Gianduja: The Topic

[teonzo]

15 hours ago, Rajala said:

1. Roast nuts, mix with sugar

2. Mix with melted chocolate and add cocoa butter, temper at 28°

3. Pour onto tray and allow to crystallize.

4. Pass through the grinder

5. Temper once more at 28°

 

He mentions that you need to use a grinder or a "ball bearing refiner" to achieve maximum level of smoothness. I guess that if you run it through a melanger at the beginning to make the praliné, you really wouldn't need to temper twice, or what do  you guys say? I've never tempered a gianduja before, what's the idea here? Make sure that it's heated to 45 degrees and just table it till 28 degrees? Or are there more steps?

 

 

(this seems like the usual case where the text is written by a ghost writer who's not practical with pastry making)

 

Tempering at step 2 seems like overkill, it has not much sense since when you pass the mixture in the grinder at step 4 you are going to heat it and melt the chocolate / cocoa butter. So it doesn't change is it was in temper or not. I would omit that tempering passage.

I'm pretty sure that with "grinder" he means a professional chocolate grinder with granite stone wheels, the big version of the small machine you use and call "melanger". Don't really think he means a grinder with blades.

 

If you temper the gianduja with the tabling method then you need to go to lower temperatures, around 24° C. The reason is similar to why you use lower temperatures to temper milk and white chocolate: the added fats interfere with the cocoa butter crystalization. If you are pratical with the tabling method (meaning that you don't need a thermometer to check it, you just "feel" if it's in temper) then trust your feelings for tempering the gianduja too, the difference between tempered and untempered is the same.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Jim D.]

On 7/26/2018 at 4:13 PM, Jim D. said:

I didn't know where else to post this question. I have made almond gianduja many times and have always ground the nuts in the food processor with success--they liquefy in a fairly short time. But this last time they did not. After so long that I worried about my Cuisinart, I added some unflavored oil; it took quite a lot of it, but the almonds finally liquefied (more or less). Unfortunately some of their flavor is gone, and I want a paste tasting strongly of almond. I have some good French almond flavoring, but of course that is mixing water with the fat of gianduja. So I began looking online for almond oil.

Just wanted to update the above information with what I found subsequently. Eventually I located an almond oil meant for flavoring (as opposed to salad dressing):  Dr. Oetker's bitter almond oil. It is available in various places, including Amazon. It's a German product made with natural flavorings, is very concentrated, and is bottled so that it comes out in droplets. It is delicious and made my bland almond gianduja very flavorful.

[DJ Silverchild]

I made 2 layer  cannabis infused milk/dark gianduja with feuilletine and the dark and milk layers are splitting.  I'm devastated because that confection is my favorite hands down.  This is the second time I've run into this issue.  

 

Even though I heated the first layer so it was slightly melted before I added the second, it's still splitting. I'm losing over half the pieces. I've tried 2 knives and a guitar cutter. The guitar cutter won't even get through the dark gianduja.  I could heat and put together each piece but it looks horrible.

 

So now I have all these split pieces. What can I make, even if I have to separate the milk from dark by hand (ugh)?  It contains cannabis so I'm not tossing it out and would like to make something I can sell.  I really don't feel like wasting more time guessing for a solution so I hope the community can help.

Also, in the future, how do I make this work?  How does anyone?  Should I not temperthe gianduja so it will be softer?

[Kerry Beal]

Melt the whole thing - temper and sell as a single dark milk layer

 

 

[DJ Silverchild]

Thank you for the reply.  You've answered a few of my posts and I appreciate that.  

Can I temper milk and chocolate gianduja together?  How would I set the temperatures because they're very different.

[Kerry Beal]

Temper as for milk.

[DJ Silverchild]

will the wafers being in it screw that up?

[Kerry Beal]

Just now, DJ Silverchild said:

will the wafers being in it screw that up?

Should still work fine - what method do you use to temper?

 

 

[DJ Silverchild]

I have a Chocovision Delta and use seed normally.

[pastrygirl]

So it's too hard to cut with a guitar and the layers come apart from each other and crack when you cut them with a knife? 

 

I think you still want to temper it but you do need a softer gianduja.  Add a higher proportion of nut paste, or some nut oil, or even browned butter or coconut oil to soften them.   

[Kerry Beal]

10 minutes ago, DJ Silverchild said:

I have a Chocovision Delta and use seed normally.

A little more breakup of the feuillitine likely with the Chocovision - what temps do you use for the milk gianduja?

[DJ Silverchild]

112-->82-->86

[Kerry Beal]

First time I ever saw guitar strings break was at Tomric when Gianluca Fusto was cutting a dark chocolate gianduja. Think there might have been one string left when it was done (and no gianduja was harmed)!

[Kerry Beal]

13 minutes ago, DJ Silverchild said:

112-->82-->86

Those are high temperatures for milk chocolate - and even higher for a gianduja. I usually go down another 2º C for each stage. 

