Mixers

[gjbingham]

Re: Mixers

Hahahaha,
Great laughs. I read Reinhart's notes about temps of dough after mixing - what am I supposed to do, stick a thermometer in it? What if it's not right? He doesn't say what to do then! I take the simplistic side to the approach. How could it possibly be 81 degrees when I used cold water? What if it is higher than that? Throw it out???? Put it in the freezer?? I figure it's always perfect, even without the thermometer. Ignorance is bliss!

[Les]

Re: Mixers

Wow - I wonder if the rock caught fire yet

[70chevelle]

Re: Mixers

Hello:

I have a Bosch Universal Mixer. It is built like a rock, and I have no doubt that it will last a long time. The one hesitation I would have in recommending it is that, even on the lowest speed, the rotations are very fast and, in my experience, can quickly heat the dough beyond where I want it to be (i.e., 78 degrees F or less). I have actually hooked up a light dimmer switch to the power cord so that I can slow it down, which helps a bit, but is not perfect (at slow speeds the motor will often just stop upon resistance).

I feel it is important to keep the temp of the dough down so that it does not lose flavor or become over-oxidized. (It is possible I am placing too much emphasis on this, and I have not done a side by side comparision in this regard).

I would say that, other than the temp issue, the mixer does a great job developing the dough at full speed.

Jim

Yes, Les, I understand. This was the post in this thread I was referring to.

[Les]

Re: Mixers

I've read a few posts where some have just put a dimmer switch on. It does work, insofar as it will decrease the speed of the motor, but it will also, potentially, burn up the motor.

Dimmer switch = BAD. Under voltage is a bad thing for motors. If you bring it down to a stall you just made yourself a huge (an expensive) resistor. Motors are typically designed for a set voltage and frequency. Neil suggested modulating the frequency , which will work. Kind of the same thing applies though - running at a lower frequency will reduce the torque and the result is excess heat.

[70chevelle]

Re: Mixers

Niel - thanks for the input. I started looking in ernest today, and found the electrolux on this site and others. It seems it will be able to handle my needs, with a little better aesthetics in my kitchen, plus save a couple $100. Funny part is when I told my wife I found the Electrolux & sent her a link to look at it, she was dissappointed that the "ugly commercial" one was out of the picture. I jumped right on it and told her I could build a stand in the kitchen for it if she liked it so much, but she caught her senses and figured another 20# mixer that could be hidden away would be better than the 170# pink elephant looking at you in the kitchen 24/7.

On a side note, be careful trying to create a variable speed mixer. I've read a few posts where some have just put a dimmer switch on. It does work, insofar as it will decrease the speed of the motor, but it will also, potentially, burn up the motor. I don't have all the electrical terminology or science(amps, ohms, load, etc), but I know from looking at bench grinders (heavy duty, for knife making), which would be a similar motor used in a commericial mixer, that buying a variable speed unit for a fixed speed motor is quite expensive. The short version: Do your homework!

[nissanneill]

Re: Mixers

70chevelle
my mixer is a 10 quart and I mixed a couple of small dough batches of around 4.5lbs or 2kg. They were tiny in the bowl and I was wondering whether or not I made the dough hook deep enough to reach the bottom but it was within 5 mm of the sides and bottom.
The mix was 100% hydration and took a while to completely mix (a couple of minutes) and I continued to add flour until the dough until it started to climb the hook during mixing.
I have not done a large mix but at least 10kg or 22lb would fit easily in the bowl. I will get adventurous once I have the formula correct and the bread meets the other half's requirements.
I checked out the motor and it is very heavy duty, notched belt driven and I can't stop it with my hands. It ripped through the second speed mix in speed #2 which is mainly for the whisking functions. Whipping cream will come with the doughnuts a little later when the grandkids grow a little to appreciate them.
I was a bit disappointed with only 2 speeds but I have a plan to put variable speed onto it, very simple to vary the electricity frequency I believe.

Cheers.

Neill

[70chevelle]

Re: Mixers

Now that I've read thru this entire thread, and done some research, has anyone considered a Restar SM-10?? It's under $800 with free shipping and is a 10 quart commercial mixer and runs on 110v. 3 Speeds, of which, the lowest is 91. (I believe) How does 91 rpm compare to the low on my KA? Here's a link. Restar SM-10 (10 Quart Commercial Dough Mixer - (Non NSF or ETL)) from Select Appliance It looks very similar to Neil's mixer.

