Do I need a mixer?

highpress · July 2010

For all you guys making your own pizza dough and bread, do you need a mixer? I would like to make my own occasional loaf of bread or pizza dough, nothing on a daily basis. Can i get by without a mixer? If it is really recommended to have one, can you recommend a basic KA mixer? thanks! I've heard of no-knead bread but haven't heard of no-knead pizza dough?.... :blink:

Unknown · July 2010

No, you don't need one but it does make making pizza dough super easy.

Buy this:
http://www.shopkitchenaid.com/product_detail.asp?HDR=outlet&T1=KTA+RKV25G0XBU

Hoss · July 2010

Here ya go.
http://americanfood.about.com/b/2009/01/02/almost-effortless-no-knead-pizza-dough.htm

fishlessman · July 2010

this book covers breads and each recipe is broken down to steps for making it by hand or mixer. i was lucky, bought a broken ka mixer for 15 bucks and an egger that used to post here years ago had the parts to fix it

http://www.amazon.com/Bernard-Claytons-Complete-Breads-Anniversary/dp/0743234723

Hungry Celeste · July 2010

Sure, you can make no-knead pizza dough. Jim Lahey (popularizer of the no-knead methodology) has an excellent no-knead recipe in his "My Bread" cookbook. In fact, he now operates a pizza restaurant ("Co") in addition to his Sullivan Street Bakery. His recipe is at the end of this article: http://tastingtable.com/entry_detail/99/Jim_Lahey_reveals_his_recipe_for_no-knead_pizza_dough_.htm

tach18k · July 2010

I use a food processor with the dough blade, works great.

Florida Grillin Girl · July 2010

I use a bread machine that I got on sale. Works great.

gdenby · July 2010

I don't have a mixer, and am fine for making a couple of loaves at a time. As a novice, I've found having a gram accurate scale more helpful. For a couple of loaves, a few grams of salt too many or little can have a huge effect, and I'm told the salt content is really important for pizza dough. Likewise, the exact portions of water and flour by weight has helped figure out how wetter and drier doughs behave.

I've tried intensive kneading, and no knead. My current method involves a few minutes of stirring, and a couple of stretches during the initial proof.

Also helpful has been a thermapen to test the temp of water added to the starter, and an infrared beam thermometer to test the heat of the baking stone, and the area where the bread is rising. Not crucial equipment, but offers me a little more certainty.

And, FWIW, what I'm getting out of the Egg has a browner crust and a better spring than what I was getting from my oven.

kricks · July 2010

IMHO, in a word yes. I bake all my own bread and make all my own pizza doughs. I used to do it by hand and most times finish off my bread by hand cause that's just the kind of guy I am but the mixer does the real heavy lifting.

Also I find that I can be more consistent if I set my mind to it with the mixer. As far as a basic machine I think that will depend on how much you do. I've had this one for 20+ years.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004SGFW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00005UP2K&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HYAZYKDBNMBZNSZ7XWH

I still use it for smaller things like pizza dough, baguettes etc. I merged household recently and acquired this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002Y5X9W/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00005UP2K&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HYAZYKDBNMBZNSZ7XWH

I use it for bigger jobs but honestly like the smaller one better. (I don't tell her that though)

When you get one, you can do cool things like...

all done with the small one...

Capt Frank · July 2010

"Breadman" would certainly fit! :P !

Capt Frank
Homosassa, FL

guzzijason · July 2010

I say get the mixer.

I was hesitant when I got my mixer. I was afraid I wouldn't use it much and it would just waste space on the counter, but man am I glad I got it. I use it much more than I thought I would, for all my mixing, whisking, and beating needs

Then, this past Christmas, my wife got me some accessories for it - the pasta attachments, and a grinder attachment. I've only dabbled with making sausage (so far) but I can tell you I stopped buying boxed pasta and make all my own fresh now. Love it!

This is the one I got: http://www.shopkitchenaid.com/product_detail.asp?T1=KTA+KSM150PSER&.

__Jason

Unknown · July 2010

I don't have any of the attachments yet. I actually haven't heard many good things about the KA attachments. You like the pasta maker?

BobS · July 2010

I like my KA a lot, but am making more bread and pizza dough with the recipes from Peter Reinhart and you do not need a mixer. He has an interesting way of stretching the dough....

Large Marge · July 2010

Nothing wrong with hand/spoon kneading and certainly doable for just an occasional pizza dough. Check out Peter Reinhart's books (artisan breads every day is a good one for beginners), he shows basic techniques for hand-kneading that give you a good sense of how well the gluten is forming, how sticky you want the dough, etc. Just my opinion but its too easy to overwork a dough ball with the mixer (especially for pizza which really needs a wetter dough). Just my 2 cents - J

Large Marge · July 2010

you read my mind...

guzzijason · July 2010

Tweev-tip wrote:

I don't have any of the attachments yet. I actually haven't heard many good things about the KA attachments. You like the pasta maker?

If it's good enough for the contestants on Iron Chef, it's good enough for me :laugh:

The kit I got came with the roller, spaghetti cutter, and linguine cutter. I normally use the linguine cutter, or cut it by hand into wide pappardelle-type noodles.

