Description
The perfect scoop of ice cream begins here. In minutes you have the foundation for practically every creamy frozen treat in this book-plus an infinite number you can create yourself. Make it, store it, flavor it, and churn away. That’s all you need to know. For the curious, however, there’s more going on in each base than meets the eye. What might read like an arbitrary list of ingredients is in fact a formula that yields a carefully calibrated ratio of ice cream’s main components. (For ice cream nerds, approximately 58% water; 17% fat, 11% milk solids, and 14% sugar, by weight.) That’s not to say that a final product with these ratios is necessarily the goal. In some cases, I want an ice cream that has, say, a lower fat percentage-remember, less fat means a denser texture and flavor that hits your palate more quickly-so I might ultimately dilute the base when I add a flavoring before churning. For us at Salt & Straw, the base is the way we keep track of our starting point, which makes manipulating the finished product much easier. For the home cook, carving out a separate recipe for the base has a different purpose. It’s practical and makes home ice cream making that much easier: This way, you can make it in advance-in big storable batches, even-so each recipe in this book is that much easier to execute.
Ingredients
- 70g granulated sugar
- 40g dry milk powder
- teaspoon xanthan gum
- 40g dextrose
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
Method
- Combine the sugar, dry milk, and xanthan gum in a small bowl and stir well.
- Pour the corn syrup into a medium pot and stir in the whole milk.
- Add the sugar mixture and immediately whisk vigorously until smooth.
- Set the pot over medium heat and cook, stirring often and adjusting the heat if necessary to prevent a simmer, until the sugar has fully dissolved, about 3 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat.
- Add the cream and whisk until fully combined.
- Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 6 hours, or for even better texture and flavor, 24 hours.
- Stir the base back together if it separates during the resting time.
- The base can be further stored in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. (Just be sure to fully thaw the frozen base before using it.)
- Following the instructions for the bases will yield a few more tablespoons than the amount called for in the recipes. This is intentional-so you have enough base, even when a bit inevitably ‘gets left behind here and there in the pan, in the storage container, and the like.