Gelato

A churned custard with more milk than cream and less air than ice cream.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (double cream), dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

• 700 ml whole milk
• 200 ml double cream
• 6 egg yolks
• 150 g caster sugar
• 30 g skimmed milk powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Warm the milk, cream and milk powder to 50C, whisking the powder in. The powder adds solids without water, which is what keeps the texture dense rather than icy.
2. Whisk the yolks with the sugar and salt, pour a little warm milk in to loosen, then return everything to the pan.
3. Cook to 82C over a low heat, stirring constantly. It will coat the back of a spoon. Above 85C the yolks curdle.
4. Strain, cool over iced water, then REFRIGERATE 12 HOURS. The fat crystallises and the proteins take up water in that time, and a base churned straight away freezes coarse.
5. CHURN IT. The machine beats air in while the mixture freezes, and that constant movement is what keeps the ice crystals too small to feel. 25 to 30 minutes.
6. This is a gelato rather than an ice cream: more milk than cream, and churned slower so less air goes in. Expect it to come out soft and to need an hour in the freezer.
7. Keep it at around -12C to serve, warmer than a domestic freezer, so it stays pliable enough to spread with a spatula.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes