It is no secret that I really like my stand mixer, and that it performs a job in an amazing variety of my cookie, cake, and frosting recipes.

However after I speak about how essential a stand mixer is for baking, of us often reply with one thing alongside the traces of, “Nicely, then how did they do it within the olden days?” And the reply is, they did not. What many bakers do not realize is that utilizing a stand mixer isn’t a alternative of comfort; I exploit a stand mixer in these recipes as a result of it is higher suited to the job than mixing by hand (or with a hand mixer). Apart from the truth that the stand mixer itself is greater than 100 years outdated, making it a fixture of recent recipe improvement, the desserts made previous to that period have been radically completely different from those we make right now and higher suited to preparation by hand. The appearance of high-power mechanical mixing allowed for brand spanking new methods and ingredient ratios to create the desserts we all know and love right now.

The Greatest Stand Mixer

A Transient Historical past of Mixing

Fashionable American layer muffins are an awesome instance of this; previous to mechanical mixing, People made muffins very like bakers within the Outdated World: sponge muffins produced from egg whites and yolks whipped individually by hand, then mixed with fats and flour folded in on the finish. These have been then completed with a easy meringue frosting or, doubtlessly, a little bit of unsweetened whipped cream (each fairly simple to whip by hand).

However with a mechanical mixer’s distinctive capabilities, bakers started to develop recipes with increased proportions of butter as a substitute, finally bringing us to the richer type of cake and frosting we discover in American bakeries right now. These buttery types of cake and frosting merely did not exist again when the one possibility was to arrange one thing by hand.

Clearly, there is a whole lot extra to the story than that, however for now, suffice it to say that stand mixers have given solution to their very own style of baking—one which occurs to be of explicit private curiosity to me. That is partly as a result of my culinary faculty coaching in addition to my very own background in business bakeries and eating places. I am not right here to say proudly owning a stand mixer is crucial to all bakers—certainly, lengthy durations of inactivity may cause points for KitchenAid fashions—solely that it is pretty important to the type of baking I give attention to in my very own work.

How Stand Mixers Work

A very powerful factor a stand mixer has to supply is not comfort; it is energy.

Due to their sturdy motors, stand mixers can work with butter at temperatures nicely beneath what an individual may handle by hand, nicely beneath even what a hand mixer may deal with (attempt to cream 65°F butter with a hand mixer as a substitute of a stand mixer, and you will simply watch cubes of fats fly from the bowl). With that energy, the huge, flat paddle attachment can quickly beat comparatively chilly butter with sugar, working it into an ethereal matrix of fats, air, and sugar crystals.

That is a vital side of the creaming methodology, as butter loses its capability for aeration because it warms, which means that butter creamed at temperatures appropriate for working by hand (or with a hand mixer) won’t ever attain a stage as fluffy or mild. The decrease quantity of batters and doughs that hotter butter produces interprets to a decrease yield (as aeration bodily will increase the quantity of house a batter or dough will occupy) in addition to a poor rise, making for heavy muffins and flat cookies. So when you’ve ever been stricken by flat cookies, the poor creaming motion of a hand mixer could also be accountable.

For extra info, please see our detailed take a look at the technical course of concerned within the creaming methodology.

Past its energy to work with comparatively chilly and exhausting butter, the motion of a stand mixer’s paddle attachment is exclusive; it is a single paddle that is huge and flat, in a position to bash, rub, smear, unfold, and fold.

Whereas each a stand mixer and a hand mixer can incorporate butter and sugar, a stand mixer’s paddle achieves extra quantity alongside the best way, whereas sustaining a decrease temperature for the elements (in flip, retaining my cookie dough thick and simple to deal with, not sticky, and retaining my cake batters cool, higher in a position to retain air for an excellent rise).

Due to their highly effective motors, stand mixers are additionally in a position to whip entire eggs straight from the fridge, with none want for separating whites and yolks or bringing them to room temperature first. Whether or not I am making shiny chocolate brownies or a crack-free jelly roll, working with chilly eggs helps guarantee a extra secure foam for baked items.

Once more, this permits for methods that weren’t attainable in Ye Olden Days. Within the 1800s, a baker must separate whites from yolks to whip every by itself to make one thing like a chocolate sponge cake, however a stand mixer has the sheer energy to whip chilly, entire eggs right into a secure foam.

So for bakers who persistently expertise a low rise with sponge muffins or discover that foamed-egg brownies at all times appear uncooked or dense or that Swiss meringue at all times appears too heavy and buttery, the issue could be an underpowered hand mixer.

So then what’s one of the best mixer, you ask? I’ve written all about my love for the six-quart KitchenAid Professional.

FAQs

What’s one of the best stand mixer?

We’re big followers of the KitchenAid Professional stand mixer, but in addition suggest different fashions from Wolf, KitchenAid, and Ankarsrum. You’ll be able to learn our full evaluate of stand mixers right here.

Does KitchenAid make one of the best stand mixers?

Nicely, two out of 4 of our high stand mixer picks are made by KitchenAid. You’ll be able to learn a extra detailed comparability of (nearly) all the KitchenAid stand mixers right here.