I came across this recipe page for a trio of gelati by a YouTube foodie I enjoy watching:
How to Make Homemade Gelato | Italian Gelato Recipe
(See their brioche recipe so you can make ice cream sandwiches.)
Chocolate
I have made the chocolate but I did alter the recipe.
First it calls for equal quantities of milk and water. Water. Really, one only uses water for making stock. I just used double the milk.
The second change was around the (optional) xanthan gum and glucose powders. I don’t have these in my kitchen and you won’t likely either. Both corn starch and ground (must be ground) flax seeds are a 1:1 substitution for xanthan gum.
I used flax seed for both nutritional (if slight) reasons and because the faint nutty flavor (if at all perceptible) would be right at home in this recipe. I’ll like do the same when I try the hazelnut recipe.
To make up for the missing glucose powder I just used a heavier ¼ teaspoon of the substituted ground flax seeds.
Finally, after heating through the wet and dry ingredients as per the instructions, I refrigerated the mixture overnight before running it through my ice cream machine. This is standard practice: Don’t overtax your ice cream machine by giving it hot liquid.
My machine has its own compressor so it’s perhaps less a concern, but if you are freezing your bowl this would be even more important.
That’s it. I’ll freeze the mixture today and report back later.
I’m back after tastings. The flavor is excellent. (This includes no hint on my palate of anything associated with the ground flax seeds.) No reason to adjust any of the flavor components of this recipe.
Ingredients:
- 5 oz (140g) dark chocolate
- 2⅔ C (320ml) whole milk
- ⅓ C (80g) heavy cream
- ⅔ C (140g) sugar
- 4 T () unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 t ground flax seed
Post Tasting Notes
I will, next time, wait a bit before adding the chopped chocolate to the hot cream mixture. Adding the chocolate directly to the 195f mixture causes every bit of the dark chocolate to completely melt and become homogeneous within the mixture.
I am not clear why the temperature needs to be 195f. I may test lower temperatures (which are much easier to achieve).
You could wait for the mixture to cool completely before adding the chopped chocolate (next morning after refrigeration), though I think I will just allow the mixture to cool slightly thus allowing for some melt but ensuring some bits for my teeth later.
Also, I would like the texture as the mixture warms (melts) to remain thicker. As such I will probably increase the ground flax seeds to a full teaspoon for the next round.
Nocciola (Hazelnut)
A few days later and why not make that gelato della nocciola as well?
Again I skipped the xanthan gum powder and the glucose powder, and added ground flax seed—a heavy teaspoon this time.
I recommend roasting your hazelnuts since this greatly enhances their flavor.
Since this mixture does not get heated/cooked it may take a bit for the grains of sugar to melt into your milk mixture. I blended for a bit then let the mixture rest, and repeated this blend-rest a few times to ensure all of the sugar grains were fully disolved. Then into the machine.
If I were using a freeze-bucket style machine I would probably want to let it rest in the refrigerator before putting it into the machine. Since my machine has a compressor it is no issue to put it directly into the machine. Your choice.
Also, this nocciola gelato is stupid easy. Start to finish you can be eating within the hour if you don’t want to let it freeze solid after your machine finishes.
Ingredients:
- 3 oz (90g) whole well-roasted hazelnuts
- 1½ C (350ml) whole milk
- ¼ C (60g) heavy cream
- ½ C (90g) sugar
- 1 t ground flax seed
Post-Tasting Notes
Between the additional flax seed and the fat provided by the nuts, this gelato had a better texture than the chocolate (which I’m looking forward to making again).
Really delicious.
