Step Four: Reheating the Chocolate

Once the liquid chocolate has cooled down to the desired temperature, it needs to be reheated slightly to finish the tempering process.
This is the tricky part. You will need to heat the bowl of chocolate in the microwave for anywhere from 1 to 5 seconds, depending on the power of your unit. If you are using a double boiler, follow the same procedure as earlier to heat the water in the double boiler, and place the bowl of cooled chocolate over the water in 10 to 20 second increments, stirring between each heating. Proceed slowly and keep in mind that the melted chocolate holds residual heat inside and that this residual heat will continue to raise the overall temperature of the chocolate. When tempering dark chocolate, bring the temperature back up to 89 F (32 C). The ideal temperature for milk and white chocolates is 86 F (30 C).