22 hours ago, parameda said:That's exactly it - I want that nutty flavour to stand out. I only made gianduja once with equal parts of nut paste and tempered milk chocolate. Do you think I could make it with more nut paste, so that it comes out softer?
Yes, increasing or decreasing the proportion of nut paste will make your gianduja softer or firmer.
Back to the original question, have you tried a lower fat cream or water? There is so much fat in both nuts and chocolate already. I also struggle with hazelnut ganaches. I make one that is firm enough to cut on a guitar that has dark chocolate, sweetened hazelnut paste, water, and hazelnut liqueur but to be honest it sometimes fails and re-emulsifying the scraps never seems to work.
Are you using 100% hazelnut paste? Any sweeteners or stabilizers? If it is un-stabilized and has any separation, you could pour the excess oil off (save it for staff meal salad dressing).
A couple of ideas to boost the hazelnut flavor - steep toasted nuts in your cream/milk to flavor the liquid, add salt, add a drop of almond extract, use Valrhona Amande as part of the chocolate.
