Gianduja: The Topic

[Kerry Beal]

I can take a trip down to his store (actually Anna and I will take a trip) and check out the true situation if you find you are unable to order it. He's not open on Mondays and he's not the greatest at returning calls (he is a delightful fellow however) so try to call on a day when you might catch him in the store.

[tammylc]

I can take a trip down to his store (actually Anna and I will take a trip) and check out the true situation if you find you are unable to order it.  He's not open on Mondays and he's not the greatest at returning calls (he is a delightful fellow however) so try to call on a day when you might catch him in the store.

←

I just ordered one. I didn't get any "out of stock" messages, just a note to allow 3 weeks for shipping. So I guess I'll let you know in 3 weeks...

I'm excited to have a new toy to play with!

[mostlylana]

I just ordered one. I didn't get any "out of stock" messages, just a note to allow 3 weeks for shipping. So I guess I'll let you know in 3 weeks...

I'm excited to have a new toy to play with!

←

That's wonderful! I'm looking forward to seeing how you like it. I'm just now playing with my Vitamix. I was preferring to not have to add oil to the nuts to get butter but so little is needed according to the Vitamix instructions. I'll post my results when I have them.

[mostlylana]

I finished my little experiement with the Vitamix. I first processed some hazelnut butter that I purchased that was quite chunky. That was pretty quick work and it became quite smooth and runny. Next, I used whole hazelnuts. I used 1 cup hazelnuts and 2 tsp. oil. I had to stop and scrape several times at first as the pasty nuts would cling to the sides of the container. Once it got blended enough it was much easier. I processed for 3 minutes at this point (1 minute at a time so as not to overheat the Vitamix). After the first minute it was smooth but more like peanut butter. After the 2nd minute it was much more runny and thin. The third minute didn't make as much of a difference. According to the the chocolatiers I spoke with in Italy there should be no discernable grit between the fingers in order to make a smooth gianduja. Unfortunately, I can feel slight grit between my fingers even though the butter is smooth. I don't think any amount of processing would get rid of that. Perhaps this is where the Santha would come in. I'm going to try using my 'dry' container for the Vitamix to grind up my sugar into a powder to mix it with my hazelnut paste to get a fake hazelnut praline. I think I'll try your Almond paste recipe as my other experiment. I'll post my results when I do the experiments. Here's a photo of the 2 different hazelnut pastes. Was yours about this consistency in the Sumeet Kerry?

[Kerry Beal]

Looks about the same.

[Kerry Beal]

Working on a second batch of gianduja. I toasted up some hazelnuts that had been properly stored (ie no freezer smell), rubbed off some of the skins and put them in the cuisinart with the plastic blade to get the rest off. Lost a bit of the nuts to that trick unfortunately.

I processed them in the Sumeet with no additional oil until they were liquid and very smooth, no real gritty feeling between the fingers. Putting smaller amounts in the Sumeet works better than larger amounts.

I mixed 100 grams paste (that's all I made) with 350 grams of milk chocolate and 80 grams of dark chocolate. Tempered it by cooling down to about 24º C then heating back up to around 26º C. Molding now. Very smooth this time around.

I think 150 grams to 350 grams chocolate is probably a good ratio to get the most flavour.

[tammylc]

This is really interesting. How do you think the Sumeet would work for making a praline paste? In Schotts, he makes a praline filling by caramelizing sugar and pouring it over toasted hazelnuts, then grinding in the food processor. It's good, but pretty sandy in texture. Would the Sumeet handle something like this, and generate smaller particles?

[Kerry Beal]

This is really interesting. How do you think the Sumeet would work for making a praline paste? In Schotts, he makes a praline filling by caramelizing sugar and pouring it over toasted hazelnuts, then grinding in the food processor. It's good, but pretty sandy in texture. Would the Sumeet handle something like this, and generate smaller particles?

←

Quite likely it would. It has a tendency to reduce everything to paste! You can use it to grind sugar and when it's done it has the texture of icing sugar.

[Kerry Beal]

Just unmolded the newest batch - smooth as a babies butt!

[mostlylana]

Just unmolded the newest batch - smooth as a babies butt!

