PL ANTAIN COCONUT BREAD & TOASTED MILK MILO ICE CREAM
Buttery toasted plantain bread, toasted milk milo ice cream…This is the good stuff.
Happy Sunday and welcome back to Unfiltered Flavours+, issue #34. It really is a happy Sunday indeed, because I’m sharing this beautiful plantain coconut bread recipe. I’m even spoiling you guys and giving you the most nostalgic toasted milk powder milo ice cream recipe to accompany it.
I recently went to a restaurant called Bao and tried their dessert ice cream Bao with a Horlicks ice cream. Funnily enough, the dessert as a whole was mid, but the ice cream? Fantastic. That nostalgic malty taste had me thinking…How could I make an ice cream flavour like this, but more me? On train journey home, I was thinking about why I loved that taste so much and it reminded me of how I used to love having Milo as a kid, only the way my nana makes it. A lot of people ask me, how do you think of these recipes and that’s how I basically do it, I live, experience life and when I taste something, I usually wait for it to wake up something within my inner child that needs to be explored again, but with a new outlook
The plantain coconut bread isn’t anything crazy experimental, but it’s good. It’s better than good, it’s GREAT. I do have to point out how ANNOYING I find it that we call this bread, when it’s clearly a cake that’s simply baked in a loaf tin. It feels wrong calling it bread and I feel like as a society we do need to stand up and take action! What really takes this plantain “bread” to the next level is that it gets toasted in some butter, that starts to brown and create an incredible golden crust.
Flavours & technique
When it comes the plantain bread, it’s basically like banana bread. As much as everyone likes to bake it, not everyone gets it right. Nobody wants a dry banana bread, but nobody wants an overly dense one either. I find there’s no need for butter in this recipe, oil works wonders. Especially because you’re using overripe plantain too, which contributes towards the moistness.
I like to add a few dollops of buttermilk, this is also the reason why butter isn’t needed. The buttermilk is a good moisture booster it creates a moist and tender crumb, resulting in a softer baked good.
The ice cream…
The eggs are the star of the show here and yeah you can make ice cream without eggs but would it be better? No. When it comes to ice cream you don’t want ice crystals forming in your base, it has a horrible mouth feel. You want to ensure that you get your percentages right when it comes to sugar. Not enough sugar and your ice cream is as hard as a rock, too much sugar and your ice cream doesn’t set right.
When heated, the protein in egg yolks coagulate into a thick gel that traps water and prevents chunky ice crystals, resulting in smooth and creamy ice cream. Heating your egg yolks also thickens your ice cream and creates a thicker base, which is absolutely crucial for a custard ice cream. When making ice cream it’s important to have a thermometer to hand, because you need that ice cream base to get to around 82-85°c and once it does you need to remove it from the heat and strain IMMEDIATELY. If you don’t follow this step properly along with stirring constantly, your ice cream base will scramble.
Glucose syrup is another ingredient that is for the pro’s, you can of course leave it out but the reason for using this, is it again stops ice crystals forming in your ice cream and contributes towards a really smooth mouth feel.Milk powder
This is another ingredient that takes your icecream from good, to never having to buy ice cream again. Non fat milk powder bonds with both the liquid and fat in the base, which is another preventative step to stop ice crystals from forming. Now roasting your milk powder just adds a certain je ne sais quoi! A bit of razzle dazzle for your tastebuds.
Stabilisers
They might seem scary, but ultimately you’ll still make a banging ice cream without it. As I’ve already mentioned, we’re already using ingredients that contribute towards stabilising this ice cream. When it comes to stabilisers, you don’t need a lot when using them. Its crucial that you weigh this because if you dont, you run the risk of completely messing up your ice cream
Lastly, the Milo…
For this recipe I treat the Milo just like how I would if I was to make it. I use a stick blender to blend it into the finished ice cream base. That way you avoid any unwanted lumps and don’t end up overcooking the mixture. Milo is or at least used to be a really popular chocolate malt drink, I have fond memories of begging my nana to always make this for me. To be able to put a fond taste of my childhood into an ice cream flavour is truly wonderful. Funnily enough I hate chocolate ice cream, yet this recipe or I guess using milo gives the perfect balance of chocolate, milk and malt.
Milo Ice cream:
40g non fat milk powder