[CanuckJim]

James,

Baking today for a Farmers' Market tomorrow, so I don't have lots of time. The Electrolux is in a league of its own, and doesn't really fit with the other types. My feeling is that the design was developed to get around the friction problems we have been discussing. I've only used one a few times, so I can't be too specific about it's performance or friction specs. It's not very good at handling stiff doughs, such as for bagels. Not enough torque, but it does clean the sides of the bowl very well with high hydration doughs.

The dough hook of a spiral mixer is in a fixed position, but it rotates of course, usually at the back of the bowl. The bowl spins (hence the name spiral) in the same direction as the hook turns by using a chain or ring gear in the base. This cuts down friction on the sides of the bowl. Generally, these machines are heavily built, purpose designed for dough and run at slower rpms than a planetary mixer.

The dough hook of a planetary mixer also rotates, but so does the head of the mixer (hence the name planetary), so you get a dual action. The bowl is fixed. This design creates considerable friction in bread dough because of so much contact with the fixed bowl, and with stiffer doughs the dough will actually climb the hook (more friction), but it's fine when using the paddle or wire whip. My feeling is that the planetary mixer is meant as a multi-purpose machine, so it comes up short in too many areas. Many for home use are not heavily enough built for lots of bread dough. The standard planetary mixer in N Am bakeries is the Hobart. Not a fan of them for the reasons stated, though they are built like tanks.

A fork mixer is another animal entirely. The bowl is in a fixed position, and instead of a hook, you have a fork that plunges into and gently turns the dough. The French versions are somewhat faster than the Italian, but both are very slow by our standards. The slow speed and gentle, folding action do not create appreciable friction. Therefore, dough can be mixed longer for maximum gluten development (you still must control the temps of your ingredients, though). This is a more complex design, hence more expensive, and it's difficult to find anything other than industrial sizes. My impression is that the vast majority of bakeries in France and pizzerias in Italy use fork mixers for precisely these reasons. I'm pretty sure that home mixers there are usually of the spiral or planetary type: Esmach, Bosch, Cuisinart, e.g.

Complete?

We maybe should work out some real specs on these things.

I'm certainly heading in the fork mixer direction, depending on price, availability and size. It's a mystery to me why, with the renaissance of WFO bakeries and pizzerias, that fork mixers haven't taken over North America. Many people have trained in Europe, both for pizza and bread, but they don't seem to have come back with fork mixers under their arms. Strange. I know of one in the Hudson Valley: it's French, huge and cost around 35 K. No doubt there are others. So far as I know, fork mixers are not available in North America at this time unless you import them yourself. I don't think it would take long to convert a true pizza chef from the Hobart to the fork.

If we could take friction out of the equation, making bread and pizza would be a whole lot more precise.

Jim