SHF: Bread & Chocolate Gelato

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Do you ever just get an idea stuck in your head and it won’t go away until you do something about it? It may not even be a very good idea, but there it is, keeping you up at night, noodling it’s way in your brain like an ad jingle. This happens to me all the time.

And, most recently, it happened to me when Matthew introduced me to the 3400 Phinney Chocolate Factory Bread and Chocolate candy bar… dark chocolate with little crunchy bits of very salty crumbs throughout.

I fell in love with that chocolate bar, and have been intending to do something with it now for months… I just wasn’t sure what (other than EAT!) So, with this month’s Sugar High Friday, and it’s chilly theme, the answer finally came. Bread & Chocolate Gelato. That same salty crunch should beautifully mix with a smooth, dark and creamy spoon of heaven (and let’s face it… isn’t that what chocolate gelato is?) It also didn’t hurt that I still had some left over focaccia croutons.

The trick was to find the right gelato recipe. Luckily, I didn’t have to look far. Melissa at Traveler’s Lunchbox has a fantastic comparison of 3 different chocolate gelato recipes. I went for her favorite, the epicurious recipe that incorporates evaporated milk and the highest ratio of cocoa to chocolate. I only made a couple of minor tweaks: I used evaporated goats milk because that’s what I had on hand… and I used whole eggs instead of just yolks because I’m a ninny and I can’t follow directions and it was too late to undo my mistake. However, the gelato didn’t seem to suffer from either of these substitutions.

This gelato should really come with a warning label. It is chocolatey. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate gelato. It couldn’t be more chocolatey. It is the black hole of chocolatey, sucking in all of the chocolate taste from the universe. Each of the tiniest nibbles fills your mouth with richness and sitting down and eating more than a quarter cup in a single seating. It also needs no addition to be perfect, so I kept half of the concoction safe from anything that might ruin it.

To the other half, I added the bread. My concern was that the bread would simply get soggy and instead of adding little crunchy respites from the chocolate, would just be mushy or gritty. Luckily, this didn’t turn out to be the case. The larger chunks, about the size of a largish crouton, held up well. My only regret was that they weren’t salty enough. I wimped out some when salting them for fear of making the whole batch inedible. The result was that unlike the candy bar, the bread mainly added texture and not much on the flavor side. So next time, more salt. But, I’m pretty sure there will be a next time…


Bread & Chocolate Gelato

Yeast Bread
Salt
Chocolate Gelato recipe

Coarsely chop the bread into 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes. Lightly mist with water, and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Bake at around 350F until they are crunchy, turning once halfway through. Set aside.

Follow the instructions for the gelato of your choosing, and add the bread crumbs right after you’ve poured it into the ice cream maker to churn. Store and serve as usual.

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0 thoughts on “SHF: Bread & Chocolate Gelato

  1. Yum! This sounds delicious. It reminds me of the Ferran Adria recipe that Amanda Hesser wrote about awhile ago – bread toasts with chocolate, olive oil, and salt. I love salt with sweet things…

  2. wow, what an inspired recipe. I love gelato that is very chocolatey, there are too many around that aren’t chocolatey enough.
    And I love Green & Black’s chocolate!

  3. So glad you liked the gelato recipe, and what an intriguing idea to flavor it with salted breadcrumbs! I tasted ‘brown bread ice cream’ in Ireland, which I gather is a standard flavor there – the bread pieces seemed to add more of a malty wheatiness than a salty counterpoint however, which I wasn’t too crazy about.

    I’ll definitely have to keep a lookout for that bread and chocolate bar next time I’m in Seattle!

  4. What a gorgeous recipe! I particularly like the pic with the spoon! 😉 You got caught, “la main dans le sac” as we say in French, which means caught as if stealing! ;-)(literally, with your hand in the bag)

  5. That looks superb. I’m a Green & Blacks fan, too. Especially keen on their Maya Gold fairtrade variety. It’s subtly flavoured with bitter orange and spices. Great straight off the block and also makes a sublime hot chocolate.

  6. What a great idea! Bread’s good, chocolate’s good, gelato’s good. There’s nothing bad about this recipe. And beautiful photos too.

  7. I’ll return shortly to leave comments about the delicious recipe and idea, but right now I’m enthralled with the spoon photo!!!!!

    I’m SWOONING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8. that looks gorgeous. Im havign a chocolate craving right now. (but it’ll have to wait till the sore throat’s recovered) sigh

  9. I just discovered your site via La Tartine Gourmande – it’s beautiful! I could scroll through your photos all day! The chocolate bar you mentioned sounds incredible. I’ve never heard of anything like it!
    Your gelato looks so yummy too!

  10. Very interesting! We make a brown bread ice cream, but caramalise it with dark brown sugar. I like the idea of a salty crunch in chocolate, though. Fun!

  11. What a delicious combination! I love the idea of this salty breadcrumbs and chocolate – it reminds me of those chocolate-covered potato chips in Germany. Must track down that 3400 chocolate bar now…

  12. I am utterly drooling over your gelato. Got to make it soon, i love gelati, chocolate. I think that i am gonna be like you for a few days: i will got this recipe in my head, dreaming of it every night until i make it. yummmy yummy, but i don’t have the chocolate bars that you use…i am living in France…grrr i should try with a simple chocolate bar. your blog is just gorgeous!!!

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