How much overrun do I get with a compressorless home ice cream machine?

Question

I started making my own ice cream this year. While the French type works quite well, I've been having trouble with American and Gelato types.

I don't have an ice cream machine. I freeze small portions of icecream on a prefrozen wide porcelain plate. While a pinch of xanthan keeps the result reasonably smooth, the texture isn't great. It melts almost instantly, and when melted, it is as liquid as it was before - it turns to sweetened milk in my mouth even before I have swallowed it.

So while I prefer denser ice cream, I think that some recipes were created with a lot of overrun in mind. I thought of trying the Serious eats idea and creating the overrun after the freezing. But first, I don't have a food processor, and don't think an immersion blender will be good enough. Second, it will melt while I am blending.

I don't want to pay the money and simply don't have the space for a gelateria style ice cream machine with a compressor. I was wondering if the prefrozen churner type machines will help with my problem.

1. How much overrun do they produce with a typical ice cream recipe (say 2/3 3.6%, 1/3 30% cream)?
2. Does the texture suffer from the same problems (instant melting)?

Edit Overrun is measured in percent. If 500 ml of mixture go into the machine and out come 750 ml of ice cream, this is 50% overrun (the air volume in the ice cream is 50% of the ice cream base volume).

Answer 1

Cooks Illustrated reviewed and measured overrun in a bunch of ice cream makers: http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment/results.asp?docid=25989

Most were 20–30%, with the exception of one that attached to a stand mixer, which had an astonishing 80%, and one which completely failed (3%). Most are compressorless models costing under $100.

So, if you're going for around for 20-30%, a pre-frozen churner can do that.

(Note: you have to pull up the details of each model to see the overrun percentage, it's not in the recommendation summary table).

Answer 2

I have a 1.5 qt cuisinart prefrozen-bowl style ice cream maker.

I haven't measured it specifically but eyeballing it I would say that my overrun is 50-75%. I know that is a wide range but it seems to change depending on recipe, additions, and how long I let it churn.

My ice cream maker has performed well for 3 years now and I recommend it.

I suspect your instant melting problem may be because you are freezing the mixture on a flat surface it has too much surface area when you scrape it off. The serious eats experiment used ice cube trays which would help reduce this problem.

Personally I haven't done experiments to try and reduce overrun because I like overrun. The air gives a nice buffer that makes the product melt more slowly, gives a smoother texture, and makes it easier to taste added flavors.

It also makes the ice cream less rich so I can eat more of it.

Answer 3

I have no idea how overrun is measured, but from my experience the churner type machines do not move fast enough to whip much air into the mixture. I have owned two cheap ones (no-name brands) and I think they moved at similar speeds (slow). But the ice cream does not melt instantly like you say yours does. One way to slow down the melting process is to freeze the serving bowls for 30 minutes or so before serving the ice cream.

Answer 4

My advice is to get the frozen bowl attachment set for the basic kitchen aid stand mixer (link). The mixers have a godawful amount of power to burn and multiple speed settings, so you don't have the issue with the all-in-one machines that are geared for ice cream alone.