Any particular reason why I shoudn't use my stand mixer when it calls
for hand mixing?

Most of my recipes say "stir/mix" with spoon until
blended/creamy/whatever else. I have a 16 month old little boy who
loves to run around the house, so being able to use the stand mixer
and cut down the time it takes me to bake (I'm a horrible hand mixer,
no arm strength, I guess) would help out a lot.

Yeah, yeah, probably a stupid question, but I'm new to cooking from a
cookbook... I'm trying to stray away from the expensive boxed mixes
now and do things from scratch, and I got a stand mixer as a gift.

On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 04:57:27 GMT
"Cadie" > wrote:

> Any particular reason why I shoudn't use my stand mixer when it calls
> for hand mixing?
>
> Most of my recipes say "stir/mix" with spoon until
> blended/creamy/whatever else. I have a 16 month old little boy who
> loves to run around the house, so being able to use the stand mixer
> and cut down the time it takes me to bake (I'm a horrible hand mixer,
> no arm strength, I guess) would help out a lot.
>
> Yeah, yeah, probably a stupid question, but I'm new to cooking from a
> cookbook... I'm trying to stray away from the expensive boxed mixes
> now and do things from scratch, and I got a stand mixer as a gift.


It's not a stupid question.

Cakes, cookies, you're generally ok. Keep in mind that you can't
throw hard butter into a mixer any more than you can mix it by hand.
(Just sayin, many whisks and paddles are damaged this way - just because
it worked once doesn't mean it won't break your mixer later)

Biscuits, scones, other quickbreads where gluten formation is
supposed to be limited, stay as far away from the stand mixer as you
can, preferably facing at least 90 degrees away from it. Well, you can
sift together dry ingredients this way, and maybe even add your
shortening, but as soon as you start hydrating you need to switch to
hand mixing. Otherwise your quickbreads will be a bit like racketballs
in their texture.

Pretty much the same rule with pie crusts, for example.

On Wed, 16 Jun 2004, Cadie wrote:

> Any particular reason why I shoudn't use my stand mixer when it calls
> for hand mixing?
>
> Most of my recipes say "stir/mix" with spoon until
> blended/creamy/whatever else. I have a 16 month old little boy who
> loves to run around the house, so being able to use the stand mixer
> and cut down the time it takes me to bake (I'm a horrible hand mixer,
> no arm strength, I guess) would help out a lot.
>
> Yeah, yeah, probably a stupid question, but I'm new to cooking from a
> cookbook... I'm trying to stray away from the expensive boxed mixes
> now and do things from scratch, and I got a stand mixer as a gift.

This is not a stupid question. However, a better question is WHY would I
need to mix something by hand?

Depends on the recipe. In most cases using a stand mixer will be fine. In
some cases the stand mixer will over mix the ingredients. The act of
mixing for some ingredients actually changes them.

For example, some doughs can be overworked by a stand mixer. Also, things
like chiffon or angel food cake require you to fold whipped egg whites
into the batter. If you attempted to do with this a stand mixer you would
lose all the air in the egg whites and have a dense cake.

Basically, if the techniques in a recipe make all the difference then you
want to hand mix when it says to hand mix. A good recipe will explain why
you need to prepare it a certain way.

If you are going to start off with the basics then using a stand mixer
should be fine. After a while you'll start realizing certain terms have
significance. For example, if the instructions say to 'fold' the
ingredients together then you don't want to use the stand mixer.

Good luck and have fun.

P.S. if something doesn't work out ask WHY here. There are some really
bright people here who have helped me tremendously.

P.P.S. remember that it is not only the ingredients you use but the
techniques you use that make a difference. Baking is often in the details.

--
Send e-mail to: darrell at cs dot toronto dot edu
Don't send e-mail to

"Cadie" > wrote in message
news:XqQzc.57007$HG.12189@attbi_s53...
> Any particular reason why I shoudn't use my stand mixer when it calls
> for hand mixing?
>
> Most of my recipes say "stir/mix" with spoon until
> blended/creamy/whatever else. I have a 16 month old little boy who
> loves to run around the house, so being able to use the stand mixer
> and cut down the time it takes me to bake (I'm a horrible hand mixer,
> no arm strength, I guess) would help out a lot.
>
> Yeah, yeah, probably a stupid question, but I'm new to cooking from a
> cookbook... I'm trying to stray away from the expensive boxed mixes
> now and do things from scratch, and I got a stand mixer as a gift.
>
>
The only things inappropriate for machine mixing are things that need to be
folded into batters - whipped cream, meringue and so forth - without being
deflated. Otherwise the stand mixer is fine. You can give a batter the
same amount of mixing in a machine that you do by hand.

Let's look at cakes in which we don't want to develop the gluten in the
flour. Use the creaming method. That means cream the butter in the mixer,
then add the sugar and salt. Add any other ingredients except for the flour
and baking powder. Save those for the end of the job and mix them enough to
incorporate, not enough to develop gluten. Pour it into the pans and into
the oven. You'll get soft, moist cakes this way.

