Before the doors open, the mochi starts.
Glutinous rice flour - not regular rice flour, not wheat. The starch structure is different. It is what gives mochi its stretch, its soft resistance, the way it pulls apart slowly instead of breaking. Mixed with sugar and a little cornstarch, whisked with whole milk and a touch of oil into a loose batter, then steamed. Not baked. Steaming is what transforms it - the starches fully gelatinize, and the wet batter becomes something elastic and workable.
This is where the ice cream does something useful. The cold filling cools the mochi from the inside as it wraps around it. The result is soft but clean to hold - a thin exterior that gives way easily when you bite in, without the stickiness you might expect from dough.
The dough is made in our kitchen and every piece is wrapped by hand around the ice cream when you order it. No machinery for the wrapping. The seal at the base of each piece was pressed by hand. The slight variation in shape from piece to piece is how you know.
It yields instead of resisting. The texture changes quickly after it is made.