The real reason you should use a stand mixer isn’t convenience

It’s not a secret i love my stand mixerAnd it plays a role in the vast majority of my cookies, cakes and Frosting Recipe.

But when I talk about how important a stand mixer is for baking, people usually respond with something like, “Well, how did they do that in the old days?” And the answer is that they didn’t. Many bakers don’t realize that using a stand mixer is not a substitute for convenience; I use a stand mixer in these recipes because it’s better suited for the job than mixing by hand (or with a hand mixer). Besides the fact that the stand mixer itself is over 100 years old, making it the basis for modern recipe development, desserts made before that era were radically different from the desserts we make today and required a lot of hand preparation. were better suited for. The advent of high-powered mechanical mixers has allowed new techniques and ingredient ratios to create the desserts we know and love today.

best stand mixer

A Brief History of Mixing

Modern American layer cakes are a great example of this; Before mechanical mixing, Americans made cakes like Old World bakers: sponge cakes made from egg whites and yolks were whipped separately by hand, then mixed with fat and flour at the end. These were then finished with a simple meringue frosting or, possibly, a little unsweetened whipped cream (both of which are easy enough to whip by hand).

But with the unique capabilities of a mechanical mixer, bakers began developing recipes with higher proportions of butter instead, eventually bringing us to the rich style of cakes and frostings we find in American bakeries today. These buttery styles of cakes and frostings didn’t exist when preparing something by hand was the only option.

Obviously, there’s more to the story than that, but suffice it to say for now that the stand mixer has given way to its own style of baking – a style that holds particular personal interest for me. This is due in part to my culinary school training as well as my own background in commercial bakeries and restaurants. I’m not here to say that owning a stand mixer is essential for all bakers – in fact, by a long shot. Inactivity can cause problems As for the KitchenAid model – only that it’s pretty much essential to the style of baking I focus on in my work.

How do stand mixers work

The most important thing that a stand mixer offers is not convenience; This is power.

Thanks to their strong motors, stand mixer Butter can be worked with at temperatures much lower than a person can make by hand, even with a hand mixer (attempting to beat 65°F butter with a butter do) Hand mixer instead of stand mixerAnd you’ll just see bits of fat flying out of the bowl). With that power, the wide, flat paddle attachment can rapidly beat relatively cold butter with sugar, working it into an airy matrix of fat, air, and sugar crystals.

This is an essential aspect of the creaming method, as butter loses its ability to aerate when heated, meaning that butter creamed at a temperature suitable for working by hand (or with a hand mixer) will never become fluffy. Or it won’t be light. The smaller volume of batter and dough produced by hot butter causes lower yield (because aeration physically increases the amount of space the batter or dough occupies) as well as lower rise, leading to heavier cakes and flat cakes. Cookies are made. So if you’ve ever had trouble with flat cookies, the poor creaming action of a hand mixer may be to blame.

For more information please see our detailed description Technical process involved in creaming method,

Beyond its power to work with relatively cold and hard butter, the action of a stand mixer’s paddle attachment is unique; It is a single paddle that is wide and flat, capable of cutting, rubbing, smearing, spreading and turning.

While both a stand mixer And while a hand mixer can incorporate butter and sugar, a stand mixer’s paddle gets way more volume, while maintaining a lower temperature for the ingredients (in turn, keeping my cookie dough thick and easy to handle. , not sticky, and holds my cake) The colder the batter, the better at retaining air for an even rise).

Because of their powerful motors, stand mixers are able to beat whole eggs straight from the fridge, without the need to separate the whites and yolks or bring them to room temperature first. even if i’m making Glazed Chocolate Brownies or crack free jelly RollWorking with cold eggs helps ensure a more stable foam for baked goods.

Again, this allows for techniques that were not possible in the olden days. In the 1800s, a baker had to separate the whites from the yolks and whip each one himself to make something like this. Chocolate Sponge CakeBut a stand mixer has the sheer power to whip cold, whole eggs into a stable foam.

So for bakers who consistently experience low rise with sponge cakes or find that foam-egg brownies always seem raw or dense or that Swiss meringue always seems too heavy and buttery, the problem may well be solved with a lower-powered one. Can be a hand mixer.

So what’s the best mixer, you ask? I have written All about my love for the six-quart KitchenAid Pro,

questions to ask

Which is the best stand mixer?

We’re big fans of the KitchenAid Pro Stand Mixer, but also recommend Wolf, KitchenAid, and other models. AnkarsrumYou can read our full review stand mixer here,

Does KitchenAid make the best stand mixer?

Well, two of our top four stand mixer picks Made by KitchenAid. You can read a more detailed comparison of (almost) all KitchenAid Stand Mixer Here,