Hello,
A lot of you have KA or equivalent type stand mixers. What would be the
absolute entry level mixer you could recommend- stand or hand- for
mixing cookie dough?
Thank you

"Craig Busch" > wrote in message
...
> Hello,
> A lot of you have KA or equivalent type stand mixers. What would be the
> absolute entry level mixer you could recommend- stand or hand- for
> mixing cookie dough?
> Thank you
>

I would think that a 325 Watt or higher stand mixer would be fine.

>A lot of you have KA or equivalent type stand mixers. What would be the
>absolute entry level mixer you could recommend- stand or hand- for
>mixing cookie dough?
>Thank you
Mixers for Cookie dough?...
..If I make in small quantities .I don't bother using mixers for that..
f..<grin>....unless you are interested in making well aerated cookies
where eggs are to be beaten well. such as lady finges sponge drops and
meringue based cookies.....

The thought of not using a mixer is a possibility. I guess I would have
thought that it might be easier to have an even mixture.
Thank you

chembake wrote:

> >A lot of you have KA or equivalent type stand mixers. What would be the
> >absolute entry level mixer you could recommend- stand or hand- for
> >mixing cookie dough?
> >Thank you
> Mixers for Cookie dough?...
> .If I make in small quantities .I don't bother using mixers for that..
> f..<grin>....unless you are interested in making well aerated cookies
> where eggs are to be beaten well. such as lady finges sponge drops and
> meringue based cookies.....

In article .com>,
says...
> >A lot of you have KA or equivalent type stand mixers. What would be the
> >absolute entry level mixer you could recommend- stand or hand- for
> >mixing cookie dough?
> >Thank you
> Mixers for Cookie dough?...
> .If I make in small quantities .I don't bother using mixers for that..
> f..<grin>....unless you are interested in making well aerated cookies
> where eggs are to be beaten well. such as lady finges sponge drops and
> meringue based cookies.....
>
>

Actually my 12 year old Sunbeam Mixmaster works just fine for cookie
dough. It's a 228W unit and adequate for those needs.

But I need to get something a little heavier because I'm into the bread
thing now and kneading by hand can get tedious.

So I'll probably end up with a KA series myself.

Craig Busch > wrote:

>The thought of not using a mixer is a possibility. I guess I would have
>thought that it might be easier to have an even mixture.

I made cookies (and cakes and bread and frosting) for years without a
mixer of any sort. I never had a problem with unevenly mixed
anything. Then I blew out my shoulder, and I've been using a mixer
ever since. I really prefer making cookies without using a mixer, but
it's just not an option for me.

jenn
--
Jenn Ridley :

"What mixer would you recommend..." is a frequently discussed issue over
on news:rec.audio.pro and news:rec.audio.tech But they have a different
definition of "mixer" over there. Every time I see this subject line, I
have to double-check which newsgroup I am reading to establish the
context of "mixer". :-)

"Craig Busch" > wrote in message
...
> The thought of not using a mixer is a possibility. I guess I would have
> thought that it might be easier to have an even mixture.
> Thank you

I agree that you don't need a mixer, but it sure makes things easier. You
can also make double or triple batches all at once, which would be very
difficult by hand.

what about a food processor?

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> what about a food processor?
>

You can use a FP for cookies, but there are some considerations. One is
capacity. The other is the viscosity of the dough. I find that making
stiff doughs in the FP can be a challenge. If you don't do it exactly
right, the blade will stall in the dough. I have a large, 900 watt FP, and
it still can stall-out with cookie dough, especially if I am not careful
about the way I add the ingredients. I love my FP, but I still use the
stand mixer for large jobs or when I am mixing something very stiff where
torque is an advantage over speed.

Hi Tony-
I'd never dissuade anyone from getting a KA, tho I have heard some
complaints about the new ones. I LOVE mine and the day I bought it 20
+ years ago said "I should have gotten this a LONG time ago <G>.

Food processors are excellent for bread, tho they work very fast so you
have to not over work the dough.

Also for indirect breads, anything with a preferment (sourdough,
polish, biga, etc.) you don't have to knead. If you mix the
ingredients and then allow them to rest, autolyse, fold rather than
knead. I haven't done this with straight doughs simply because I
haven't made them in a while. Even if you do want to knead, by hand or
a mixer, allowing the dough to rest cuts the time involved with
kneading way down. There are descriptions of the no-knead in many
places, including _Bread Baker's Apprentice_, _Bread_ (Hamelman),
_Artisan Making_...

