Fior di Latte Gelato

Fior di Latte gelato with amarene cherries

  • Whole Milk 1 lb 4.5 oz ( 580 gr)
  • Heavy Cream 7 oz (200 gr)
  • Sugar 5.5 oz (160 gr)
  • Dextrose Powder 0.5 oz (15 gr)
  • Skim Milk Powder 1.4 oz (40 gr)
  • Ice Cream Stabilizers 1/10-2/10 oz (4/5 gr)

Introduction

This is one of my favorite gelatos, it’s really basic but it’s very versatile and it serves as the base for many more recipes to come.

Preparations

Place the ice-cream maker bowl and serving bowls in the freezer

Process

Mix all the powders together in a bowl: sugar, skim milk, dextrose and the stabilizers (be careful with the stabilizers, only a few grams are necessary and it is hard to weigh them on a regular scale, one that measure the fraction of a gram would be preferable. Anyway, if in doubt, less is better than more).

Place the milk and cream in a saucepan, put on medium heat and bring to a near boil (if you let it boil the milk and cream will lose flavor and water). .

Pour the hot milk and cream over the powders and mix with a hand whisk at first and then switch to the immersion blender, blend away for about 5 minutes, this will payoff in the end by making your gelato even creamier and smoother.

Put everything back in the saucepan and on the stove at medium heat, keep mixing with the immersion blender until you reach 185˚ F, keep checking with the thermometer, once at this temperature lower the heat and try to maintain the temperature for two minutes while still mixing with the blender.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover it carefully with cling film an put it in the refrigerator for 6 hours (or until it reaches 42˚ F if you are in a hurry, it can easily stay there for 24 hours though). You must cover it carefully because it could pick up undesirable aromas from your refrigerator.

Once the batch has cooled, mix it with the immersion blender for a few minutes before putting it in the ice cream maker.

Take it out of the ice cream maker and place it in the freezer for about 10 minutes to finish hardening

Serving

Ideally you would serve it immediately, because it is at its most creamy and delectable then, this is not hard to do even if you have guests for dinner, because about 30 minutes from dessert time you can start the freezing process and serve delicious, made-from- scratch gelato to your guests. You can put it in your freezer for later use, this will make it harder, but you can wait a few minutes with it in the refrigerato and it will return to a consistency approximating its original. This being a basic flavor, you can serve it with all kinds of addition, such as Amarena cherries, chocolate syrup or caramel sauce. Below is a recipe for a balsamic vinegar reduction which is a wonderful and sophisticated topping for this delicate gelato.

Balsamic reduction and fior di latte gelato

Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

Instead of spending a $100 on a few ounces of 50 year old balsamic vinegar, you can make your own reduction and get wonderful flavor complexity for a small fraction of the cost.

Ingredients

  • Good quality balsamic vinegar 1/3 CUP
  • Marsala Wine Dry 1Tbsp
  • Sugar 1Tbsp

Process

Mix the ingredients in a small sauce pan and put on very low heat, bring it to a light simmering boil until reduced to a syrup (it should coat the back of a spoon). Be very careful to keep the mixture simmering very little, if you boil it a chemical change will occur and the concoction will lose its complexity.

Be aware that as it cools it will thicken some more, so you will want to pull it off the heat a little earlier than you might think. Put it in a bottle and keep it in a cool, dark place.

Balsamic vinegar reduction

Serving

This syrup is not only good on basic flavors of gelato, but also on strawberries, cheeses and even meats.

Read more about special desserts