As long as you get your dough consistency right, it's a snap to use. Lately, I've gotten in the habit of mixing the dough by hand, just so I can carefully monitor the moisture level. The only problems I've had were when I had dough that was too sticky.

Is it the best pasta maker? I dunno... it's the only one I've ever used. It's *much* better than no pasta maker, which is what I had before

__Jason

Unknown · July 2010

Thanks, maybe I will pick one up. It would be fun to make my own pasta.

Instead of pasta I've been making my own Gnocchi. That's surprisingly easy and MUCH better freshly made.
Thanks again.

Hungry Joe · July 2010

Look, you dont' need a mixer. Lots of great advice above.

But its a good excuse to my a new toy. Get the Kitchenaid. You won't regret it.

deepsouth · July 2010

kricks wrote:

IMHO, in a word yes. I bake all my own bread and make all my own pizza doughs. I used to do it by hand and most times finish off my bread by hand cause that's just the kind of guy I am but the mixer does the real heavy lifting.

Also I find that I can be more consistent if I set my mind to it with the mixer. As far as a basic machine I think that will depend on how much you do. I've had this one for 20+ years.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004SGFW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00005UP2K&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HYAZYKDBNMBZNSZ7XWH

I still use it for smaller things like pizza dough, baguettes etc. I merged household recently and acquired this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002Y5X9W/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00005UP2K&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HYAZYKDBNMBZNSZ7XWH

I use it for bigger jobs but honestly like the smaller one better. (I don't tell her that though)

When you get one, you can do cool things like...

all done with the small one...

i've got a small one. care to give up any secrets?

deepsouth · July 2010

i recently bought the pasta attachments for the small KA mixer...

(these were both firsts for me and i actually gave the pasta to my dad. he called and said it was excellent)

Angela · July 2010

The problem with the KA mixer and bread dough is that it jiggles the mixer all over. I replaced my 20 year old KA with the new Cuisinart stand mixer and like it a lot better. The meat grinder attachment for the Cuisinart stand mixer actually has a metal housing too, unlike the KA one which is plastic and ended up getting cracked.

The food processor is much faster for kneading dough though.

Dimple's Mom · July 2010

If it's truly just the occasional pizza dough and bread loaf, then I guess you can get by with either a food processor or by hand. But don't you ever make cakes or cookies? And if you hang around here long enough, you'd gonna be making a lot of pizza and bread. So may as well get one! I have an old one. It was a wedding gift in 1986. It wasn't the top of the line back then and obviously isn't now. I would like to upgrade but this thing just keeps on ticking, despite me having dropped it twice on cement!

KB · July 2010

I bought an old Sunbeam mixer that looks a lot like the expensive Kitchen Aid model for $3 at a thrift store. It came with the dough hook attachments. I also bought a bread machine for $5. It's my backup. I used a bread machine for 15 years to knead dough each week for pizza (it even rises in the bread machine where it's warmer than inside my house in the winter). It flew off the counter one day and broke and that's when I found the thrift store solutions.

Dimple's Mom · July 2010

The old Sunbeam Mixmaster is great. I used it forever growing up. I recently inherited one from my aunt and was going to take it to our cabin but my son wanted it so I have it to him.

I forget why I traded in the Sunbeam I got as a wedding gift for the KA. I think it had to do with having the scrape the bowl so much. But it really is a great mixer. Esp for $3!!!

kricks · July 2010

Its an option! Made it home ok I see. Good trip?

kricks · July 2010

I don't know if I have any secrets. Maybe patience. Just try things and enjoy it. Also, have a good toaster! Not everything turns out perfect.

Also, how do you do that cut and paste with the message?

ranger ray · July 2010

no.... you don't need a mixer ..... both my grandmothers made bread pizza and pasta every week by hand and baked the breads and pizza in the outdoor brick oven all of their lives as did my dad's mom did too....if they had the money....i'm sure they would have used a mixer... need and want are two different things....besides, it's great exercise.... i spent many hours kneading bread dough and rolling out dough for noodles as a child with them.... a strong bonding experience was formed with them as result.... perhaps some one can make video game for kids with this topic? but somehow i don't think you can replace spending quality time with your grandma's on a video screen .... chopping the wood with an axe and bucksaw and building the fire for the ovens taught me a lot too....rr

deepsouth · July 2010

Angela wrote:

The problem with the KA mixer and bread dough is that it jiggles the mixer all over. I replaced my 20 year old KA with the new Cuisinart stand mixer and like it a lot better. The meat grinder attachment for the Cuisinart stand mixer actually has a metal housing too, unlike the KA one which is plastic and ended up getting cracked.

The food processor is much faster for kneading dough though.

the KA mixer i've got weighs 25 lbs. i haven't tried to make dough yet, but it doesn't seem like it could jiggle it. i do see that it's a 5 qt, so maybe it's between a small and a large?

deepsouth · July 2010

kricks wrote:

I don't know if I have any secrets. Maybe patience. Just try things and enjoy it. Also, have a good toaster! Not everything turns out perfect.

Also, how do you do that cut and paste with the message?

do you mean quote?

kricks · July 2010

Its how I started. When I was real young I just played with the flour. Missed the axe and wood thing though!

kricks · July 2010

Its how I started. When I was real young I just played with the flour. Missed the axe and wood thing though!

Do I need a mixer?

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