Nothing hits the spot like good ice cream. Heaped with flavor, sweet and creamy, and a prime vehicle for chocolate or caramel sauce, it’s the perfect dessert in high summer or on a cold winter’s day by the fire. But while those recipes look simple, it’s tricky creating that perfect batch of ice cream. Here are three secrets to the culinary art of making the best soft serve ice cream.
3 Secrets for Creating the Best Soft Serve Ice Cream
Start With the Best
Combine the best ingredients with the best equipment and you’ve got a good chance at making the best ice cream. Like how the quality of your water affects the taste of your morning coffee, good quality dairy, sugars, and flavorings can bolster the taste of ice cream. Think of it as the more flavor the ingredients have to offer, the more your ice cream has to work with.
A good machine also plays a part. Events have to happen in a certain order and at certain temperatures for a batch to turn out well, and if a machine can’t deliver, then your ice cream will suffer. ADI Electro Freeze soft serve machines deliver consistently smooth ice cream with traditional and low-fat mixes.
Freeze It Fast
Temperature plays a big part in ice cream recipes because it affects the creaminess of the batch. Ice cream is filled with ice crystals, and the smaller they are, the creamier the ice cream. Chill the ice cream fast and hard in a subzero freezer or try putting the ice cream in small, shallow containers instead of one large one. That way the cold can reach the center faster.
It also pays to keep air out of your containers. Air gives the moisture room to move around. If it evaporates and collects inside the container, those larger ice crystals have room to start forming up. If you find yourself with lots of empty headroom, cover the ice cream with plastic wrap or parchment paper before putting the lid on, to keep air out.
Keep It Ice (Cream) Cold
This might seem obvious, but ice cream melts. And once it’s refrozen, those ice crystals refreeze in larger clusters, making ice cream grainy and unpleasant. But it’s also a good idea to cool your mix before it’s actually ice cream. Keeping your ingredients cold means they won’t have to go through any temperature fluctuations that affect their quality or taste.
Flavorings also lose their strength in warm mixtures and churning a warm mixture means the temperature has further to drop, keeping it from freezing quickly. Also chilling your bowls can help the churning process along, especially if you have a small, at-home machine. Just make sure you start the bowl moving before you pour your mix in. There’s a chance it will freeze to one spot of the bowl instead of churning properly.
Making creamy ice cream requires precision. With the right ingredients, good timing, and a dependable machine, anyone can make their own favorite flavors. Learn more about ADI Electro Freeze ice cream machines so you can start your own delicious adventure.