My point was that if you wanted to compare whipped cream, which you’d do with a whisk normally to FP cream, even beaters from a stand mixer will not produce that same dense result. It is airier.
And it isn’t about having a preference for one over the other. Airy whipped cream is one thing, dense thick whipped cream for frosting is another. If I’m making shortcakes or a mousse, I’m whipping cream. If I’m making a layer cake with strawberry whipped cream, I’m using the FP because I specifically want that denser frosting. It’s just a different preparation.
I find your responses weirdly combative when all I did was offer up some answers as to what people use the FP for and why, which you were kind of asking in this thread. You seem to think I’m trying to tell your that your way of doing things is lesser when I pointed out why other people have a particular preference and told you what I use it for.
I mean, I didn’t make that cheesecake nor did I say it’s the perfect cheesecake (though I appreciate that there’s no starch in it, as I find cheesecakes with any starch unacceptable). I just pointed out that it’s one of many accounts from people who have observed less air incorporation.
I don’t “love the food processor”. It’s just useful for a lot of things. And you asked.
I’d love to hear more about this. KA stand mixer is where I do all my doughs that aren’t no-knead. I’ve done pizza dough, sandwich slicing bread, challah, brioche, liege waffle batter. I’ve definitely heard the motor whining a few times too.
I don’t do cheesecakes, but @ScottinPollock I would trust @Shellybean on the desserts. You only need peruse the baking threads for a few minutes to see she is a prolific baker who turns out beautiful looking goods almost daily.
Basically, you void the warranty when you go above a certain speed when making bread dough. Now, KA will replace whatever needs replacing provided both parties don’t explicitly mention that the warranty was voided, but plenty of people have made the mistake of letting it slip that they did something they technically weren’t supposed to.
Obviously you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who follows those rules. But if a regular dough with decent hydration can cause trouble (and my KA is all metal gears), then just think about a dough that needs major muscle.
Aside from bread dough, warranty is also voided if you let slip that you are using your mixer for commercial use, even if it’s something like cakes, which don’t tend to give trouble. So if you’re making cakes daily for a business, then you are using it in a way it wasn’t intended.
Wow - I just clicked the link and they said knead bread dough on 2, for 2 min. I could swear that in my recipes, it says put your dough in a mixer and knead for 7 min with a dough hook. Not all the recipes, but certainly some. Per KA that would be the equivalent of 35-42 min of hand kneading, as they say that 2 min in the KA = 10-12 by hand.
For instance, this is from the king arthur pizza dough recipe I use: “Mix to combine, adding the remaining water 1 tablespoon at a time if the dough looks dry. Knead for about 7 minutes using a stand mixer with its dough hook, until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl.”
Yeah, I killed the gear with my honey butter rolls and it’s been replaced, but I find very little use for the stand mixer now as a result. I am making smaller cakes that a hand mixer can handle perfectly, and for bread I’m typically hand kneading everything again, with the rare exception of some FP doughs or just no-knead.
Pretty happy with my cheesecake. Rarely make a whole cake as I usually do muffin sized that lets me top them differently (sour cream, fruit compotes, chocolate ganache, nut butters, etc.).
Yeah, it’s crazy. So many doughs I make take a long kneading to get proper texture. And that’s in the stand mixer. You’re not making panettone by kneading only 4-6 minutes at speed 2. Especially because frankly the KA isn’t fantastic at kneading bread.
I’m happy you’re happy. You didn’t ask about cheesecake. You asked about 3 tools, and doughs, and then kind of dissed another poster, over and over, because you didn’t like her answers. I just came on to say she appears to be kind of a pro. And that maybe you shouldn’t have asked if you didn’t want to hear about others’ experiences.
I disagreed with her. If that is what you mean by “dissed” than I am ok with that. However if you’re referring to “disrespected”, I’d like to see a quote of where I did that as I don’t believe I did.
Eh - semantics. Dissed and disagreed. You asked a question. She answered. You didn’t like her answers and said in your opinion your way was better. So I just don’t get why you posted the question in the first place. At this point there isn’t much left to say about it.
Personally didn’t see the need for “agree to disagree” when I wasn’t trying to convince you to switch, but merely answering why I think the FP is preferable for cheesecake based on what advantages I’ve observed from comparing methods. Or telling me that we must be using different ingredients that I would think this way. I mean, we’re talking about cheesecake, not pot roast or something. I have very strong negative feelings about starch in them, as I noted before, but other than that, what exactly would be so different that you can’t imagine why I might find the FP preferable?
Do all of above by hand because I can’t be arsed to clean the mechanicals. I use a FP for cheese crackers and shortbread where cutting in chunks of cheese and butter is a pain. Pie dough is a “piece of cake” if you use a wire dough cutter to break up the fat, then a light hand to incorporate liquid. Pizza dough, either modify 18 hour dough or a fast mix together dough + 3 hour rise.
These are my choices because I’m lazy. Whatever works for you is right.
You’re a pro (or as close to one as makes no difference…) so you might have an informed opinion. I currently have a KA Artisan (with the tilt head) of relatively recent vintage, so it’s not the old school ‘unkillable’ metal gear version. Its dough hook is the C style. I’ve noticed the ‘Pro’ models with the raise/lower bowls rather than the tilt head have ‘pigtail’ style dough hooks. Is one appreciably better than the other?
Most of my KitchenAid use is for cookies (it certainly creams butter and sugar quite nicely) and the occasional cake, but I HAVE done a number of batches of Hokkaido milk bread rolls (a thanksgiving fave), challah and haiwaiian bread (lots of butter to knead in) and pizza dough. Honestly, the most I hear it struggle is when I dump in the chocolate chips for the cookies (I know, I should fold them in by hand. I am lazy and it would mean dirtying another bowl. bleah.)
The spiral is definitely more effective at kneading the dough, but KA is generally not considered to be all that great at kneading dough, and even with a spiral hook I often had to help it along.
I made a fair amount of bread in the KA too, but the issue is that according to the company itself most bread-making technically falls under their no-no list and so one shouldn’t be surprised when a gear dies on you while doing fairly standard things, which for me is a bit off-putting and why I’m not likely to ever use a KA stand mixer again. I want to comfortably knead dough in my mixer!