Neil, how much (in grams or pounds) dough can you make in your mixer? When I bake, my wife & I will usually make a batch each which is about 7.5#/3400 grams each or 15#/6900 grams total. Just trying to see how a full batch in a 10 qt mixer compares to my 15 pounds.

[Bacterium]

Re: Mixers

Neil that's a pretty cool unit.......would need a whole new room for that one.

I have a couple commercial units kicking around in my shed that I got second hand with a mate. Finally had time to get one rebuilt - bearings, seals, regrease, alignment, repaint, etc. Anyway I fired it up tonight and these things are just great.I did three lots of doughs (lavash, pizza & pain a l'ancienne). The bowl is huge, probably overkill but hey this thing just cranks. It took me a third of the time.

Not sure if I am using the best hook ("E" Dough arm) but it seemed to work fine for the pizza and lavash doughs. It got them into well mixed balls and the dough felt a bit lighter than when I usually hand knead it.

Next I did the "Pain.."(2kg of flour) and because of the high hydration it didn't come togther as a ball (as per the photo) but seemed to mix it all through. I intentionally did the Pain last so I could leave the mixed dough in the bowl. Straight in the fridge overnight, to retard it and then pull it out to rise/cook tomorrow......ahhh sounds lazy but saves work.

The unit is a "Tyrone" brand, its got some paddle and whisk(whip) attachments. I've also got some "Hobart" brand attachments which fit on the front Power drive for shredding and stuff.

If all goes well, I'll have to put something in "what you cooked last night"

[Frances]

Re: Mixers

Now theres' a cool machine... its pick-up only though - drat!

[nissanneill]

Re: Mixers

Now here's a mixer (or a double one with a flour mill thrown in the same machine).
LIPS COMBINATION MACHINE
URDORF / ZURICH

GRATER
1 Adjustible slicer
3 Graters

3 SPEED MIXER
Diametre: 40cm
Height: 40cm
1 Pedal
1Whisk
1 Hook

3 SPEED MIXER
Diametre: 35cm
Height: 30cm
3 different whisks

FLOUR MILLER

POWER
20 Amp
3 Phase

On ebay.com.au at present for Aus$799

See:

LIPS Cobination Machine - eBay Mixers, Kitchen Equipment, Restaurant, Catering, Business, Industrial. (end time 22-Jan-09 15:43:07 AEDST)

Cheers.

Neill

[jmhepworth]

Re: Mixers

Our standard bread recipe uses whole wheat flour -- we usually grind it just before mixing it. But these rolls are a Christmas treat and use white flour. I expect the results would be similar for whole grains, but I haven't measured it. The recipe we use for bread uses very hot water that we add oatmeal to. We have to let it cool a bit before adding the yeast, so measuring the temperature of that dough wouldn't help much. I have no doubt that kneading would cause the temp to go down not up -- but only because it starts out pretty warm.

[BRIFRO]

Re: Mixers

Was the dough made with white flour? I use all whole grain flours which are much stiffer. I would be interested to know if the temprature of whole grain dough is also not raised by the Bosch Mixer.

[jmhepworth]

Re: Mixers

I was rather curious about whether the Bosch would generate heat when kneading, so I took the opportunity to measure when my wife made rolls today. Before kneading the dough was 94.3F. After kneading for 8 minutes, the dough was 91.6F. The temp went down, not up. I wouldn't be concerned about the speed of the Bosch raising the temperature.

[dmun]

Re: Mixers

Many US school districts are doing in all vo-tech programs. Thousands of fully equipped workshops have had their equipment sold and programs discontinued because of liability issues, budget issues, (or mostly unstated) class issues.

If your school district still has a vocational-technical program by all means use it, but also defend it, fund it, and praise kids who graduate from it. For too long vo-tech has been considered a dumping ground and an embarrassment and it shows in the hollowing out and graying of the US industrial workforce. We can't all push papers and keys for a living!

[/rant]

[Archena]

Re: Mixers

Hi,

5 kg is roughly equivalent to 10 UK quarts, or 10 US dry quarts. It would be equivalent to 12 US quarts i.e. 3 gallons. Anyway you look at it that thing's big!

In a lot of US states vocational schools occasionally offer continuing education courses. I took cabinetmaking that way a few times. Check with the local technical or vocational school. They may have a class you can take.