Gianduia gelato

The Turin pairing of hazelnuts and milk chocolate — mellow, nutty-chocolatey and creamy.

Gianduia (a smooth blend of hazelnut and chocolate) was born in Turin in Napoleonic times, when the Continental Blockade cut cocoa imports and confectioners began “stretching” it with local hazelnuts. In gelato the same idea becomes a silky mix of hazelnut paste, milk chocolate and a little cocoa. The recipe also works without a machine, because it is high in solids.

Type: Italian gelato · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Moderate

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 650 g whole milk 3.5 %
  • 30 g whipping cream 33 %
  • 30 g skimmed milk powder
  • 70 g hazelnut paste 100 %
  • 70 g milk chocolate (chopped)
  • 10 g cocoa powder (10–12 % fat)
  • 95 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
  • 50 g dextrose (glucose powder)
  • 2 g locust bean gum (carob gum, E410) (or 3 g of ready-made gelato stabiliser)
  • 1 g guar gum (E412)

Making the mix

  1. Sift the cocoa into the sugars so that no lumps form.
  2. Mix the locust bean gum and guar gum thoroughly with the dry sugars (granulated sugar and dextrose). On their own they would form lumps as soon as they get wet.
  3. Pour the milk, cream and milk powder into a pan and heat while whisking. When the mixture is lukewarm (about 40 °C), gradually add the sugars and whisk until they dissolve.
  4. Heat the mix to 85 °C (check with a thermometer) and hold it at that temperature for 1–2 minutes, stirring constantly. This pasteurises the mix and fully hydrates the stabiliser.
  5. Take the pan off the heat, add the chopped chocolate and hazelnut paste, leave for a minute, then blend until smooth with a stick blender.
  6. Stand the pan in a bowl of iced water and cool the mix below 5 °C as quickly as possible, stirring now and then.
  7. Cover and leave the mix to age in the fridge for 4–12 hours, ideally overnight. Meanwhile the proteins and stabiliser bind water and the mix thickens.

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

  1. Switch the ice cream maker on 5–10 minutes in advance so the bowl can pre-chill.
  2. Give the aged mix a quick blitz with a stick blender and pour it into the bowl, no higher than the max line.
  3. Churn for about 30–40 minutes, until the gelato is thick and glossy and clings to the paddle. Then switch the machine off — churning any longer would only whip in unnecessary air.
  4. Transfer to a chilled tub, press cling film onto the surface and leave to harden in the freezer for 1–2 hours.

Total time: 7 h 35 min

Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker

  1. Take the bowl, frozen for at least 24 hours, out of the freezer just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
  2. With the machine running, pour in the well-chilled, freshly blended mix — filling the bowl no more than two-thirds full.
  3. Churn for 20–30 minutes, until the gelato thickens to a soft-serve consistency. There is no point going longer — by then the bowl has warmed up.
  4. Transfer to a chilled tub, press cling film onto the surface and leave to harden in the freezer for 2–3 hours.

A freezer bowl only partly freezes the mix, so the gelato needs longer to harden in the freezer and tends to be slightly less smooth than from a compressor machine. A well-chilled, properly aged mix helps.

Total time: 8 h 25 min

Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

  1. Pour the aged mix into the CREAMi tub up to the MAX line, put the lid on and freeze on a level surface for 24 hours.
  2. Fit the tub into the machine and run the Gelato programme (if your model doesn’t have it, use Ice Cream).
  3. If the gelato is powdery or crumbly, run Re-spin, and a second time if needed (many users add 1–2 tablespoons of milk first).
  4. Serve straight away. Level off whatever is left, refreeze it and process it again before the next serving.

Programme: Gelato

Total time: 29 h 5 min

Method — No-machine method

  1. Pour the aged mix into a deep metal or glass container (a baking dish, for example) and put it in the freezer.
  2. After 45 minutes, mix it thoroughly with a whisk or stick blender, stirring the frozen edges into the centre.
  3. Repeat every 30 minutes, 5–6 times in all, until the gelato is thick and smooth.
  4. Smooth the surface, cover with cling film and leave to harden for an hour.

Without a machine the gelato freezes more slowly and entirely at −18 °C, so the adjusted recipe has more dextrose (higher PAC). That way it stays scoopable even without tempering.

Total time: 9 h 30 min

Stages

Preparation
20 min
Cooking
10 min
Cooling
30 min
Ageing in the fridge
4 h
Churning
35 min
Hardening in the freezer
2 h
Total time
7 h 35 min

Serving and storage

Wonderful with whipped cream and roasted hazelnuts, or in a brioche bun the Sicilian way. Gelaterias keep it in the display case at −11 to −13 °C, while a home freezer runs at −18 °C — straight out of it, gelato is hard. So move the tub to the fridge 15–20 minutes before serving (or leave it at room temperature for 8–10 minutes) and work the gelato with a spatula before scooping, just as they do in a gelateria.

Artisan gelato is made to be eaten fresh: it is best on the day you make it and within 3–5 days. In a closed tub with cling film pressed onto the surface it will keep in the freezer for up to two weeks, but it gradually hardens and ice crystals build up.

Tips

  • Use good milk chocolate with at least 30 % cocoa solids; cheap confectionery has more sugar and less flavour.
  • Want a stronger chocolate flavour? Replace half the milk chocolate with 70 % dark chocolate.
  • For crunch, fold in 40 g of chopped roasted hazelnuts when transferring the gelato to the tub.

Why it works

Some of the sugar comes from the milk chocolate, so there is less granulated sugar. The fat (around 10 %) comes from hazelnuts, cocoa butter and milk — the upper limit for gelato; total solids are about 41 %. Cocoa butter sets much harder than milk fat at −18 °C, so this gelato needs time to soften before serving. Anti-freezing power (PAC) tells you how much water stays unfrozen at a given temperature — the higher it is, the softer the gelato. Dextrose has almost twice the anti-freezing power of granulated sugar but is about a third less sweet, which is why gelaterias combine the two sugars.

Sources