipe to make it homogeneous and perfect.
Although they may sound like polar opposites, liquids play a huge role when you formulate your chocolate ganaches.
Is all water in your ganache recipe bad? No!
I’ve already mentioned how important it is to bind the water in your recipes with different types of sugars to extend their shelf life.
However, I don’t want you to get the impression that the more you reduce the liquid ingredients in your ganache recipes, the better they’ll turn out.
Water and ganache emulsification
Without water, we can’t create emulsions. And what is a ganache if not a perfect emulsion?
That means if you cut the water percentage too much, your ganache will dry out because there won’t be enough water to keep sugars in solution and hydrate the fibers in the recipe.
You’d also be removing freshness from the taste of the filling.
But then again, you can’t simply add more water to solve the problem.
You need the right type of sugars, but also the right percentages in your fillings, so the water in the recipe is bound and won’t “escape.”
What should the water percentage of your ganache recipes be?
A well-balanced ganache should have a total water content between 15% and 22%.
Now, keep in mind that water not only comes from the “liquid” ingredients we think of immediately (cream, fruit purées, alcohol, milk, etc.).
Other ingredients like butter and certain sugars, like glucose syrup or invert sugar, also have a specific water content.
In other words, the water percentage in your ganaches requires a delicate balance between:
1. Having enough water to obtain an emulsion.
2. Having enough water to maintain sugars in solution.
3. Having sufficient water to hydrate the fibers in the ganache.
2. Not having too much free water, as you will reduce its shelf life.
3. Binding the water that you do have with a mix of sugars.
4. Adding up the water content of ALL your ingredients to get to that ideal 15% to 22% total water content.
Take care!
-Melissa