Non-KitchenAid Mixer Recioes

December 27, 2007 1:42 AM

I got a stand mixer for X-Mas! No, not the damn KitchenAid with the atom smasher attachment. I'm looking for some good, basic mixer recipes, breads and meatloaves in particular.

No whisk, no paddle, just the basics here. I make a lot of bread and my sassy new Sunbeam looks to be up to the job. Help me get the most out of my mixer!

posted by maryh to food & drink (7 comments total)

Sally Lunn bread.

I've been using the above-linked recipe for several years and it is always popular. It works well in my mixer because the dough is too wet to easily knead by hand and soft enough that it doesn't strain the mixer as much as some bread dough. It does develop a lot of elastic gluten so you may need to switch to the dough hooks midway through mixing. (I've never used a two-beater mixer so I don't know how much they can safely take.)

Forget the tube pan, though – the loaf pan I use (4" x 4" x 13") is perfect.

It's best thickly-sliced, toasted, and with butter; a friend loves it with Nutella.
posted by D.C. at 4:52 AM on December 27, 2007

Forgot to add:

I don't bother heating the milk in a pan. I just microwave it in a glass measuring cup.
posted by D.C. at 4:56 AM on December 27, 2007

Please don't make meatloaf in a mixer. That is too hard on it. Mix that by hand. You can try it, but I think it ruins the texture of the loaf.
posted by caddis at 5:42 AM on December 27, 2007

Yeah, meatloaf becomes meatglue in a mixer. You can mix up your liquids in the mixer before adding them by hand to the meat, though.

I have been making this zucchini bread constantly since I got my mixer a couple of weeks ago. I cut the sugar to 2 cups, half white half brown. You really need a food processor to do all that shredding, but it's so good. Variations: several handfuls dark chocolate chips, or 2T cocoa + several handfuls white chocolate chips. If you use white chocolate chips, you need to heavily flour the baking pan because they sink and stick.

You'll need a dough hook to get most breads going properly. I'm still searching the net for a favorite french bread recipe.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:29 AM on December 27, 2007

I should have mentioned that I do have dough hooks- that was a basic requirement for me. Caddis, that bums me out. A friend told me that I could safely mix meatloaf with a couple quick pulses of the dough hooks. (Then again, I've never tried her meatloaf...) Thanks for the recipes, DC and Lyn Never, they sound delicious. I'm making a light rye bread right now, and the mixer is rattling in a way that's making an upgrade to a KitchenAid a more attractive idea by the minute...
posted by maryh at 11:36 AM on December 27, 2007

When you use a Kitchen-Aid for bread, you're apparently supposed to set it at 2 (very low); I found this out after I destroyed part of the motor on my K-A. If your "other brand" mixer is having a tough time, try it at a lower speed. You'll have to wait longer, but you'll still be saving yourself a lot of work over hand-kneading.

A mixer is great for mashing white or sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes are great with meatloaf. Add milk to white; add lemon juice or orange juice to sweet; add salt to both. And anywhere from zero to several sticks of butter.
posted by wryly at 1:58 PM on December 27, 2007

wryly, I set my 'other' brand mixer at "fold", a slightly lower speed than "knead". The bowl on this mixer revolves, and heavier loads make it clatter. I hope this is just a design flaw and not an indication that the motor is under too much strain. The rye dough I mixed up earlier seemed much too sticky to me at first, but I just folded it for the second rise and it was suprisingly smooth and elastic. I totally winged the recipe but here's what I have so far:

2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 cup cool water

Mix dry ingredients together in bowl. Add water, mix until incorporated. Cover goo, let sit about 18 hours while it bubbles away. Then add

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 dry milk
2 tbsp potato flakes
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp brown sugar
pinch of sour salt (citric acid)
2 cups King Arthur Light Rye flour
1/2 to 3/4 cups water

Set mixer on low, add all ingredients but the flour. As mixture is kneading, keep sprinkling more flour in until a ball starts to form. (I had to keep running a spatula along the side of the bowl to keep everything mixing in the center.) Let sit covered for 20 minutes.

Resume kneading on setting 2 (unless your mixer sounds like a contruction site, then try a bit lower) for 15-20 minutes. (I was fussing around with it a bit, so I'm lost track of how much time the dough actually sat under the hooks. It seems to have done alright... so far...) Cover and let sit.

After about 2 hours, check dough. It should be close to doubled in size. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and flatten into a rectangle. Fold it into 3rds (like a letter), then do it again. Form dough into a smooth ball, tucking and pinching the bottom together with your fingertips. Lightly grease the bowl, drop dough in smooth side up, cover, and let sit for another couple of hours until it's nearly tripled in size.

Grease a 9 by 5 loaf pan. Gently squeeze out large air bubbles in dough while folding it over itself 3 or 4 times. Reform dough into a ball, then gently roll it with your hands into an oblong tube-y shape, until it fits reasonably well into the pan. Press the center down lightly with the side of your hand, then cover dough with a cloth. Wait about an hour until dough has risen about an inch above top of loaf pan.
Preheat oven at 500 degrees. Add loaf, turn heat down to 350. After 25 minutes, use a thermomiter to check temperature at center of the loaf- it should read about 180.
Remove loaf to a rack to cool. Eat. Yum.

At least I hope it's yum- Guess I'll know in about 3 hours! Thanks all!
posted by maryh at 3:30 PM on December 27, 2007