Breville Smart Scoop Ice Cream Maker, Silver

Update:
I’ve made about 50 quarts since my first review. I still love this machine! Here’s one thing to keep in mind:
Just like any other device with a compressor, there is a time delay before the compressor turns on, in order to bleed off the gas pressure. This takes off a lot of strain, making it easier to start up. If you watch the thermometer you say “what’s up here, the temperature is going Up.”. Don’t worry, this is absolute normal. The Compresser is just resting. In a few minutes, you’ll hear it turn back on and start cooling again.

To improve efficiency I bought a second bowl and beater (included with bowl) from the manufacturer’s web site. This improved time between batches by about 15 minutes. Place second bowl with mix in your freezer while processing first bowl.

OK…. I just opened the box today… Couldn’t wait, got to try it.

I currently own a few of the machines Where you throw the bowls into the freezer overnight. They work, but the problem is that the bowl starts warming up right after you take it out and start using it. After 45 minutes the temperature increases quite a bit.

Using this machine, the bowl, along with the mix gets cooler and cooler as the process continues. Believe me, this seems to make a huge difference with the final result.

My wife wanted to follow the recipes included and cooked up a batch. We cooled it, added mashed strawberries, and pushed the AUTO button, and set the hardness to the mi d “Ice Cream” setting. About 45 minutes later, the best Strawberry ice cream, EVER! The constiency (looseness) was about the same as with the machines previously described. However, the “fluffiness” was much better.

Second batch from a box of Chochlate Mix. This mix makes only 1 quart. The machine holds 1 1/2 quarts. I set the hardness to max. During the process, I added toasted almonds and some hazelnut stuff. I’ll say that although the batch tasted great, the fact that I only made a quart caused some inefficiency in the process. I’ll use a box and a half next time. The max hardness setting makes a much better mix.

What I really like about this guy is that it seems to whip a lot of air into the mix towards the end of the process. The volume of the batch increases by 10 or 15% during the last 10 minutes. That makes for a great result. The machine is rather quiet, but makes a bit more noise as the batch becomes harder.

DRAWBACK. I’m going to gain 10 pounds.

Works surprisingly well. The compressor does a good job cooling down the chamber, going to a maximum of -40C, with an average of -32C while churning the ice cream. It’s easy to clean, easy to add mix-ins, and tends to yield batches with good texture. The provided blade, while made of plastic (that doesn’t touch the sides of the bucket), actually works quite well and is sturdier than it seems. The provided spatula is the right tool for extracting the ice cream once it’s ready, since it’s an odd shape to dig out of with a typical spatula. The bucket that the liquid mixture is churned in is a good design that prevents leaks into its containing chamber (which could damage the machine). The machine does make noise, but not too much (I was worried about this since I’m usually more sensitive to noise than most) — it’s quieter than a popcorn machine, food processor, or stand mixer, and much quieter than a blender. The motor (and not the compressor) produces the most noise, especially towards the as it strains to turn the blade through the near-frozen mixture, but it’s a low-pitched growl and not a screaming holler — no trouble staying in the same room or watching TV fifteen feet away.

To get the best results, here’s what I’ve discovered:
– Pre-cool your ice cream mixture in the fridge.
– Pre-cool the machine until it dings, but no longer, helps — if left to pre-cool too long, the compressor turns off at about -40C and will not resume until several minutes into the churning (when it warms up), which makes it take longer.
– Don’t fill it too full (i.e. make batches of about 1-1.25L (frozen), not the full 1.5L capacity). Filling it 2/3 with the liquid ice cream mixture is ideal; too much and it takes forever to churn while also yielding a poorer texture and less-frozen result, and too little and the mixture will be pushed around in a circle by the blade without actually churning (inefficient). Fortunately, it’s trivial to do multiple batches back to back, requiring just a little rinse of things in-between.
– Add the mix-ins a little before it tells you too; after a few batches you’ll start to recognize when it’s at the right texture. The progress bar is very non-linear, taking a long time to initially cool down at the start and getting stiff very quickly near the end.
– Whip the ice cream mixture in a stand mixture for a couple minutes before pouring into the ice cream maker: this incorporates more air, which makes a fluffier, more scoopable ice cream with a great texture. Be careful not to over-whip, since this can cause the mixture to start churning out butter in the machine.
– Use a tablespoon of tapioca starch or other thickener (e.g. 1/8 tsp xanthan gum), possibly along with a tablespoon of distilled grain alcohol, in your recipe to avoid ice cream that’s a solid block after being put in the freezer.

It arrived on its side, so I left it upright for a few days before attempting to turn it on (to allow the oil in the compressor to settle).

My only real complaint is that it takes a lot of counterspace in my kitchen (I’ll probably keep it in the box most of the time). That, and I’m running out of freezer space.

Was eyeing this for months and finally bought it on sale (thanks Prime Day!). Overall, this was a good buy for someone who likes to make desserts 🙂

Since I purchased this product more than 2 years ago, I have used it at least every week for both ice cream and gelato. It does take many many tries to fine tune the perfect recipe. Gelato has now become the favourite over ice cream as it does not get as hard and has more flavour. After a few practice batches you can figure out what amount of ingredients work the best. It is a great work horse. It is quite messy getting the frozen product out from the canister. The thing you need to consider is that the machine can only make one batch and then it needs to dry out which takes at least an hour before you can make a second batch. Once a batch is finished the frozen canister will create condensation that adheres to the interior walls of the machine. Because the walls are still super cold, no amount of wiping will get rid of the condensation. The interior of the machine needs time to go back to room temperature and therefore have dry walls. With the frozen condensation the machine will not churn the ice cream. This is the only flaw I found with this Breville.

Muy práctico para hacer helados