Matcha or Hojicha Ice Cream

Matcha/Hojicha forward ice cream. Milkfat is around 14% to be rich, but low enough to still allow the clean matcha taste to come through. Sweetness percentage is higher compared to my other ice cream bases to balance out the intensity of the matcha.

1. Make a mixture of sugar, dextrose, and skim milk powder.
2. Add to the pot with milk, cream, corn syrup, salt (1/8th to 1/4th tsp, just a pinch to enhance flavors) and bring to a gentle simmer. ~80C/176 F.

Optional step for a jasmine matcha (from hwoo.lee): steep jasmine tea balls (I used about 10 grams worth of tea pearls) into the mixture for ~10 minutes. Taste the base to make sure you don't start to extract too much of the tannins. Stay between 80-85C/176-185F. Strain out the tea leaves and reserve on the side. OPTIONAL: placed the spent jasmine tea leaves back into the base and let it steep overnight. I strained the tea leaves in the morning, but let the base mature in the fridge and churned it when I came home from work.

3. Blend in your matcha powder with a stick blender while near 70-80C/160-175F for the best flavor. A stick blender will work much better than a whisk, but you can whisk a small portion with base and add it in.
4. Strain the mixture for clumps and cool the base in an ice bath until around 104F and stick blend in the guar gum.
5. Continue in ice bath to room temp and transfer to fridge to chill for 5-24 hours. The important part is to get the ice cream base to at least 39-40 deg F so the ice cream can freeze/churn rapidly.