What you will need:
Chocolate
Spatula
Marble or Granite slab
Double boiler
Thermometer (an instant read thermometer is the best)
It is vital that chocolate must be tempered first before it is used. When chocolate is melted and then properly pre-crystallized, it will harden with a crisp snap, it will easily release from a mould and it will have a beautiful gloss. Without the pre-crystallization process it will be dull, greyish streaked, crumbly, stick to moulds and will not be crisp. Often the whitish streaks will only appear a bit later as the fat crystals become unstable – this is called fat bloom.
The tempering process is very precise and if your chocolate is incorrectly tempered you will have start the process again by melting the chocolate down.
Place your chopped chocolate or callets in the top part of a double boiler. Heat the chocolate to 45-50ºC for dark/milk and 45ºC for white.
Cool 2/3 of the chocolate to 28-29ºC on a marble or granite slab for dark and 26-27ºC for Milk/White chocolate. Spread the melted chocolate with a metal spatula using firm sweeping movements. Work gently though so that you do not incorporate air bubbles. Scrape the chocolate back into the double boiler and reheat to 31 – 32ºC and 29-30ºC for white/milk chocolate for your working chocolate.