Soft serve ice cream requires a stable base made from a custard of heated milk or cream and egg yolks, with added ingredients such as vanilla and sugar. After chilling overnight, the mixture is frozen in an ice cream maker for at least one hour.
Soft ice cream is a common dessert in many places that can easily be made at home, but relies on certain conditions to create the same texture and taste often found in many store-bought and restaurant-ordered ice creams. Making successful soft ice cream depends on a number of factors, mainly related to the amount of egg used, the type of sweetener, and the time taken for the cooling and freezing process. A good ice cream maker is also important for a smooth texture in a soft serve ice cream recipe.
When making soft serve ice cream, it is always critical to create a stable base for the recipe that will help provide the creaminess and texture of the ice cream. More often than not, an ice cream recipe calls for making a custard as a base, as eggs and cream cooked together will help provide the essential fluffiness needed for the dessert. Over a double boiler, milk or cream is heated and then mixed with a number of egg yolks. As this mixture simmers, the milk or cream will become thick and ready for the cooling process.
Before the cooling process, it is often suggested to add other ingredients while the milk or cream is still hot. Ingredients such as chocolate, vanilla or sugar are important to add to the hot cream mixture, as these elements must be dissolved in the cream in order to fully incorporate. A common soft serve ice cream flavor is vanilla, so adding the contents of a vanilla bean, as well as an appropriate amount of sweetener or sugar, will help for the desired flavor of the recipe. Sugar is somewhat responsible for the texture of soft ice cream, but adding less or more than called for in a recipe won’t ruin the final product.
After adding other ingredients, it’s important to let the ice cream chill in the refrigerator overnight before placing it in the ice cream maker and freezing it. Letting it sit for an extended period of time will develop the flavors in the ice cream and speed up the freezing process. After this stage of the ice cream making process, the mixture should be poured into a well-chilled ice cream maker and frozen for at least one hour. To get the smooth texture of the ice cream, you should take the ice cream out of the freezer before freezing it completely, or leave the frozen cream out to thaw for an hour.
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