-Marylouise

Tony P. wrote:

> Actually my 12 year old Sunbeam Mixmaster works just fine for cookie
> dough. It's a 228W unit and adequate for those needs.
>
> But I need to get something a little heavier because I'm into the bread
> thing now and kneading by hand can get tedious.
>
> So I'll probably end up with a KA series myself.

On Tue, 27 Dec 2005, Craig Busch wrote:

> Hello,
> A lot of you have KA or equivalent type stand mixers. What would be the
> absolute entry level mixer you could recommend- stand or hand- for
> mixing cookie dough?

As a few people have said, you can mix cookie dough by hand. You really
don't NEED any electric mixer. If you are like me and multitask in the
kitchen, having a mixer you can leave run while you work on something else
is really helpful and nice to have.

If this is the case then a hand mixer will not do. Even if you can find a
hand mixer strong enough you will find it hard to hold the bowl with one
hand and the mixer with the other. It also defeats the idea of letting it
run while you work on something else.

As for a stand mixer, I have a 525 Watt Kitchen Aid and it works fine even
on heavy doughs like gingerbread. I look at it like stereo or cars.

If I need a stereo with 500 Watts I want to buy something with more than
500 Watts. The quality at the top range is not going to be as good. If I
buy a 1000 Watt stereo system and only play it at 500 Watts then it should
sound better than a 500 Watt stereo played at 500 Watts.

Similarly, if I'm driving 100 kilometres a days to work at 100 km/h, and
100 kilometres back, I'm not going to buy a 3 cylinder economy car. It
would handle it but I'd drive it into the ground after 4 or 5 years. If I
buy a bigger car (one that will handle 160 km/h easily) then driving it at
100 km/h every day it will still have some resale value in 5 years.

Mind you, my mixer is running 3 hours a night every night for a month
straight before Christmas. Everyone I know gets a dozen each of a few
different cookies, plus my wife and my work have bake sales, plus I like
to try one or two new recipes every year (this year was lemon squares;
basically a shortbread base with a lemon curd on top).

--
Send e-mail to: darrell dot grainger at utoronto dot ca

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005, wrote:

> what about a food processor?

For cookie dough? I grew up in a house with a stand mixer and no food
processor. Not really sure what you can do with a food processor. I
thought they were good for slicing, mincing or blending things. Can you
use they like a mixer?

--
Send e-mail to: darrell dot grainger at utoronto dot ca

.. wrote:

> On Wed, 28 Dec 2005, wrote:
>
>
>>what about a food processor?
>
>
> For cookie dough? I grew up in a house with a stand mixer and no food
> processor. Not really sure what you can do with a food processor. I
> thought they were good for slicing, mincing or blending things. Can you
> use they like a mixer?
>

FP's do come with a dough attachment, so they can be used
to make cookie and bread doughs. I don't. I prefer the mixer
for these, especially for bread.

FP's are great for pie doughs however, using the regular
chopping blade. They do a fine job of cutting in the
butter/shortening for flaky doughs.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

""."" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 28 Dec 2005, wrote:
>
> > what about a food processor?
>
> For cookie dough? I grew up in a house with a stand mixer and no food
> processor. Not really sure what you can do with a food processor. I
> thought they were good for slicing, mincing or blending things. Can you
> use they like a mixer?
>

Yes and no. Food processors can be used to make bread dough and cookie
dough. It is my preferred way of making bread and pie pastry. Rose
Beranabum's Christmas Cookie book has directions for using the FP for all
her cookie recipes. The area where the FP doesn't do well compared to a
mixer is for products where you don't want to develop much gluten - like
cakes. I use mine for some cakes and for quick breads. You just have to be
careful not to over mix. The other issue with the FP is capacity. Most FPs
don't come close to the capacity of a stand mixer. I have both, but I use
my FP much more than the stand mixer.

On Thu, 29 Dec 2005, Reg wrote:

> . wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 28 Dec 2005, wrote:
> >
> >>what about a food processor?
> >
> > For cookie dough? I grew up in a house with a stand mixer and no food
> > processor. Not really sure what you can do with a food processor. I
> > thought they were good for slicing, mincing or blending things. Can you
> > use they like a mixer?
>
> FP's do come with a dough attachment, so they can be used
> to make cookie and bread doughs. I don't. I prefer the mixer
> for these, especially for bread.

