How can you melt chocolate without it getting wet?

The way you've described is precisely how I melt chocolate. If you have a double boiler, that's even better, but a bowl on top of a pot is fine too.

I can only think of two things that might be affecting the quality of your end result:

• Is the bowl big enough? The melting bowl should be larger than the pot if possible; you want the steam to be forced under and around it.

• Is the water temperature reasonable? You want it to be at a simmer. If it's rapidly boiling, the heat is too high.

As long as you keep those two things in mind, your chocolate should melt fine!

Edit: Thought of one other thing:

• It's possible that the steam is actually rising above the bowl, then hitting something (like your range), condensing and then falling back into the bowl as water. You shouldn't even be getting much steam with this method, but just in case, turn your fan on, to make sure you aren't getting any condensation.

I always melt chocolate in microwave. Once you are familiar with the process it saves you a lot of time.

Here is what I do:

• Use chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate
• Put them in large bowl and put the bowl in the microwave
• Microwave for a small amount of time, say 30 seconds (you will easily decide how much time you need for the amount of chocolate you are melting once you do it a couple times)
• See if any melting/softening occurs. If not, microwave for a little more time and check back. You should not be looking for complete melting of chocolate. Just make sure there is enough heat around.
• Whisk until all chocolate melts

I find the safest method to be the oven. Water is the big enemy of chocolate, even a drop or two will ruin a batch, so when I want to be safe, I melt my chocolate in the oven. I use an oven proof ceramic bowl. I place the chopped cooking chocolate in the bowl, turn the oven to its lowest setting (mine is 180°F) and place the bowl in the oven. Check it every three minutes by stirring it with a very dry spoon or one of those oven proof silicone spatulas. In most ovens it should not take more than ten minutes. Once out of the oven continue to stir, as the bowl will be a bit too hot for the chocolate.

Chocolate may melt in an oven and still retain its shape, that it why you have to test by stirring. Most cooking chocolates melt at about 100°F, which makes melting them in the microwave just as tricky as doing it on an improvised double boiler. After you get the hang of it, any method should work (in a hurry, I do it straight on the stovetop by putting the pan on and off the burner).

According to Alton Brown, you can use a heating pad in a large bowl. Put your chocolate in a smaller bowl and put it on the heating pad. Turn the pad up and keep a close eye on the chocolate.

I've found the safest way for me to melt chocolate is in a slow cooker on low heat. I have a small one that's intended for making dips that works perfectly, but if you only have a larger one, you could put a ceramic dish inside to melt smaller amounts of chocolate.

I always make sure that the pot and bowl for the chocolate are of similar size. You don't want the pot to be tiny and the bowl to be large - you want an even surface area for the chocolate to melt on.

Stand by and keep the water simmering on a medium to low heat. It should not boil against the bottom of the bowl. If it does, you have too much water at too high a heat in your pot. You generally do not want to leave this unattended as it can heat up much quicker than expected and stir the chocolate frequently. Chocolate can burn against the edges of the bowl if it gets too hot.

Sometimes if I have other things to work on I will saran wrap the top of the bowl while it melts. This ensures nothing gets into my chocolate while I am not able to pay full attention to it.