Planetary Mixer vs Spiral Mixer
I currently use a bread maker to do my kneading, but it has size limitations; I want to be able to change from 1 loaf at a time to making 3-4 loaves (6-8 lbs of dough) at a time and am checking my options. I am trying to decide if it would be better to get a good quality stand / planetary mixer (I have never used one), or make the plunge of investing in a spiral mixer. While a planetary mixer has other uses that might be nice, I do not need them at this time, and really only want good quality dough in larger quantities. Assume I am making one 8 lb batch of bread dough per week. Will I be glad I made the investment in a spiral dough maker? Or is the performance of a planetary mixer so close to a spiral mixer that the cost of the spiral mixer is a waste of money?
I bought a Famag IM5 mixer a few years ago. Would I buy it again? Definitely. Certainly a one trick pony, but that one trick it does very well.
I can say that with conviction, having owned a planetary mixer (Kenwood Major - still got for small doughs and other duties), Ankarsrum (sold) and Bosch Universal Plus (sold).
If you look at small artisan bakeries, they nearly all use spiral mixers. It must say something....
Just make sure you have the space (and the money, of course). You don't want to be lifting it on and off the counter.
Lance
Hi there. Glad you're liking the Famag. I've seen Amy's review (Amy Learns to Cook, on YT) and she loves it, too. May I ask why you sold the Ankarsrum and Bosch? Was it something to do with the performance, or just because you now have the Famag. At one time, I was thinking of getting an Ankarsrum mixer, although I do not that plastic bowl and flimsy whisk situation. I'm getting by nicely with my Kenwood Chef Titanium and KitchenAid ProLine, plus I often just use a Danish dough hook so I think I'm over the phase of wanting an Ankarsrum, but time will tell. The other mixers I have won't last forever. Thank you.
sorry ... "do not like that plastic bowl ..."
I bought the BUP because it had a bigger capacity than the Kenwood, which I didn't want to overload. The BUP worked well enough, but then I read a lot of good reports on the Ank and one came up on Ebay at the right price, so I went for it.
But I was a bit disappointed with its ability to develop gluten so I got itchy feet (again) and went for the Famag. Back in the day you could get them shipped over to the UK from Agrieuro for a decent price.
Don't get me wrong though; lots of people on TFL love the Ank and I'm not dissing it - it just wasn't for me.
I also like the repeatability of a spiral mixer. If I have a recipe I've already made and my notes say 2 mins high speed, 2 mins rest, 1.5 mins high speed, then it will work exactly the same next time I make that dough - no other variables to worry about.
Lance
I mostly agree with Lance, though I still have my Ank in the attic ( I did sell my Bosch Universal ). While I liked the Ank a lot, and still think it does a great job, the dought coming out of my Famag IM 5 S feels more airy. It does not have a timer, which is a bit of a pain, but other than that, I love it.
Ever the continuous improvement merchant, Barry ;)
Lance
Lance, do you have a link for that? I bought a smart outlet, but it keeps getting unpaired from Alexa
The timer is a standard Omron H3CR
https://industrial.omron.co.uk/en/products/h3cr
The display is a separate bespoke unit powered by an Arduino digispark.
A hobbyist project TBH - not an off the shelf unit. And it would void any warranty.
Does a plug in timer work OK with yours? - I thought the no volt control system requires you to press the button?
Lance
Lance, I looked for just a regular analog timer that worked in minutes, but could not find one. Instead, I bought a cheap smart outlet, then programmed Alexa rountines for mixing ( 2 minutes ) and then a separate routine for kneading - each routine left the outlet on the specified time, then powered off. You do have to manually start the machine by pressing the button, but it turned itself off at 2 minutes. Then I restarted it and set the speed a bit higher, and ran the 2nd routine, then it shut off at the end of 9. That is what I am trying to duplicate, so that if I am at the other end of the house, the machine will turn off at the end of kneading. I may try with a better smart outlet.
An innovative solution, Barry. A shame the hardware is letting you down. One of those Omrons might work for you; some of them are 110v, but you'd have to build an enclosure.
I too found a very limited choice of options for my solution - I definitely wanted to set a dial/knob - pushing buttons was not an option - and it needed to be small.
The ideal would have been some kind of jog/shuttle setup, like on a microwave, but that is complex.
Lance
Thanks for the feedback. On the one trick wonder: The spiral is limited but can see it being useful for other low speed mixing tasks, such as larger batches of cake batters that I occasionally get into.