Make The Most of Your Stand Mixer

A stand mixer is one of the hardest working tools in the kitchen. They are expensive, however, and they take up a lot of space on the kitchen counter, so they have to earn their place.

You don’t need to have one but if you do a lot of baking and bread making, you’ll find they make light work of mixing and kneading. They’re powerful tools and work faster than handheld tools or old-fashioned ‘elbow grease’.

If purchasing a stand mixer, shop around. Some models have such features as integrated weighing scales, timers, in-bowl illumination, and warming functions.

Stand mixers come in different sizes. If you bake in bulk or are cooking for a larger household, it might be worth investing in a larger model. If you don’t have much counter space, then look for one with a smaller footprint.

Many cooks also like to invest in an extra bowl. These are useful for recipes that call for different components to be mixed separately; as well as on busy days in the kitchen when you don’t want to be constantly washing the mixing bowl.

The basic attachments that come with most stand mixers are a beater or paddle; a balloon whisk; and a dough hook.

The dough hook is used for kneading dough. It’s quicker, less messy, and less labour-intensive than doing it by hand.

The balloon whisk is used for whipping and beating. Egg whites, aquafaba and cream can be whipped up in minutes.

The beater or flat paddle is used for mixing and beating ingredients. The most obvious applications are creaming butter and mixing batters. Unlike a food processor, it doesn’t cut while it mixes, so it’s useful when you want to keep some texture in the mixture, for example when shredding meat for rillettes or making meatballs.

Some people even use their stand mixers to mash potatoes (using the whisk attachment, but just briefly, so they’re not overworked); to shred cooked and braised meats (e.g., pulled pork); to make dips such as whipped feta.

Useful attachments that can be purchased separately include a pasta roller; a food grinder (for sausages, minced meat etc); a food processor for slicing, dicing, shredding, and julienning ingredients; a spiralizer; and a splatter guard or pouring shield which helps prevent splashes and helps when adding ingredients to the bowl during mixing time.

Mixers have different speed settings. Always increase the speed gradually so ingredients don’t fly out (icing sugar is particularly troublesome). Keep the speed low when kneading bread dough so the mixer doesn’t overheat and so the dough isn’t overkneaded.

When making batters, you can add quantities of dry and liquid ingredients in stages, to aid thorough mixing and to minimise splashing.

From time to time, use a silicone spatula to scrape the bottom and the sides of the bowl. There is a slight gap between the base of the bowl and the mixer attachment, so the beater can’t always reach all the ingredients particularly when working with small quantities of ingredients.

Don’t leave your stand mixer unattended when in operation. Check in on it. These are powerful tools, and they work surprisingly quickly. When whipping egg whites, for example, the time between soft peaks and stiff peaks can be a matter of seconds. Similarly, when whipping cream, it will turn into butter if you leave it too long.

If you want to make butter, however, you can – very easily. Simply follow the method, as demonstrated on the @leithscooking Instagram account.