Stand mixer

What it does that a hand whisk cannot

Two things, and the second is the real one.

It works for a long time without tiring, which matters for meringue, for creaming butter and sugar, and above all for kneading. Ten minutes of dough kneading is trivial for a mixer and genuinely hard work by hand.

And it frees your hands, which changes what recipes are practical. Adding oil drop by drop to a mayonnaise, adding hot syrup to a meringue, adding butter piece by piece to a brioche dough — all of these are difficult alone and easy with a mixer running.

What it does not do is make anything taste better. A cake creamed by hand and a cake creamed in a mixer are the same cake.

The attachments, and what each is for

Flat beater or paddle

Creaming butter and sugar, cake batters, biscuit dough, mashing. The one used most.

Balloon whisk

Egg whites, cream, meringue, whisked sponges. Do not use it for anything stiff.

Dough hook

Bread and enriched doughs. This is the attachment that most justifies the machine.

Flex-edge beater

A paddle with a silicone edge that scrapes the bowl as it turns. Optional, and it saves a lot of stopping and scraping.

Pasta rollers, mincers, ice cream bowls

Genuine attachments and genuinely expensive. Judge them individually rather than as a reason to buy the machine.

Choosing one

• Motor power and build, not features. A mixer that stalls in a stiff dough is worse than useless.
• Bowl size — 4.5 to 5 litres suits most home baking. Larger bowls struggle with small quantities, because the beater cannot reach them.
• Tilt-head or bowl-lift. Tilt-head is easier to use and access; bowl-lift is sturdier for heavy doughs and takes more vertical space.
• Weight is a virtue. A light mixer walks across the worktop under load.
• Check the warranty and spare parts availability. These are machines people keep for decades.
• A hand mixer costs a tenth as much and does everything except knead. If you do not make bread, consider whether that is enough.

Using it well

• Do not over-mix. The commonest stand mixer mistake by a distance — it is powerful and patient and will happily destroy a cake batter or over-whip cream.
• Finish cream by hand. The last few strokes are where over-whipping happens.
• Scrape the bowl. Butter and sugar collect at the bottom where the beater does not reach, and unincorporated butter is a streaky cake.
• Start slow with dry ingredients, or you will wear the flour.
• Do not exceed the dough capacity. Straining the motor with too much dough is how mixers die.
• Use the right attachment. A dough hook will not aerate and a balloon whisk will bend in a stiff dough.

Common questions