I did a chocolate tasting for dessert at a dinner party. I started with Willams Sonoma baking chocolate 99% caco (with a vegitable peeler) just to start or shock the people into what we were doing, then "linte" 72% caco, then down to 64% then 57% to 40 to 36 on down to a Hershey bar. I purchased all of the chocolate bars at a local high end deli. At the end everyone agreed they would never eat a Hearshey bar again they said it tasted like "whte sugar" I had a formula from a magizine to check the sugar content of each bar. As you added up the ingredients they sometimes did not equal 100% and had ingredents like love. I think every chocolate lover should do a tasting of several bars from strong 72% down to the beloved Hershey bar.
A Hersheys bar is not considered baking chocolate and is not normally used for baking, unless, as mentioned above, you're making a baked good with candy bit add-ins. Hersheys has a very distinct taste that is quite different from purer chocolates normally used for baking- more cloyingly sweet, even than, say, good quality milk chocolate, and lower in percentage of cocoa content. I would say, probably best to go with something else. Quality chocolate in baking makes a big difference.
Candy bars are cheaper per ounce than baking chocolate because they contain more milk and more sugar.
Sweet baking chocolate (Baker's brand German chocolate) is sweeter than semi-sweet chocolate and contains a blend of chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, flavorings, and lecithin
Hershey bars are made of chocolate and sugar to which whole and/or skim milk powder has been added. The protein in these milk solids interferes with the texture of the baked products. Also, candy bars have a weaker chocolate flavor that doesn't stand up well when diluted with flour, so they're rarely called for in baking. If a candy bar is called for in a cake or cookie, most of the time its added to the batter chopped into chunks instead of being melted.
You could experiment, though, and substitute one for the other. If you want to use a candy bar instead of a bar of baking chocolate, cut back on the sugar a little bit so that the end product isn't cloyingly sweet.
You should also know that some cheaper candy bars (and chocolate chips) contain emulsifiers which prevent them from melting smoothly. Manufacturers don't do this to cut costs--they do it so that their product holds its shape during baking and during the summer in the heat of the kitchen, so your cookies always look good.
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Sweet baking chocolate (Baker's brand German chocolate) is sweeter than semi-sweet chocolate and contains a blend of chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, flavorings, and lecithin
Hershey bars are made of chocolate and sugar to which whole and/or skim milk powder has been added. The protein in these milk solids interferes with the texture of the baked products. Also, candy bars have a weaker chocolate flavor that doesn't stand up well when diluted with flour, so they're rarely called for in baking. If a candy bar is called for in a cake or cookie, most of the time its added to the batter chopped into chunks instead of being melted.
You could experiment, though, and substitute one for the other. If you want to use a candy bar instead of a bar of baking chocolate, cut back on the sugar a little bit so that the end product isn't cloyingly sweet.
You should also know that some cheaper candy bars (and chocolate chips) contain emulsifiers which prevent them from melting smoothly. Manufacturers don't do this to cut costs--they do it so that their product holds its shape during baking and during the summer in the heat of the kitchen, so your cookies always look good.