While shiny stand mixers have their place in the kitchen, your hands are sometimes the best equipment! The difficult part is determining when you should use an electric hand or stand mixer and when you’re better off relying on old-fashioned elbow grease.
Depending on what you’re making, your production schedule, and your personal pastry style, each method can have major advantages. Follow these tips to ensure you make the right call the next time you’re combining ingredients.
When to Use an Electric Stand Mixer
Stand mixers are powerful, versatile, and efficient tools. That said, the best tools are only helpful if you know how to use them! That’s why students in professional baking & pastry programs practice using stand mixers to create everything from pate au choux to buttercream frosting to bagels.
When you use a stand mixer properly, you’ll find this tool can allow you to uniformly mix ingredients. It can also let you multitask more efficiently—and all great pastry chefs know that proper time management is key to a smoothly-running kitchen. While the machine brings ingredients together, you can focus on other tasks. Plus, many stand mixers also have handy features like timers or automatic stops.
By using the provided bowl and attachments like a paddle, whisk, and hook, you can prepare a wide variety of mixtures. However, it’s important to choose the proper attachment for each task.
Use the Hook Attachment for Thick Doughs
The hook is all about kneading thick doughs, whether you’re aiming to make a rich brioche, a whole wheat boule, or a batch of pasta. While sticky dough will easily cling to a paddle attachment and even cause the mixer to overheat, the hook is specifically designed to stand up to these sturdy doughs.
When to Use an Electric Stand Mixer
A hand mixer is often preferable to a stand mixer when it comes to lighter-duty tasks or when you are only mixing a small portion. Plus, it’s easy to use a compact hand mixer in bowls of different sizes, instead of using the one provided with a stand mixer.
You should tighten the hinge if the head wiggles.
The metal pin where the hinge connects the head of the mixer to the body can start to shift and sometimes pop out, making the head loose and wobbly when the mixer is running. Just take the bowl off the mixer, turn the mixer onto its side, and tighten the screw that connects to the pin with a screwdriver.
What’s the best stand mixer speed?
- Stirring / Starting to Mix Dry & Wet Ingredients
Speed: 1–2 (Low)
Prevents splashing & flour clouds
Good for folding ingredients, adding liquids, shredding cooked chicken
- Light Mixing / Creaming Butter & Sugar
Speed: 3–4 (Medium-Low)
Ideal for creaming butter
Mixing cookie dough
Combining cake batter without over-mixing
- Whipping / Aeration
Speed: 5–6 (Medium-High)
Whipping cream
Meringue
Fluffy frosting
(Too high can create bubbles that collapse.)
- Kneading Dough
Speed: 2 ONLY
Dough hook is designed for low torque
Using medium or high speed can damage the mixer gears
clean your stand mixer
When you’re finished using the stand mixer, you’re ready to begin cleaning up. With dishwasher-safe bowls and accessories available, it’s an easy step to complete! Follow these tips to properly clean your stand mixer and accessories:
- Make sure your stand mixer is unplugged before you begin cleaning.
- The coated flat beater, dough hook, and mixing bowl may be washed in an automatic dishwasher or you can hand wash in hot, sudsy water. All wire whips should be hand washed and dried immediately. Do not place them in the dishwasher.
- Wipe down your stand mixer with a warm, damp cloth. Do not use household or commercial cleaners. Wipe the base, beater shaft and mixer head. Do not immerse in water or get water into gears, ventilation ports or openings of any kind.
- Make sure your stand mixer, bowl, attachments and accessories are completely dry before putting away.
Comparison and Review
- Comparing and reviewing different juicers can help you make an informed decision.
- Consider factors like price, features, and performance when comparing juicers.
- Look for reviews from multiple sources, including online marketplaces and specialty food stores.
- Take into account the pros and cons of each juicer and consider your specific needs and preferences.
