The Fresh Loaf

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Got a new SP5 Spiral Mixer - Any tips or best practices?

dantortorici's picture
dantortorici

Got a new SP5 Spiral Mixer - Any tips or best practices?

Just got a SP5 Spiral Mixer from TMB. Will try it out this weekend.

Was wondering if other SP5 owners have some tips or best practices for using it. What advice would you give?

What is the biggest size batch of dough you have made in this?

What is your method for cleaning it?

Thx,

Dan

Wood-fired oven baker

Yippee's picture
Yippee

I keep a water bottle handy and spray it between batches to keep the scraps from drying.  Scrape with a firm, sturdy spatula, and wipe clean with paper towels.

The MINIMUM final dough weight I've tried was around 1000g at 68% hydration. For wetter dough, apply double hydration method.  Maybe other users can direct you to the maximum capacity of this machine.

Yippee

CanuckJim's picture
CanuckJim

The maximum flour (not dough) capacity is stated as eight pounds.  In practice, however, I find that weight to be way too messy at start up.  I keep it to around six pounds.  Or, if using metric, I can make enough dough for twenty-four 210 gram 65 per cent pizza balls in one go.

This machine is a horse, doesn't blink at dry bagel dough.  You're gonna like it.

If you're using Hamelman's final dough temp method from Bread, I've found over time that the friction factor is 26.

CJ

dantortorici's picture
dantortorici

I did 8 lbs of Greenstein's Rye with it this weekend and it performed like a champ. Looks like I could do 10lbs as it didn't fill the bowl. The machine didnt even break a sweat - no hopping around like my Kitchenaid.

Thanks Yippee for the tip about keeping the bowl wet till you clean it.

This recipe calls for mixing till it climbs the beater but with this type of mixer it doesn't do that. Not sure what to look for with this dough otherwise.

CJ - thanks for the info on friction factor and your experience with big batches.

Will do a 10lb batch of Semolina bread next week.

dantortorici's picture
dantortorici

So having used the SP5 a few times it seems that there are a few things that are more difficult, primarily due to the non-removable bowl.

Poolish, for example, is a challenge to get out of the bowl. 

Although I am getting better, it seems that even getting a good fully developed dough out of the bowl is challenging.

Another challenge is knowing when enough is enough as the dough will not 'climb the beater'. I guess windowpane is the best way to test.

Any other suggestions out there?

thx

Dan