I mix almost everything with a stand mixer. Really dense doughs like
biscotti are really faster to do by hand so I do that but I could do it in
the mixer with dough hook if I wanted to. I always beat meringues in the
mixer but fold them into the batter by hand. Same with whipped cream. So
when I make chocolate mousse, as an example, I melt the butter and chocolate
together and then temper the yolks and add them in and set this aside. I
beat the whites into meringue and the cream into whipped cream with the
stand mixer. Then I mix it all together by folding the whipped ingredients
into the chocolate mixture. Use common sense. You'll find a way to mix
most things with the mixer. Take care.

Fred
Foodie Forums
http://www.foodieforums.com

Just wanted to thank everyone for their answers. I knew most of it, I
guess :-) Though I am confused about something. Everyone who
answered said not to use it to fold, but the instructions that came
with the mixer, tell you what attachment and speed to use for folding.
Though I don't see how a mixer could do any folding, so I wouldn't
have thought to use it for that anyway.

"Cadie" > wrote in message
news:mp_Bc.89323$eu.82088@attbi_s02...
> Just wanted to thank everyone for their answers. I knew most of it, I
> guess :-) Though I am confused about something. Everyone who
> answered said not to use it to fold, but the instructions that came
> with the mixer, tell you what attachment and speed to use for folding.
> Though I don't see how a mixer could do any folding, so I wouldn't
> have thought to use it for that anyway.
>

There are instruction for cutting fat into flour to make pastry. I wouldn't
use a mixer for that either.

On Tue, 22 Jun 2004, Cadie wrote:

> Just wanted to thank everyone for their answers. I knew most of it, I
> guess :-) Though I am confused about something. Everyone who
> answered said not to use it to fold, but the instructions that came
> with the mixer, tell you what attachment and speed to use for folding.
> Though I don't see how a mixer could do any folding, so I wouldn't
> have thought to use it for that anyway.

I'm guessing it has that in the manual so marketing can claim that their
mixer does folding as well. Doesn't mean it actually works as well as hand
folding.

--
Send e-mail to: darrell at cs dot toronto dot edu
Don't send e-mail to

"Cadie" > wrote in message news:<mp_Bc.89323$eu.82088@attbi_s02>...
> Just wanted to thank everyone for their answers. I knew most of it, I
> guess :-) Though I am confused about something. Everyone who
> answered said not to use it to fold, but the instructions that came
> with the mixer, tell you what attachment and speed to use for folding.
> Though I don't see how a mixer could do any folding, so I wouldn't
> have thought to use it for that anyway.

Using a mixer to fold needs some skill as folding by hands.It is not
that easy as following the recipe and the machine directions
squarely. You have to judge and see it if there is a proper
incorporation without excessive deflation of the foam.
However if I used a four speed hobart mixer. I can use the the number
one for folding dry ingredients into the meringue. The number two
which is said to be equivalent to the number one speed on the three
speed machine is just a bit faster and tend to deflate the aerated
foam more than the number one of the four speed machine.
If you make only a small quantities of batters hand folding would be
easy but if you made more than 80 quarts of the same mixture and do it
by hand with the batter reaching literally your armpits that is pretty
unsanitary and inconvenient and you are not guaranteed that you had
done carefully the folding process.
Meanwhile for cutting, a special beater attachment for such job could
do it nicely. But again you have to watch out that the fat is not
mashed into the dough when making pastry.

Roy

"Darrell Grainger" > wrote in
message ...

> I'm guessing it has that in the manual so marketing can claim that
their
> mixer does folding as well. Doesn't mean it actually works as well
as hand
> folding.
>
> --

Didn't really figure it did. But I so far haven't made anything that
required me to fold in anything. I'm sure it's soon to come, but
hasnt' happened yet.

Cadie

"Roy Basan" > wrote in message
om...

>
> Using a mixer to fold needs some skill as folding by hands.It is not
> that easy as following the recipe and the machine directions
> squarely. You have to judge and see it if there is a proper
> incorporation without excessive deflation of the foam.
> However if I used a four speed hobart mixer. I can use the the
number
> one for folding dry ingredients into the meringue. The number two
> which is said to be equivalent to the number one speed on the three
> speed machine is just a bit faster and tend to deflate the aerated
> foam more than the number one of the four speed machine.
> If you make only a small quantities of batters hand folding would be
> easy but if you made more than 80 quarts of the same mixture and do
it
> by hand with the batter reaching literally your armpits that is
pretty
> unsanitary and inconvenient and you are not guaranteed that you had
> done carefully the folding process.
> Meanwhile for cutting, a special beater attachment for such job
could
> do it nicely. But again you have to watch out that the fat is not
> mashed into the dough when making pastry.
>
> Roy

If I come across it, I'll do it by hand. LOL, nope, not doing
anything near 80 quarts of anything. I'm just baknig for my family,
and usually only for the 3 of us in my house.

A specific "pastry blender" beater attachment, or a beater attachment?
I don't have a pastry blender, last time I made one (apple pie crust)
I was stuck using two knives criss cross style, and that's a bit of a
PITA. But I didn't read the recipe beforehand and didn't prepare by
getting one. Still don't have one... don't actually think I've seen
one...

