January 29, 2011 - 1:39pm
Stand Mixer questions
hey Guys!!
I am considering buying a stand mixer there is a good deal on a KA 4KG25H3XOB for 269 here in Toronto. My question is, does the mixer do it better than by hand (mixing a kneading) os is it just faster? I am just starting to make bread so I am not sure if this is a good purchase or not... I already have a KA food processot with a dough blade, is that just as effective? It seems pretty violent!
Thoughts?
-D
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It depends on what kind of bread you want to make. A relatively wet sourdough can be made by hand with the stretch and fold method and barely no mixing at all and will benefit from the gentle handling. A stiff bagel dough is pretty hard to mix by hand but is doable if you have the deltoids and pecs to do it, easier/faster in the machine. if you want to make brioche, you pretty much need a stand mixer to beat in all of the butter bit by bit. Also, for other things, like cakes and meringues, you need this mixer for best results. Just my opinion, bearing in mind that I've never met a kitchen gadget that I didn't need for something. I've got two kitchenaid mixers both the tilt top and the lift models. I love them both and I'll have them forever.
-P.
You can always make the specialty doughs by hand if needed, but for most breads a dough hook is wonderful because it turns a 10 minute hand knead into a 3-5 minute wait for a machine to do all the work. Be sure to weigh your flour for consistency and you'll find that experimenting is much easier with a good mixer. i'd recommend a spiral dough hook over the C hook if possible.
After destroying my KA600 from making bagel dough for farmer's market, I got a 10 qt Anvil mixer and love it even more.
Interestingly,Cooks Illustrated recently tested food processors and found the regular blade better for dough than the "dough blade" regardless of model.All I've made in mine are biscuits and pie crusr,so I have no personal experience other than that.I always use the steel blade and it works fine.
For bread I love the KA,works great,and have a number of attatchments that only increase it's value to me.