This is the best stand mixer for bread
Gentle kneading, a steady base, and a wide-open bowl make for great bread.
The boom echoed so loudly through my small apartment, I literally jumped in shock. And I knew immediately what had caused it: my longtime stand mixer.
I had left it to knead a batch of challah dough, and when I stepped into another room, the over-taxed mixer wobbled and shook and eventually walked itself right off the counter, crashing into the floor with tremendous force. That’s when I finally admitted the truth to myself: This stalwart mixer wasn’t the best tool for kneading bread dough.
But thankfully, my fellow employee-owners had clued me in to a stand mixer that was up to the task: the Ankarsrum Original Stand Mixer. This powerful Swedish appliance has a unique design reminiscent of a professional spiral mixer, with a large, stable base and wide bowl. If you’re used to a standard mixer design like a KitchenAid, it can be a little disorienting at first — I was certainly thrown off. But it’s that unconventional design that makes this mixer so well suited to bread dough.
Because the motor is at the base of the machine, rather than the top, the mixer is much steadier — it can handle even the stiffest bread doughs, which won’t cause it to wobble and shake during vigorous kneading. The same goes for enriched doughs that take a long time to knead, like brioche. And it can easily handle much larger amounts of bread dough without so much as a shiver, perfect if you’re a big-batch bread baker looking to scale up recipes with ease.
Because the motor is at the base, the mixer rotates from the bottom, rather than the top, and the bowl’s opening is unobscured. As a result, you can clearly and easily see your bread dough as it mixes, which is especially handy since visual clues are so essential to great bread. It’s also much easier to add ingredients to the dough as the machine mixes.
But how, exactly, does this machine knead? Instead of the classic curved dough hook attachment, the Ankarsrum includes two attachments for kneading bread dough: an elongated wire hook and a tubular, ribbed dough roller. I found the latter attachment, a unique shape that I’ve not seen replicated in other stand mixers, to be an incredibly gentle way of kneading dough that mimics the action of hand kneading: It presses the dough against the side of the bowl in a smooth rolling motion, developing strength in your dough without tearing. (The accompanying bowl scraper, meanwhile, ensures everything is well integrated and no dry ingredients end up at the bottom of the bowl.) The machine ensures perfectly kneaded doughs every time, with enough strength to capture carbon dioxide during proofing and transform into robust, airy breads.
Speaking of proofing: One tiny-but-mighty detail of this mixer is its accompanying bowl cover. This accessory means I can knead my dough in the mixer bowl, then slip on the cover and let it proof directly in the bowl. (And we all know how important a proper airtight bowl cover is for great bread!)
The Ankarsrum, of course, is not only built for making bread dough: It’s also suited for anything else you would use a stand mixer for, such as cookies, cakes, and even no-churn ice cream. (Learn more in this previous post: How a mixer made me a better (and more confident!) baker.) At around $750, it’s an investment. But if you’re a passionate bread baker who frequently turns to your stand mixer to get the job done, this machine was made for you.
The Ankarsrum comes in a wide range of colors — and it currently has free shipping!
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