Home Chef Cooking Tips

Photo by vmiramontes

There’s a reason this is the first post on this page, and the title says it all – I love my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. My KSM90, in Empire Green was the first small appliance I purchased back in the early 90’s and almost 20 yrs later, it still mixes, beats, and kneads with ease.  It is definitely my favorite, and most used, kitchen appliance.

If you are a more than occassional baker, this is the one small appliance you need. Stand mixers are durable and versatile and depending on the brand you buy, it will come with one or more of the following mixer blades (all KitchenAid models come with all three):

Flat Beater (shown in image above) - Basic blade for all types of cake mixes and creaming butter
Whisk – Whipping egg whites and cream
Dough hook – For kneading bread and pizza doughs

Stand mixers come with two types of mixer heads, tilt-up or stationary (with the bowl raising/lowering below it). I prefer the tilt-head mixer, probably because it’s the type I have, but also since it’s very easy to add the ingredients, instal and remove the bowl (with a simple twist), and change mixing blades (they are spring loaded onto the shaft).

Your mixers bowl should be at least 4 qts, as this will hold a large batch of bread or pizza dough. Whether you plan on kneading dough or not, you’re still going to want a solidly build mixer (read HEAVY). The heavy duty construction is primarily the result of the motor size, A larger motor will allow the mixer to operate smoothly at all speeds, regardless of the texture of the dough. Also, when your dough is kneading (and being moved around the inside of the bowl) you don’t want your mixer to be dancing across your counter-top. A solid, quality mixer (20 lbs minimum) will stay put.

When I purchased my mixer, my color options were White, Black, Red, and Green. Today’s mixers come in a much wider variety of colors – the KitchenAid Artisan Series for example, is available in 24 colors from White to Onxy Black, with Butter cup, Cinnamon, Pistachio, and more in between.

Many manufacturers also offer a variety of attachments, some of which may be included with the basic mixer or can purchased separately.  The only reason I happen to have the Attachment Pack is because it was a free bonus  when I purchased my mixer. To this day, I can’t remember using any of the attachments more than once. Don’t buy a mixer based on these extras (no matter how cool they look), especially if you know you won’ tbe using them.  But, if you’re tight on space, and are looking for a mixer that can multi-task as a juicer, cheese shredder, sausage stuffer, french fry cutter, pasta maker, and more, there’s an attachment (or a complete pack) waiting for you.

The other thing I love about my stand mixer is that it is much more kid friendly than a hand held mixer. My kids (7 yr old twins) love to help make birthday cakes, cupcakes, brownies and cookies. With the stand mixer, they can concentrate on adding the ingredients (and watching them mix) while I control the mixer speed. Also, since the ingredients are being added from above, their fingers stay safely away from the mixing blades.

So like I said before, I love my KitchenAid mixer (and so do my kids).