Monday Mix 5/8/23
Guest post incoming
Happy Mondays, everyone. I went on something of a mini-rant over on twitter on Friday, about how the manuals for all models of Kitchen Aid stand mixers (including the $800, 8 quart, “professional” one) state that you shouldn’t knead bread in the mixer at speeds higher than 2 and/or for longer than 4 minutes at a time. Which obviously isn’t how I — or nearly everyone else in the known universe — write machine-mixed bread recipes, which poses something of a problem. I’m working on a much longer rant (and a general overview of using stand mixers for bread dough), to arrive sometime soon.
But in the meantime, I have a guest post for you today — from my pal Dayna Evans — which I am sending out a couple of days early, since it is time-sensitive: The story of The Blanton Museum’s “Blanton Bake-off,” an annual art-inspired baking competition that you all should compete in. The deadline for entries is 5/16, eight days from today, so there’s still loads of time to get in on it. (If you do submit, let me know and I’ll share your entries here too.)
Stay tuned for it to arrive in your inboxes not long after this one.
—Andrew
Have at it. Rant away. I am on my 3rd home mixer in well less than 10 years, which is somewhat embarassing, and I can tell it's nearly time to start looking again. Once a long long time ago, I had a Hobart that was a workhorse, and another time had a first gen Breville that was too small but held up better than expected (though a subsequent model did not.) But I keep going back to a Kitchenaid, because I would love to have just one sturdy all-around mixer that is as good for meringue as it is for breads. I am starting to think I should have had two mixers all along.
I have two Kitchen Aide stand mixers, one large one small, and I have never had a problem and I do whatever the recipe calls for. I never realized there is a manufacturer's recommendation of such limited use - yikes. Lately, I have been using a $10 pawn shop Cuisinart bread machine for the first mix/knead - I think it does a better job than either of my Kitchen Aide mixers (I never use it to bake, though).