Chocolate, Melting

First of all, chop chocolate into small pieces, which melt faster. Make sure everything is perfectly dry, even a drop of water will sabotage the effort. Microwave method: put chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and zap at 50% power. For 2-4 ounces, begin checking after 2.5 min; for 5-8 ounces, begin checking after 3 min. Don’t be fooled by how it looks, a single stir will reveal that it’s on its way to a molten state. (For milk chocolate, shorten time by 30 sec); if at any point the bowl feels hot, let it stand to see if the residual heat will finish the job. For the double-boiler method: make sure the water in the bottom pan isn’t touching the top pan and don’t let the water get above a bare simmer.