The batch log, and the fields that matter
Updated
On this page8
The fields
- Batch code and the date made.
- Formulation version, by weight.
- Cook: final temperature, the thermometer used and when it was last calibrated.
- Ambient temperature and humidity in the room.
- Cooling: how long before agitation, and at what temperature.
- For chocolate: the couverture and lot, the tempering curve, and the temper test result.
- Yield, and what went to trim or loss.
- A retained piece, with where it is stored.
Why those three carry it
The cook temperature explains every texture failure. The humidity explains the stickiness and the batches that behaved differently for no visible reason. The cooling and agitation explain every graining. Nearly every page in the failures section resolves to one of the three.
Record the thermometer, not just the reading
A reading is only as good as the instrument, and an uncalibrated thermometer produces a season of consistent wrong numbers. Noting which instrument and when it was checked is what makes the readings comparable across months.
Write it during, not after
A log completed at the end of the day records what you intended. It has to live where the cooking happens and be quick enough to fill in while a batch cools, which means a clipboard by the stove.
Keep the retained pieces
The failures here are visual and slow: bloom, graining, stickiness. A retained piece opened at the date you printed is the only way to know whether your own date holds, and it is the reference when a complaint arrives.
Keep it past the shelf life
Confectionery sits in cupboards for a long time, and a question about a gift bought last December will arrive this December. A log discarded at year end is discarded exactly when its batches start generating questions.
Code the unit, not the case
A code on an outer carton is gone the moment a shop unpacks it, and a complaint arrives as one jar or one box on somebody’s counter. In a category sold heavily as gifts, the person complaining is often not the person who bought it, which makes the code on the unit the only thread back to a batch.