The Owners of Famed Bi-Rite Creamery Share How to Make Your Own Ice Cream at Home

Nothing says summertime like a scoop of ice cream on a warm night, but this year instead of running to your nearest grocery store in search of your favorite frozen treat, why not try making it yourself?

Kris Hoogerhyde and Anne Walker, owners of Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco, recently nabbed a notable distinction among ice cream makers - they were named one of the Top 10 ice cream spots in the United States by U.S. News and World Report. More importantly, they just released a new book, "Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones," which takes you step-by -step through making your own ice cream creations. We caught up with the masters to get the "scoop" on making the summertime treat!

Read the Recipe: This one may seem obvious, but Kris and Anne say people often forget to read the recipe all the way through before they get started. Most ice creams start with a custard base, but not all - so crack the cookbook before you start.

Don't Be Intimidated: If you've got the book, you're good to go. "I think it is the process of making the custard [that intimidates people]. Not all recipes use the egg yolk, but ours does. There is a great payoff to make it that way, and once you get that technique down you are golden and good to go," Anne says.

Choose Good Ingredients: "Choosing good quality stuff is going to help the flavors shine instead of mass produced [ice creams] that tastes the same regardless of what flavor you get," Kris shares. "It pays back so many times when you are using quality ingredients," Anne added. "Because you are using so few ingredients, it is such a great canvas to taste things. If you are using crap stuff, it is not going to taste good." The pair says it is worth an extra buck to get local, organic ingredients. They use local supplier, Straus Dairy because they say an amazing cream base creates a better final product.

Customize Your Cream: "When you start making [your own] you can make any flavor you want. You can totally customize it to your tastes. If you really like almonds instead of pecans in brown butter pecan, you can start tweaking it," Anne says. "You really have room to play."

Choose Seasonal Ingredients: Just like all baking and cooking it is best to use ingredients that are in season. Don't try and make strawberry ice cream in December. Instead look at what looks ripe at the farmer's market and go from there - the flavors will be brighter.

Don't Over Spin: Once you put your base into your ice cream maker, you can usually let the ice cream maker do the work. But, don't over spin it. If you let the ice cream spin for too long Anne says, "You go so far that you've churned… it is almost like butter…you have to dump it."

Transportation Tips: Want to be the belle of the barbecue? Bring your own ice cream! If you won't be able to refrigerate your ice cream, Kris says it is imperative to have a cooler with dry ice. "A container of ice cream on [regular] ice is going to do nothing. [The ice cream] is going to melt faster than the ice," she says. "If you have dry ice in a closed cooler, it will last 24 hours, if not longer. And it is really frozen!"

The Art of Scooping: "The ice cream scoops we use [at Bi-Rite] have anti-freeze in them and the heat from your hand kind of heats up the ice cream," Kris explains. "But you want a little bit of water so the ice cream will come off the scoop, but not too much so you don't make an ice crystal when you're scooping."

Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream Recipe:
To get your sweet tooth churning, Kris and Anne shared this recipe from "Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones" [$24.99] for Balsamic Strawberry Ice Cream (note: you need an ice cream maker to complete this recipe.)

For the Strawberry Puree:
1 ½ pints strawberries (3 cups) preferably organic; hulled and halved or quartered
2 ½ tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

For the Base:
5 large egg yolks
½ cup sugar
1 ¾ cups heavy cream
¾ cup 1% or 2% milk
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Cook the Berries:
1. Combine the berries with the 2 ½ tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar in a large nonreactive skillet. Put the skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the strawberries are soft and the liquid they release has reduced somewhat, 6 to 8 minutes.
2. Let cool slightly, then transfer the berries and their juice to a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth and refrigerate until ready to use.

Make the Base:
3. In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the yolks just to break them up, then whisk in half of sugar (1/4 cup). Set aside.
4. In a heavy nonreactive saucepan, stir together the cream, milk, salt, and the remaining sugar (1/4 cup) and put the pan over medium-high heat. When the mixture approaches a bare simmer, reduce the heat to medium.
5. Carefully scoop out about ½ cup of the hot cream mixture and, whisking the eggs constantly, add the cream to the bowl with the egg yolks. Repeat, adding another ½ cup of the hot cream to the bowl with the yolks. Using a heatproof rubber spatula, stir the cream in the saucepan as you slowly pour the egg-and-cream mixture from the bowl into the pan.
6. Cook the mixture carefully over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it is thickened, coats the back of the spatula, and holds a clear path when you run your finger across the spatula, 1 to 2 minutes longer.
7. Strain the base through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean container. Set the container into an ice-water bath, wash your spatula, and use it to stir the base occasionally until it is cool. Remove from the ice-water bath, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate the base for at least 2hours or overnight.

Freeze the Ice Cream:
8. Whisk the strawberry puree and the remaining 2 teaspoons of vinegar into the chilled base.
9. Freeze in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. While the ice cream is churning, put the container you'll use to store the ice cream into the freezer. Enjoy right away or, for a firmer ice cream, transfer to the chilled container and freeze for at least 4 hours.