I got a new mixer yesterday that I've had my eye on for awhile. It's a spiral mixer that specializes in bread dough. It is a 66 pound beast, but in the short time I've had it is a joy to use.



I wanted to start out with a few recipes I've made often so I could compare the results to my kitchenaid mixer. Started out with my bagel dough. The dough came out of the mixer beautifully smooth.  After baking I could tell as soon as I picked one up that they were different. Much lighter and fluffier than normal.



I also have about 4 loaves worth of honey wheat bread rising at the moment.

Here it is next to a standard kitchenaid mixer for size comparison.

look great

send me 2 dozen jalapeno cheddar bagels

look great

send me 2 dozen jalapeno cheddar bagels

I absolutely would if I could get them there economically before they were stale. Pretty much have to freeze the day of making, or they just aren't the same.

Nice Christmas present for yourself. 
The Famag is a beefy unit.
Can't wait to see how it does with pizza.

Bagels look great!  I need to make some again.

P.S. - Love your granite on the island.

FMT, why do you tease people?
I say quit your day job, wow!

That is a nice looking unit!

I sure could use one of those since I've started baking bread to kill the extra time that I have due to the virus. I've done banana nut, whole wheat and dinner rolls. This morning it was baguette rolls.

Nice Christmas present for yourself. 
The Famag is a beefy unit.
Can't wait to see how it does with pizza.

Bagels look great!  I need to make some again.

P.S. - Love your granite on the island.

I'm sure I will be doing pizza this week or next weekend. It was the primary reason I bought it. Thanks on the granite comment. 

FMT, why do you tease people?
I say quit your day job, wow!

Too kind. I've always thrown around opening a wood fired pizza place. Maybe someday. 

That is a nice looking unit!

It is pretty nice looking I think. They make 10 different colors. The dark blue spoke to me for whatever reason.

I sure could use one of those since I've started baking bread to kill the extra time that I have due to the virus. I've done banana nut, whole wheat and dinner rolls. This morning it was baguette rolls.

I've made bread off and on for years. Pizza pretty much two or three times a month for 15 years or so. I have a feeling that I will be wondering why I didn't get this sooner. We just had the virus run through our house. My wife had the roughest time with it. Pretty much bed/couch ridden for 2 and a half weeks. No fun. I made it 12 of the 14 days without getting it, then got sick. Mine was only bad for a day or two. We still don't have all of our taste back though. 

Will you use that mixer to make homemade pasta dough too?

Any of you bakers make English muffins?

Will you use that mixer to make homemade pasta dough too?

Any of you bakers make English muffins?

I certainly plan to make pasta with it. Its supposed to handle it ok, but we'll see. Pasta dough is super stiff, and I'll definitely be impressed if this handles it well.

I've always wanted to try english muffins but haven't yet. I have a couple recipes saved when I do. Maybe I'll give those a go next weekend.

Hi FMT,

That sure is a nice looking mixer.

Since I started baking sourdough breads about 3 years age I’ve gone the opposite way, from using a spiral dough hook Kitchen Aid to doing everything by hand. The one exception are rye breads that are just too sticky to mix by hand.

Right now as I sit here typing this, I am waiting for my new toy, a Mockmill 200 grain mill and 25+ pounds of heirloom wheat and rye berries.

We do love our toys, don’t we.

Keith

Hi FMT,

That sure is a nice looking mixer.

Since I started baking sourdough breads about 3 years age I’ve gone the opposite way, from using a spiral dough hook Kitchen Aid to doing everything by hand. The one exception are rye breads that are just too sticky to mix by hand.

Right now as I sit here typing this, I am waiting for my new toy, a Mockmill 200 grain mill and 25+ pounds of heirloom wheat and rye berries.

We do love our toys, don’t we.

Keith

I don't do a ton of the sour dough and rustic type breads. When I do though, I'm pretty happy with my results with the kitchenaid and hand mixing, or even no knead. That type of bread seems to be moving in that direction. Less mixing, longer fermentation, etc which negates some of the need to knead.

I actually prefer to make the lower hydration doughs, which require much more work by hand to get the structure to be bakery quality. I certainly can do it by hand, but it's a ton of time and effort. I like my pizza dough at about 58% hydration as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what this does (if anything) with my pizza dough.

The expectation with purchasing this was to improve the quality of my dough, as well as mixing capacity. I'll be slightly disappointed (and surprised) if is doesn't improve the quality, but I gained a ton of real estate even if the dough quality stayed the same.

Good luck with the grain mill. I haven't ventured down that road, but have considered it. I got the mixer at Pleasant Hill Grain. They have some really nice stuff if you want to check them out.

So you feel the spiral mixing action is just better the the Kitchen aid hook?  Or is there something else that make it better?

So you feel the spiral mixing action is just better the the Kitchen aid hook?  Or is there something else that make it better?

Spiral is better then the J hook.
I have a Viking mixer with the J hook (similar to Kitchen-Aid), and dough keeps climbing the hook. Have to keep pushing it down.