Problem with making soft serve from scratch with xanthan gum

Nam_Bui_19167

I've recently purchased a commercial table-top soft serve machine to make my own soft serve from scratch and here is my recipe:

2500g whole milk
500g cream
480g sugar
~17g xanthan gum (0.5%)
I blended everything in a commercial blender at room temperature and pour the mixture into the machine.

I've been adding different gums to my recipe but xanthan gum gives the best texture and mouth-feel overall, very creamy with no strange flavor. However, after 2, 3 hours of continuous churning in the machine, the soft serve lost its texture and becomes softer and less smooth; my guess is because Xanthan gum is shear-thinning but what worries me the most is that small fat droplets like butter started to form giving the soft serve a grainy texture.

Do I need to add an emulsifier to solve the fat droplet problem? If yes, what's emulsifier works best with soft serve?

Any recommendation on how to maintain the firm texture of my soft serve overtime?

I would really appreciate your valuable inputs. Cheers

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Comments

grant

Ill let Chris take this one.

Chris_Young_80640

@Nam_Bui Softserve ice cream is indeed a bit tricky to prepare from scratch. The formula for a good soft serve ice cream is critical. It should generally have a fat content between 4% and 12%. Lower and the ice cream will be very icy, higher and you'll get a very greasy soft serve.

The quantity of nonfat milk solids (the sugars and proteins, but not the fat, contributed by the dairy in the recipe) should 11% to 14%.

Sugar content should range from 13% to 15%. If you add more sugar, you'll have a product that isn't solid enough and melts too quickly because the sugar depresses the freezing point of the mix.

Stabilizers and emulsifiers are generally used at 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. For hydrocolloid stabilizers, you nearly always need to use a blend. A common blend is xanthan gum, locust bean gum, and kappa-carrageenan. Using just the xanthan or LBG alone will tend to cause the mix to separate as it sits.

A typical blend for a stabilizer is 0.015% kappa carragenan, 0.09% xanthan, and 0.09% LBG.

For emulsification, you can use egg yolks at around 0.6% to 1%. If you want truly egg free, then try 0.1% mono- and di-glycerides (often sold as glice from places like Modernist Pantry) and 0.03% polysorbate 80.

If the soft serve formula is still a bit wet, you can add about 0.1% of calcium sulfate to dry and stiffen the mixture.

So a typical rich soft serve formula might look like:

6% milkfat

13% nonfat milk solids

13% sugar

0.5% stabilizers and emulsifiers

So that the mix has about 32.5% total solids.

This might translate into

91g heavy cream, homogenized (35% fat)

702g whole milk, homogenized (4% fat)

65.6g nonfat skim milk powder

111g sugar

0.5g xanthan gum

0.5g locust bean gum

0.1g kappa carrageenan

8g egg yolk

infused flavors as desired.

Nam_Bui_19167

@ Chris, Thank you so much for a very detailed answer. I'll try your recipe and let you know:)

Tom_27737

Hi Chris,

Thanks so much for a really informative answer. We have recently started making our own soft serve in our cafe in Melbourne based on your suggestions above. We have a reasonably good vanilla base (although it's a little heavy and watery) and a good rasberry jam one (we combine the standard base with home made rasberry jam). We're wanting to get more creative with the flavours and combos and really make it a feature of our cafe. We're located at a inner city farm so there's thousands of kids that love ice cream. We also want to be able to make it from scratch in house.

I was wondering if you're interested in helping us as a consultant? It would be great to have someone who can help us develop a few recipes and help us to troubleshoot any problems. If you're interested let me know. I'm happy to pay and if it works well I'm sure we'll get some local press about the collaboration.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Tom

dhimmelfarb

Has anyone tried making beer soft serve ice cream?

emma_330613

Has anyone experimented with adding fruit puree (very finely strained) or other flavouring extracts to commercially sold liquid soft serve base? Our business has limited prep space and kitchen facilities and we are looking for something relatively easy and consistent to offer but with the option to customize the base with seasonal fruit flavours, etc. Any thoughts?

David_Coria_339714

I have a Froyo Shop and make both yogurt and Puree/Syrups from scratch. Same situation, with limited kitchen facility. Looking to try an Ice Cream recipe and that's how I stumbled on this page. But, at least with the yogurt, the puree or syrup can not be too thick. It makes a much thicker product and it will not travel through the air tube of your soft serve machine. This causes too much suction as product is dispensed and can damage your machine. Some fruits like strawberries are easier so use and make, while mangos are more difficult. But, it will need to be finely stained as you mentioned or it can clog up the air tube and prevent the flow of mix from the hopper to the freezing cylinder.

Porche_369020

Hi Chris-

Do you have a method for the soft serve formula that you can share? I've seen some references to cooking it and others don't cook the base.

Thanks for your help!

Nathaniel_Nguyen_370171

Chris,

I just came across this thread and was hoping you could help me understand how I can infuse or add various flavors. Strawberry or chocolate for example. Does this formulation allow for me to sub out something for Purees or cocoa powder or can I add to it without problems? Your response is appreciated!

Bryce_Licht_446903

@Chris_Young_80640 What do you recommend as a solid soft serve machine? Our goal is to create a high quality product above all else, so we're not looking to save money with excessive overrun. And would you suggest a gravity machine or a pump machine?

Kelly_Weiss_39520

I'm having an issue using Creme Anglais as a base in a a Taylor ice cream maker, it developed butter solids when aerating. An idea how to knock this down?

Noah_Kopito_1199469

@Chris_Young_80640 Hi Chris, thanks for breaking down a sample soft serve formula. I was wondering about the amounts of different ingredients by percentage - how are these calculated? when you say 13% sugar, is that 13% of the total final weight of the mix - as in the milk, the cream, the milk powder, the stabilizers and the sugar? or is it just 13% of the milk, cream and milk powder? Likewise for calculating the weight of stabilizer and emulsifier - is it standard to use .2% of the total weight (everything including sugar etc), or is it .2% of something else, like just the liquid ingredients, for example.

Any help would be appreciated,

Sincerely,

Noah