←

Wow, that's awesome! I decided to process all of the hazelnut butter I had on hand and I added the stuff I had already processed to it. I did it all a total of 3 minutes. MUCH smoother than the photos I showed earlier. I could barely feel any grit. It poured out like a smoothie it was so runny. I think the larger amount in the Vitamix made it work more efficiently. Seems to be the opposite of the Sumeet. I have 2 kinds of commercial hazelnut paste on hand so I rubbed them all between my fingers. The commercial stuff is like handcream. There really is no grit to it at all. I think mine was passable but I did feel minute grit. My husband didn't notice anything on his tongue however. Tammy, I had inquired with John Nanci about making hazelnut praline using the Santha. This is what he said about using carmelized sugar: "The main problem with the caramelized sugar is that it is a vitreous sugar, and vitreous sugars are highly hygroscopic making them difficult and messy to work with as they absorb water and get sticky. Vitreous sugars, being amorphous, are more difficult to grind as they lack a

crystal structure so tend to 'slide' instead of refine. Flavor wise, I

did not find that the caramelized sugar added perceptively to the praline.

It could have been my technique, but all things being equal (flavor vs

work) I preferred just granular sugar."

[Kerry Beal]

The other issue with caramelized sugar and the Santha is that caramelized sugar is hygroscopic and attracts water which can interfere.

[Tri2Cook]

You rock Kerry. I've never even considered making my own gianduja. All that skinning hazelnuts...

[tammylc]

You rock Kerry. I've never even considered making my own gianduja. All that skinning hazelnuts...

←

I am lucky to have a convenient source of blanched hazelnuts. That makes making hazelnut anything so much nicer!

[mostlylana]

You rock Kerry. I've never even considered making my own gianduja. All that skinning hazelnuts...

←

Here's a good way to skin hazelnuts. I've tried it - it's the most effective method I've tried. You do need to toast them afterwards to dry them out.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/504535

[Kerry Beal]

You rock Kerry. I've never even considered making my own gianduja. All that skinning hazelnuts...

←

Here's a good way to skin hazelnuts. I've tried it - it's the most effective method I've tried. You do need to toast them afterwards to dry them out.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/504535

←

Ok, got some more hazelnuts out of the freezer to give this a try.

[mostlylana]

Ok, got some more hazelnuts out of the freezer to give this a try.

←

Kerry - you're a trooper!!

[Kerry Beal]

Ok, all blanched and peeled. It's kind of slimy. It gets more skin off for sure, but I'm essentially lazy so I think I'll probably either stick with my dry towel to roasted nuts, or buy some already blanched ones. I suspect the extra few bucks a pound is worth it.

[mostlylana]

I agree - I'd happily pay extra for blanched hazelnuts... anyone know of an organic source?

[Kerry Beal]

Try contacting the Hazelnut Council, Inc.

www.hazelnutcouncil.org

(206) 270-4633. They are in Seattle and are sort of a marketing board for hazelnuts. Very helpful when I've spoken to them at the trade show in Hershey. I'm sure they can find a source for you.

[mostlylana]

Thanks Kerry, I'll do that. I contacted the hazelnut marketing board in Oregon but they didn't know of a source. I was told that American hazelnuts don't blanch well so most blanched hazelnuts come from turkey. Interesting...

[Darienne]

Unless I missed a post along the way...no one except Kerry Beal tried the method of blanching hazelnuts posted by Mostlyalana a few posts back.

I just tried it and was absolutely blown away by how easy it was and how well it worked!!!

Thank you Mostlyalana.

[mostlylana]

Unless I missed a post along the way...no one except Kerry Beal tried the method of blanching hazelnuts posted by Mostlyalana a few posts back.

I just tried it and was absolutely blown away by how easy it was and how well it worked!!!     

Thank you Mostlyalana.

←

I receive the love... glad it worked so well!

[Lior]

I am totally not in a creative mode, but trying very hard to get back into some chocolate - making routine. I

I bought some milk and dark Gianduja about 2 months ago - Valrhona. I want to use it without adding cream or butter or something that will lower shelf life- as right now my my business is fast asleep...

]Any creative ideas will be very welcome.

[Kerry Beal]

I am totally not in a creative mode, but trying very hard to get back into some chocolate -  making routine. I

I bought some milk and dark Gianduja about 2 months ago - Valrhona. I want to use it without adding cream or butter or something that will lower shelf life- as right now my my business is fast asleep...

Any creative ideas will be very welcome.

←

So as I recall these are made by beating gianduja in the mixer, while you heat a bit with the heat gun on the outside. Wybauw added some powdered lavender to the mix. I might add a bit of essential oil myself.

You can crystallize them or just put them between the two discs.

I've forwarded you another recipe for ginger gianduja that I had at a demo at Tomric - it was very tasty as I recall.

[Lior]

Tose are beautiful! Does the mixer process temper the gianduja?

Kerry- thank you

for a lot more than just this!!!!