SC > wrote:

> What do you guys do to avoid this? Do gloves help?

It helps to have cold hands by nature. Some people can't
work chocolate bare handed because their hands are just
too warm.

> I used some new cheapish metal molds and they worked great except for
> one thing. When I unmolded everything, the shapes were pocked marked
> by air bubble holes. I also noticed these when I bit into some of my
> other chocolate. I assume I needed to be more careful while stirring
> the tempering chocolate. Is there any way to guarantee that molds come
> out without holes caused by air bubbles?

Shaking the mold after putting the chocolate in is what
we do in my wife's shop. Used to do it by tapping the
mold on a counter to release the air bubbles, but I found
a dental lab vibrator that we use now. Some of the
chocolate equipment companies sell vibrators for this
purpose but they cost a lot more than the ones for
dental labs. By the way, searching for "chocolate
vibrator table" on Yahoo or Google will give you lots
of inappropriate results, but "dental lab equipment"
results are much less racy. ;-)

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.