Getting started w/Precision Mixer AV-02
Oh, I'm just a humble baker, baking my breads from home for the farmers' market, mixing my 100+ loaves a week by hand. And this morning, out of the blue, I got from my friends this most awesomest and most usefullest Christmas present ever: a spanking new Precision Mixer AV-02, the biggest size you can use at home without running a special electric line. This was so absolutely unexpected, and I felt so undeserving and so loved that I cried, honestly I did. Now, having properly thanked my friends, having cried all I needed to, and having named my new machine Demeter (and, by the way, she can also grind meat, make sausage AND chop and shred all kinds of stuff!), I feel that I need to spend time learning to put it to good use, not just learn to put it together.
I understand that one of the primary dangers of using a commercial mixer is the risk of overmixing and overkneading my dough. I searched but couldn't find where I should get started learning to use the beauty I was just given. Are there any textbooks, manuals or rules of thumb that I should study before I murder any dough? I understand that everyone here is really busy, especially this time a year, but would still very much appreciate being pointed in the right direction, whenever someone knowledgeable could spare some time. I would just like to start experimenting, but I do realize that simply looking carefully at the dough may not necessarily save me from overkneading it. And I love my dough so much that I'd like to avoid wasting it as much as possible.
I work with commercial-yeasted doughs, if it makes any difference.
Thank you all so much in advance,
Nika aka Breadnik
Wow - that's quite a mixer!
Assuming that the AV-02's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd speeds are the industry standard rpms (whatever those are), then Hamelman's _Bread_ gives hte mixing times at those speeds for a wide variety of recipes. You could use those as guidelines.
sPh
Wow! Now THAT'S a mixer. Congrats and enjoy.
BH
Thank you! Yes, it is a huge piece of equipment, basically a spoof off of Hobart a200, which I was dreaming about. Even after two days of having it in my kitchen, and after trying it briefly last night to mix a small batch of dough and whip a gallon of pastry cream, I still have trouble believing it's mine.
Thank you. I got the basic idea of times/procedures from DiMuzio's "Bread Baking: An Artisan's Perspective". I'm afraid the rest might have to be a lot of trial and error. Oh, and I'll have to branch out into the sausage-making world. Just wondering if there's thefreshsausage.com? ;)