"Cadie" > wrote in message
news:Ky9Cc.72287$2i5.41080@attbi_s52...
>
> A specific "pastry blender" beater attachment, or a beater attachment?
> I don't have a pastry blender, last time I made one (apple pie crust)
> I was stuck using two knives criss cross style, and that's a bit of a
> PITA. But I didn't read the recipe beforehand and didn't prepare by
> getting one. Still don't have one... don't actually think I've seen
> one...

I use a food processor to cut fat into flour for pastry. It works better
than a pastry blender for me.

On Tue, 22 Jun 2004, Roy Basan wrote:

> "Cadie" > wrote in message news:<mp_Bc.89323$eu.82088@attbi_s02>...
> > Just wanted to thank everyone for their answers. I knew most of it, I
> > guess :-) Though I am confused about something. Everyone who
> > answered said not to use it to fold, but the instructions that came
> > with the mixer, tell you what attachment and speed to use for folding.
> > Though I don't see how a mixer could do any folding, so I wouldn't
> > have thought to use it for that anyway.
>
> Using a mixer to fold needs some skill as folding by hands.It is not
> that easy as following the recipe and the machine directions
> squarely. You have to judge and see it if there is a proper
> incorporation without excessive deflation of the foam.
> However if I used a four speed hobart mixer. I can use the the number
> one for folding dry ingredients into the meringue. The number two
> which is said to be equivalent to the number one speed on the three
> speed machine is just a bit faster and tend to deflate the aerated
> foam more than the number one of the four speed machine.
> If you make only a small quantities of batters hand folding would be
> easy but if you made more than 80 quarts of the same mixture and do it
> by hand with the batter reaching literally your armpits that is pretty
> unsanitary and inconvenient and you are not guaranteed that you had
> done carefully the folding process.
> Meanwhile for cutting, a special beater attachment for such job could
> do it nicely. But again you have to watch out that the fat is not
> mashed into the dough when making pastry.

Complete amateur here. MAYBE 8 quarts but there is no way I'm making 80
quarts. This just boggles my mind. I've made cakes big enough for a
wedding of 50 but I usually make multiple batches. Even then I think three
batches of 6 quarts is all I've ever needed to fold in one evening.

I guess if I'm approaching 20 quarts for 50 people you could easily exceed
80 quarts for large events (300+ people). It always amazes me to watch
shows when the chef needs to prepare for 300 people.

I wasn't baking much when I got married but I sure would have liked to
watch in the kitchen when they made the dinner for my reception. At the
time my grandmother, who was senile but sweet, didn't like either of the
two menu options I had arranged for the reception. The kitchen prepared a
third menu (6 courses) just for my grandmother on the fly (they found out
she was unhappy as they served the first course). I didn't even ask them
to. I'm guessing that was a tough thing for them to do.

--
Send e-mail to: darrell at cs dot toronto dot edu
Don't send e-mail to

"Cadie" > wrote in message news:<Ky9Cc.72287$2i5.41080@attbi_s52>...
> "Roy Basan" > wrote in message
> om...
>
> >
> > Using a mixer to fold needs some skill as folding by hands.It is not
> > that easy as following the recipe and the machine directions
> > squarely. You have to judge and see it if there is a proper
> > incorporation without excessive deflation of the foam.
> > However if I used a four speed hobart mixer. I can use the the
> number
> > one for folding dry ingredients into the meringue. The number two
> > which is said to be equivalent to the number one speed on the three
> > speed machine is just a bit faster and tend to deflate the aerated
> > foam more than the number one of the four speed machine.
> > If you make only a small quantities of batters hand folding would be
> > easy but if you made more than 80 quarts of the same mixture and do
> it
> > by hand with the batter reaching literally your armpits that is
> pretty
> > unsanitary and inconvenient and you are not guaranteed that you had
> > done carefully the folding process.
> > Meanwhile for cutting, a special beater attachment for such job
> could
> > do it nicely. But again you have to watch out that the fat is not
> > mashed into the dough when making pastry.
> >
> > Roy
>
> If I come across it, I'll do it by hand. LOL, nope, not doing
> anything near 80 quarts of anything. I'm just baknig for my family,
> and usually only for the 3 of us in my house.
>
> A specific "pastry blender" beater attachment, or a beater attachment?
> I don't have a pastry blender, last time I made one (apple pie crust)
> I was stuck using two knives criss cross style, and that's a bit of a
> PITA. But I didn't read the recipe beforehand and didn't prepare by
> getting one. Still don't have one... don't actually think I've seen
> one...

There is a pastry blade attachment for such mixer. A paddle tends to
incoporate the fat into the flour; but there are some bakes who are
skilled in using such paddle attachment for making pastry. after
several years of experience.
But again even with the pastry blade attachment, it needs
considerrable skill to be able to competently use it without blending
too much fat in the flour and therefore attain the desired level of
blending the fat / flour to form distinct granules of the required
particle size.
As you said you are making just small amount, then mixing by hand (
rubbing fat to the flour)is a better option , as you will be more
sensitive to the level of mixing that you consider as appropriate for
a certain pastry dough,.

Roy