Welcome back, friends of Erre4M! Today we'll vary our blog topic a little by settling a question that keeps nagging at us: kneading machine or planetary mixer?
To begin, let's draw one main distinction between the two machines straight away: the kneading machine is for bread-making, while the planetary mixer is for pastry-making.
But let's take a closer look at the kneading machine, of which there are 3 types: fork, plunging-arm and spiral. Let's start with the last of these, which you can also find on our website.
This kneading machine can hold up to 5 kg of dough for a maximum of 3 kg of flour; it has the same features as the professional ones, the only difference being that it is more compact. It can have a single speed or use the regulator, for a maximum speed of 300 rpm; the arms are shaped in a spiral so as to mimic the movement of our hands, and the bowl rotates so that the dough always folds back downwards. In addition, the central post helps the dough go round together with the bowl.
But let's now move on to the planetary mixer, and the model we'll look at is by Kitchenaid — again, you can find it on our website.
This is the 6.9-litre "Heavy duty" version; the bowl does not rotate as on the kneading machine — rather, it is fixed onto the sliding arms operated by the side lever. All this firmly locks the bowl in place for processing, and what turns is the central pin to which the tools attach, together with the head of the machine's bowl. In this way the movement of the planets around the sun is recreated — which is exactly why it is called planetary! This machine comes with 3 tools: the whisk, the spiral and the flat beater, depending on the product you want to make. What's more, it is very easy to fit the tools thanks to the bayonet coupling.
So, kneading machine or planetary mixer? The answer is that it depends on the type of product you want to make, because the planetary mixer is used mainly in pastry-making but also, for example, to make fresh pastries and fillings. The kneading machine is used only for leavened doughs, which we cannot obtain with the planetary mixer.
Let's put the two machines to the test by preparing the same dough with both.
We use the same amount of flour, the same amount of water — which must be 55% relative to the flour — the same water temperature and the same mixing time.
We pour in 500 g of flour and 275 g of water at 25 °C and knead for 5 minutes at low speed. After the 5 minutes, we add the salt and increase the speed to 4 for both. Once we're done, we can see how, in the planetary mixer, the dough was held downwards and therefore underwent a rise in temperature, whereas in the kneading machine the dough turns together with the bowl, so high oxygenation and low heating are encouraged.
Once the doughs are ready, the difference is clear: the one from the planetary mixer is less elastic, while the one from the kneading machine is more elastic and translucent.
