Lately I've been on a bagel kick. I've settled on the Hamelman 68% formula and today I noticed that during my mix my stand mixer was straining a bit making weird noises. I know all about bagels killing mixers so I wanted to get opinions on if there are any workarounds. I know there's love for the Ankarsrum mixers and they look unique and cool. The videos I've seen for pizza dough and bagels are like 20-30 minutes long! Maybe it's because of the gentler mixing style with that roller or the weird S dough hook. But my 5-6 minutes on my dough hook is hard to beat.
Has anyone noticed a particular "wattage" that a single batch (which for me is 2 lb flour) can handle? I have a Hamilton Beach Commercial, unsure of wattage. What they sell now is 800W but this is from 2013. I could opt for something like a Vollrath 10qt but then we're talking $1500
Any opinions on the matter? I love my bagels but I also like my stand mixer.
Sorry to say that wattage is not really all that important. Wattage is the output of the motor, but you would also need to know what system is used to transfer that power to the dough hook. If you had 2 ten speed bikes, and someone disabled all but 2 of those speeds, if one bike had just speed 1 and 2, and the other 9 and 10, the first bike would be much easier to pedal than the second one even though the wattage ( in this case you ) had the same power. In addition, once you get past the transmission, there are different types of way that energy is used to knead the dough. The KA uses a planetary mixing arm, the BUP uses a revolving dough hook with two arms, and as you pointed out, the Ank uses a roller and a scraper. So if you are searching for a particular mixer, I would do a youtube search for bagels with the name of that mixer and see what the users say. I don't make bagels, so can help with mixer suggestions.
Excellent illustration!
Maggie Glezer recommends using a food processor for the bagel recipe in her book. I tried making it with a mixer and damaged my dough hook (because the dough was so stiff the bowl came out of the stand and hit the hook). I then moved the dough to my Indian grinder (used for grinding spices, curry pastes, etc) and that sort of worked, but kept shutting off. So I suspect a heavy duty food processor would work very well!
yikes what her hydration %?
I have a cuisinart but I've never put bread dough in it. Somehow since I have a mixer it feels...wrong
They are delicious though, provided you like a chewy bagel. The recipe came from a well known Jewish bakery, now closed.
I think Stella Parks also recommends a food processor for her cinnamon rolls—so it’s not too crazy.
I'll try it next time. I assume you don't knead nearly as long then. I do 2 lbs of flour for 5-6 minutes in my mixer
To divide dough in half, process one half for a minute or two, then take out and knead by hand a few times to cool. Repeat with the other half. Then repeat the whole process two or three more times (so each piece is processed three or four times). A slightly less stiff dough might not need as much time though