Any tips for making Gianduja at home? I'm interested in getting something like the dark gianduja that Domori makes.

updated by @lane-wigley: 04/10/15 05:24:14

such as: when to add the hazelnuts, anything different about tempering, molding, etc

Basically just thoroughly mix the melted chocolate with the hazelnut paste. I've seen some makers in Italy refine/conche them together and others just mix. Personally I just mix well with a stick blender.

Here's a shot of our cremini, as you can see the gianduja is nice and smooth. Any roughness visible in this pic is from the cutting.

cheebs - do you caramelise the hazelnuts first and then grind them down for your gianduja?

Lane - a gianduja is usually tempered at a lower temp . . . 27C is what I normally use.

I'm assuming that if I put the hazelnuts through a food processor first the Santha should be able to take it from there. I wouldn't think I'd need to buy paste. Make sense?

Gap... I only roast the hazelnuts... if caramelized I would then be making pralin (which I actually do make by caramelizing, running through the Champion with the blocking plate in and finishing for a half hour or so in the Santha)

It does and that will work perfectly. It only takes a few hours to get the paste super-fine. Remember to de-hull the nuts!

Thanks cheebs - that's what I was curious about. When I've "made" a gianduja for chocolate work, I've done so by mixing hazelnut praline paste and chocolate. I was wondering if the grinders could take the nuts/caramelised sugar without any problems, but it sounds like they can if I pre-grind.

Cheers

What's the best way to de-hull?

Either a large colander or a wet cloth... Rub the hazelnuts against the screen of the colander or put them in the wet cloth, fold over itself and rub.

Gianduja is one of my favorite topics It comes out great from the grinder after a few hours. We did pre-grind in the food processor to make it easier.

The real pain is to quickly de-hull the hazelnuts. The rubbing on a wet cloth method works fine, but there are a few nuts which don't release their hull, it gets really hot and is time consuming.

Any alternatives for a better process? Any equivalent to the small scale winnowers we use for cacao?

The second major issue is sourcing quality hazelnuts consistently and making sure they are not rancid when you buy them. Treat yourself to the 35 part Gianduja series from Dallas Food Org.

To remove the hazelnut skins more easily:

I forgot to ask, what's a reasonable range of chocolate to nuts? Can I do it without any milk powder or should I do at least a bit?

When I mix a gianduja at home from commercially available products, I use ~50% milk chocolate and ~50% hazelnut praline paste (which is itself, ~50% sugar and ~50% hazelnuts). So breaking it down, mine is approximately 50% milk chocolate, 25% sugar and 25% hazelnut.

I'm not sure how much further/higher you can push that hazelnut %. Too far and the hazelnut fat will start to interact with the cocoa butter and make tempering the gianduja hard.I'd think you could go higher, but don't really know.

Thanks Patti. I did this and it still was a nightmare to husk them all (but better than other ways). I'm going to buy paste next time. I used 7 cups of hazelnuts. It tastes wonderful, but what a pain.

Glad it worked for you- I agree it is still a pain. My hands look like raisins by the time I am done! Now, if I could just find a robot coupe so I don't kill my food processor!

Forget about a Robot Coupe. It has a duty cycle of only 5 minutes. A cheap Hamilton Beach will work until the oil separates from the nuts.

Ruth, I was attempting praline paste at home & had my cuisinart smoking! Any thoughts?

Yup--go to Walmart and buy a $40 Hamilton Beach. Drew Shotts put me on to these. They do a great job and outlast R-C's and Cuisinarts. They have a plastic shaft and all the bad China stuff, but they last and last. The last time I made Praline, I caramelized the hazelnuts and tossed them in. Ran it for about 15 minutes until the oil released. It won't take it down to a totally smooth paste, but much better than the other options.

Thank you Ruth! I will do that!!!