I'll probably stick to my stand mixer as well. I guess if all you have is
a food processor it might be worth trying.

> FP's are great for pie doughs however, using the regular
> chopping blade. They do a fine job of cutting in the
> butter/shortening for flaky doughs.

Hmm, maybe I'll give this a try. My wife just got a food processor for
Christmas. Used it to puree raspberries. Worked fairly well; normally I'd
make a compote on the stove. This time I tried making a puree then
straining it to get the seeds out. A lot easier and quicker than making a
compote.

For cutting in butter I like to freeze the butter then use a grater. I
take the little pellets and mix them in the flour until coated then finish
up with a whisk. Works fairly well.

Thanks for the information,
Darrell

--
Send e-mail to: darrell dot grainger at utoronto dot ca

On Thu, 29 Dec 2005, Vox Humana wrote:

> ""."" > wrote in message
> ...
> > On Wed, 28 Dec 2005, wrote:
> >
> > > what about a food processor?
> >
> > For cookie dough? I grew up in a house with a stand mixer and no food
> > processor. Not really sure what you can do with a food processor. I
> > thought they were good for slicing, mincing or blending things. Can you
> > use they like a mixer?
>
> Yes and no. Food processors can be used to make bread dough and cookie
> dough. It is my preferred way of making bread and pie pastry. Rose
> Beranabum's Christmas Cookie book has directions for using the FP for all
> her cookie recipes. The area where the FP doesn't do well compared to a
> mixer is for products where you don't want to develop much gluten - like
> cakes. I use mine for some cakes and for quick breads. You just have to be
> careful not to over mix. The other issue with the FP is capacity. Most FPs
> don't come close to the capacity of a stand mixer. I have both, but I use
> my FP much more than the stand mixer.

I was going to ask Reg if he had a reference to the technique of using a
food processor for dough. Thanks for providing one. I'll see if our local
bookstore has a copy.

Hadn't thought about capacity. My wife's FP is only 3 quarts. My stand
mixer is 6 quarts. I'll probably stick to using what I know during my peak
baking seasons, i.e. my stand mixer. I usually have time in the summer to
play and experiment.

Thanks again for the reference to Rose Beranabum's book,
Darrell

--
Send e-mail to: darrell dot grainger at utoronto dot ca

so conceivably you could grate the frozen butter in the fp like you do
cheese?

wrote:
> so conceivably you could grate the frozen butter in the fp like you do
> cheese?
>
I really don't want to own a stand mixer and hope to just make do with a
food processor.

How important is the wattage between 450 and 700 for cookie dough?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...tchen&v=glance

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=284507

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> so conceivably you could grate the frozen butter in the fp like you do
> cheese?
>

You could. I haven't seen anyone do it that way but I don't see why it
couldn't work. My only concern would be that after the butter was grated,
you would have to be very careful about not processing too much more. The
size of the butter particles after grating would be about the final size you
would want. If you added liquid and then processed much more, I suspect
that the particles would be too small or would melt from the friction of the
blade. It is intriguing though and I will give it a try.

"ggg" > wrote in message
...
> wrote:
> > so conceivably you could grate the frozen butter in the fp like you do
> > cheese?
> >
> I really don't want to own a stand mixer and hope to just make do with a
> food processor.
>
> How important is the wattage between 450 and 700 for cookie dough?

Bigger is better in my opinion. I would also look for a large bowl size.
Some processors can take two different size bowls - like the Kitchen Aid and
the Wolfgang Puck. At this point I would favor the Kitchen Aid with the 11
(or12?) cup bowl and the extra large feed tube. I wouldn't go below 600
watts. You need that much power for sticky dough like bread and cookies.

I'm with you. I don't know how much the Kitchenaid phone rep knows but
she agreed with me today that the 770 and the 760 ($70 price
difference) differ in that the base is metal in the 770 and therefore 5
pounds heavier. So I am definitely getting a black 760 when I really
really want a red one (an IMPERIAL CHINESE red one bwahaha). The 750
comes in colors but it doesn't have the big chute.

Craig Busch wrote:
> The thought of not using a mixer is a possibility. I guess I would have
> thought that it might be easier to have an even mixture.
> Thank you

Actually I prefer to mix cookies by hand - they come out so much
better.
-L.