[pastrygirl]

13 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

First time I ever saw guitar strings break was at Tomric when Gianluca Fusto was cutting a dark chocolate gianduja. Think there might have been one string left when it was done (and no gianduja was harmed)!

 

I've broken many a guitar string on gianduja.  😆  I find it helps to cut it as soon as you can, there's a point at which it is set and firm enough to handle but not yet as hard as it will get.  Since you're doing two layers, try pouring the softer one in the frame first and letting it set, then add the firmer one.  Once the firmer one is just set, flip it so it's on the bottom and cut the slab.

[DJ Silverchild]

Before and after.

 

Thank you so much everyone!!

[akonsu]

On 12/26/2008 at 7:17 AM, Kerry Beal said:

You can use gianduja like a soft chocolate ie it will mold, it can be tempered (2ºC less than white chocolate at each step)

As I understand, I can temper gianduja just like I temper chocolate, heat it, cool it, stir, etc. Just use lower temperatures. How to tell if it is properly tempered? Is there a tempering test like that for chocolate?

 

thanks!

konstanitn 

[Kerry Beal]

8 hours ago, akonsu said:

As I understand, I can temper gianduja just like I temper chocolate, heat it, cool it, stir, etc. Just use lower temperatures. How to tell if it is properly tempered? Is there a tempering test like that for chocolate?

 

thanks!

konstanitn 

Same way - put a little on a offset or piece of parchment - it won't snap but it should firm up after a while and be glossy and not streaky.

[Tiffany B]

I use my Blendtec to make praline paste and use this recipe - https://livingsweetmoments.com/hazelnut-gianduja-squares-tutorial/

[akonsu]

Hello,

 

I made gianduja using 1:1:1 ratio of dark chocolate, tahini and sugar powder.

 

After a day or so it starts blooming.

 

I tried tempering it twice. The first time, I just stirred it constantly until it cooled just below 27 Celsius. The second time I did the same but I also added some tempered chocolate (at about 33 C) to it while stirring. Nothing helped.

 

If I wrap it into a food plastic wrapper and let it set, it is alright for a day or so, but it turns whitish anyway a couple of days later. If I do not wrap it then it gets all white right after it solidifies.

 

The temperature in the room where I keep it is about 20 C. When I prepared it, I let it set at room temperature for about an hour after I made it, and when it got solid, I put it into a fridge, and took it out after an hour or so, and since then I kept it either at 20 C or in a fridge.

 

Please help...

 

Thanks!

 

konstantin

[Kerry Beal]

Cool to 23, reheat to 27,28

 

 

[teonzo]

What Kerry said, if you are starting from all the 3 ingredients mixed together and melted untempered chocolate. Personally I prefer to start from melted tempered chocolate, then add nut paste and sugar.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[akonsu]

Thanks, everyone. I believe I was given a wrong advice by the Greweling book then:

 

> the easiest way to temper it is usually to put the entire batch onto a marble slab
> and agitate it generously until it is cooled to 27°C/80°F or below. At this temperature,

> after constant agitation, it is safe to assume that the gianduja is tempered.

 

Instead of a slab, which I do not have, I used a bowl of cold water with ice, like a bain-marie.

[Kerry Beal]

Just now, akonsu said:

Thanks, everyone. I believe I was given a wrong advice by the Greweling book then:

 

> the easiest way to temper it is usually to put the entire batch onto a marble slab
> and agitate it generously until it is cooled to 27°C/80°F or below. At this temperature,

> after constant agitation, it is safe to assume that the gianduja is tempered.

 

Instead of a slab, which I do not have, I used a bowl of cold water with ice, like a bain-marie.

That works for meltaway (actually cool until it starts to thicken) - gianduja needs a little more futzing I find. 

[teonzo]

Gianduja depends on the nut paste you are using: hazelnut is different from pistachio, which is different from sesame, so on. Different nut paste, different tempering curve: each nut oil affects cocoa butter in a different way. Different chocolate to nut paste ratio, different tempering curve. Greweling can't give a tempering curve for each case, it would take half the book. That's why he says "cooled to 27°C/80°F or below": "below" is really important here, he is not saying that when you cool it to 27°C then you are always game, he is meaning it's possible you need to go below. When working with chocolate you can't work it trusting temperatures and limiting your decisions on watching the temperature. You need to develop the "feel", which means becoming able to notice if what you have in your hands is tempered or not. Which takes lots of tempering tests at the beginning, then a bit of eye and feeling for the texture.

For gianduja it's easier to start with tempered chocolate. Knowing when pure chocolate is tempered is much easier. Tempering by hand 1 part of pure chocolate is quicker and easier than tempering 3 parts of gianduja. If you start from tempered chocolate then the tempering agitation is made on 1x mass, if you start from untempered chocolate and temper the full gianduja then the tempering agitation is made on 3x mass (more manual work).

Having said this, if you ended up with a good amount of gianduja that is out of temper, then the only thing to do is remelt it and temper by hand, going below 27°C as was suggested by Kerry.

 

 

 

Teo