Some Handy info about Cooking Chocolate The following melting methods explain how to melt chocolate without burning or spoiling the flavour of your favouite recipes. The two most important things to remember when you are melting chocolate are firstly to use gentle heat carefully, and secondly, to avoid water, as both of these can spoil it and thereby spoil your recipe. 1. If over-heated, or heated too quickly - it will burn. 2. It also reacts very badly with water and will "sieze", that is - it will go lumpy. With that in mind, all equipment used for melting must be dry; for example do not cover the bowl when using the double pan method for melting as described below - in case any condensation should form on the lid and drip down, or even any steam come into contact with the chocolate you are melting. Dark should not be heated above 50C, 120F. Milk and white should not be heated above 45C, 110F. Go to this page for explanations on the various kinds of chocolate products available for you to use. Although it is the method most often described for melting chocolate, the double pan method is certainly not the only one. I think placing the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl in a very low oven is the best method; but I will go through the other options available to you - it may be worth trying different methods to see which works best for you. The double pan method is where a heat-proof bowl is placed over a saucepan of simmering water, not boiling. This is tricky, but as long as you remember the golden rules, you should have no problems. Double pan method If you don't own a double pan, or bain-marie, then a bowl and saucepan will suffice: break or chop the chocolate into roughly equal pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl in a saucepan containing hot water. A glass bowl is best so you can keep an eye on the simmering water below. It is important for the water in the glass bowl to only barely simmer. Do not let the water boil, or let any water - or steam, come into contact with the bowl. The reason is that chocolate reacts or "seizes". It is then unusable, as it goes lumpy, or even into a solid mass. You can try and recover the situation by adding vegetable oil, but it's not ideal and best avoided in the first place. So make sure the bowl fits snugly over the pan, so that no steam can escape round the sides. Also, make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the hot water below. As it melts, stir gently with a wooden spoon or spatula so it melts evenly and thoroughly. When melted, remove from the heat, and gently stir to make sure that any unmelted gets melted and is smooth and creamy. Do not overheat. You do not need a lot of equipment for choc-melting but it's a good idea to invest in a sweet thermometer, then you can test that the temperature does not go above 50C, 122F. This is particularly important if tempering when making your own handmade candy. [source:]