August 10, 2014 - 8:38am
Artofex diving arm mixers.
Diving arm mixers, from what I've read, tend to be slower at kneading, but don't heat dough up as much as other styles of mixers can. They also tend to come in really, really massive sizes, a small one will still have a 80kg capacity.
I've kinda got the urge to buy/build one.
Link below is a small almost home size replica.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNG-3jxmOdY
Someone tried building one, but posts sorta fizzled out towards the end.
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=13913.0
An Artofex PH0 would basically be perfect, but they're really rare and I'd assume absurdly expensive.
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These are the best mechanical mixers ever designed. As you say they don't heat up the dough like other mixers do and they provide the perfect a degree of oxygenation. They are massive because they are made only for commercial use. Polin amongst other make this style of mixer. Smallest they have is 50Kg capacity. However in recent times a company called Bernadi has actually made one for domestic use - Miss Baker and Miss Bake Pro.
EDIT: The mixer in the video you linked to is the Miss Baker!
As a baker I'm in a grey area in-between consumer grade, and professional. I've upgraded to the point of making 6 kg of bread, and a batch of buns or smaller batch of something specialty per session.
My A200 (After service) has been a good mixer so far, but I was over mixing when I first started using it for bread, the results lacked flavourless. After I deduced the my mistake and corrected, bread was good again, but I wonder if there is a better way out there. For a commercial baker time = money, and a planetary mixer is a time saving tool. Diving arm mixers are a slower tool, and I wonder if they are better suited to artisan baking.
I looked into Miss Bakers, unfortunately the only ones I've been able to find are European voltage, a bit small for my style, and probably a lot more than I'd be willing to spend on a undersize mixer, but you've gotta admit that they are neat.
Maybe the problem isn't that mixers are too small... It's that I need to scale up production to need a bigger mixer :-p
There is Miss Baker Chef and Miss Baker Pro. One wonders if pleasanthillgrain could get these and if so, what the price would be.
Both models require 230V.
I found a place out of New Zealand that sells the 5 speed version of the Miss Baker, and was quoted roughly $3200 USD, no idea if they could/would ship.
I really dig the Artofex mixers and live only a 45 min. drive away from the manufacturer, but for me they are also simply too big. About six years ago, a one armed bandit came into my life, also a gentle machine and well suited for artisan doughs. It's a German made Diosna, quite a rare bird, dates back to the mid sixties, it's a lab/test bakery model of the machines widely used commercially before the spiral mixers put them out of work. This is a two speed model, I have two bowl sizes which gives me a range of use from 500g. to 3kg. of flour. (this machine is NOT for sale)
Anyway, i thought that fans of old mixers might like to see it in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0K0r258yFA
photos &info here
Nice Machine, very gentle, watched the Video.
I do this kind of action manually when I make SD Artisan Bread, I turn the bowl and fold the dough from the outside to the centre:)
I was also looking at the one arm style, and was wondering how they would compare to twin arm mixers.
How well does your mixer work on various types of dough?
I've seen the Artefex in action, but have yet to have the pleasure of working with one.
I have worked though with several sizes of one armed (hub-mixers), Diosnas and Kempers. One big reason as to why they fell out of use is that unless the dough size is well matched to the bowl size, the dough tends to attach itself to the walls instead of actualy mixing, this time loss is a problem when one has several doughs to mix one after the other. This is easily remedied though by simply staying close to the mixer and using a scaper to free it up as needed. Spiral mixers are much faster and one can also mix a tiny dough in a huge bowl, this is probably the central reason as why the onearmed bandits fell out of busy commercial usage. This also makes for interesting deals on old mixers.
I'm of the opinion that hub mixers, with their slow&gentle action, are very good for artisan breads and have used them plenty for rye breads, mixed grain, and slack white doughs. All the machines i've used, including the tiny one I now have, have been very well built and could no doubt also be used for stiff bagel doughs.
cheers
daniel
I kinda assumed that the reason arm mixers fell out of fashion was time, in a commercial environment time = money. If a spiral can get 90% of the effect of an arm mixer, but in half the time, bakers chose them.
Having said that I'd really like to see a scientific test of a range of dough hydrations, mixed in different sized batches and styles of mixer, planetary, spiral, diving arm. Even the same dough, but mixed in a 80qt hobart vs. A 5 qt kitchenaid probably has some minor subtile changes.
I'd second that opinion. Baking as a hobby is a world apart from a commercial environment. We have the option of using the best tools, use techniques that would never make money selling the finished product, but give unmatched results.
Is there an access panel on your machine? I'm kinda curious if what the actual mechanical pieces look like to give the folding action to the paddle.
I like my Hobart A200, but it's a general purpose machine in that it does several things well enough (mix doughs and batters, all the way up to whipping egg whites) But sometimes you want a machine that only does one thing, but does it perfectly.
I watched the Video but I do not like the action of those 2 Arms, to me they seem to be ripping the dough more than fold them.
I wonder if that has to do with machine size.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z996knrq1Rk
Starts off rough, but finishes smoother.
Early Artofex mixers was designed to raise up the "mixing arm" (ie right arm looking like to a fork), letting the "kneading arm" (left arm) working alone and then mimic the Diosna movement, offering to the baker the possibility to choose the best kneading action for its job :
Note also that several mixing arms existed, There was the simple model which looks like a golf-putter, but on this example the kneading arm owms a "loop" which intensifies gluten development, and a "heel" which scrapes the bowl down in order to get sticked dough back to the mass. Kneading quality also depends of the clearance between left arm and the bowl, the smallest clearance possible is required :
As far as I know, all this "details" haven't inspired actual diving arms production, and the models available in the market looks less efficient.
Are there some types of dough that are better mixed with two arms, and likewise, some types of bread that only like being mixed with one arm?
I could have sworn that I read somewhere online that a baker would start off with two arms, then switch to one to finish the dough, but don't quote me on that.
From another post, you mention that you have an Artofex; how much clearance is there between the bowl and arm?
If you read the french language then I may post the original instructions which explain how to use this machine in its original context (about 1 century ago).
About clearance : the kneading arm moves very close to the bowl and its clearance is quitte imperceptible ... many thanks to the Swiss-precision design ;-)
Large Double Arm Mixers on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3vvtS2XhT4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXLw1y32GoE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTFJIgNE334
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwML2n0WVMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHGiioQyxCg
Looks like the baker raises one arm part way through mixing.