What equipment do you use for mixing dough?

[DavidNorcross]

I do both. Sometimes I make bread by hand. I would say the majority is with the KA Mixer.

[Attjack]

KitchenAid Mixer

[Bogy]

I use a KitchenAid Pro HD stand mixer. If you can find one of these at a yard sale, buy it. We've had this one a long time. This is at the parsonage. My wife bought the new version for the Lake House, and while they are both rated at 475 watts, the old one seems to have more grunt to it than the new one. I'm old and lazy, and I always look for the easy way to do things. 7 minutes with the dough hook does a lot better than me with my hands.

[MarkN]

I use a food processor with ice water for pizza dough and pulse it rather than run constantly. Something about not heating up the dough (I usually refrigerate it for 1-3 days before making pizza). I use the KitchenAid mixer for breads. In either case I give it 30-60 seconds by hand after.

[Thunder77]

+1 on that!

[Thunder77]

For bread dough, either kitchen aid mixer or by hand. For
pizza dough I use the food processor and J Kenji Lopez-alt’s recipe. https://www.seriouseats.com/new-york-style-pizza

[jfmorris]

Most of my bread is no-knead sourdough, made with a wooden spoon in a big bowl, just until things are mixed, then a few hours of stretch and fold in the bowl by hand before it goes to the fridge for a few days.

My pizza dough I use the Kitchenaid stand mixer with the bread hook, and let it knead the dough thoroughly so that I don't have to do it myself for 10 minutes!

I don't think a food processor is what you want for bread or pizza making. Go for a stand mixer if you want to go beyond hand mixing. That said, you can do a lot of no-knead recipes, and that may include pizza dough.

[Thunder77]

jfmorris, I respectfully disagree about the food processor for pizza dough. Use Kenji’s method for
NY pizza dough and you might change your mind! I would not use it for bread dough though.

[Willy]

Agree 100% with Thunder77. Kenji's FP method is great. I do cut the recipe to 2/3 size as a full batch seemed to strain my FP.

[GrillinNC]

Wow, thanks all for the responses! I didn't expect this to go 2 pages, but that's what makes this website great.

[Thunder77]

As you can see we all love to get our two cents worth in! 🤪

[Bogy]

Put a bunch of old guys together with nothing better to do and that's what you get. Apologies to the young guys.

[NumbWhistle]

Sorry I am late to the party on this thread, but I second Richard Chrz on the Ankarsrum. My wife bought me one a couple years ago as a gift, because I refused to use her Kitchen Aid after hearing horror stories of burning out motors with bread dough kneading. While she works in oncology as a profession, she bakes a lot of desserts for people (including wedding cakes) - so I didn't want to risk damaging her mixer. I know a lot of people who love the KA for bread doughs, so I'm sure it would do a great job - I just wanted to make sure I didn't do anything to her mixer. I value my marriage AND my life too much to risk it!

The Ankarsrum does an outstanding job with all types of bread doughs. I've used it for pizza, sourdough, tangzhong loaves, Pan de Cristal, etc. I never used a different mixer, so I didn't have to "unlearn" anything. That said, I still enjoy making loaves by hand from time to time as it helps me stay connected through the fermentation process. If I have a lot of dough, though, it is tough to beat a good mixer. If I made a lot more dough than I do, I might look at a spiral mixer. Until that time comes (if it ever does), my Ank will do just fine...

[RonB]

I think people ruin the KA mixers trying to mix very low hydration doughs. I've made a lot of bread with my KA and the only time it gets warm is with low hydration doughs like bagel dough.

[Donw]

I’m also an Ankarsrum owner. One of my best purchases ever.

[Richard Chrz]

PaynTrain

[MBMorgan]

Hands

Don't need any more gadgetry ... nor words ...

[Attjack]

It depends on the kind of dough. For instance, if I'm making Neapolitan style dough I mix by hand but if it's New York I use a KitchenAid mixer.

[captainlee]

95% of the time by hand.

[RonB]

I mix the dough in the KA, but I usually finish by hand.

[hoovarmin]

Me too. It saves a ton of time and effort, but doesn't get the dough completely to a smooth finish.

[synodog]

I’m not much of a baker. The wife is the baker in the house and she’s trained my girls well. KA occasionally for breads when she makes her refrigerator rolls but it’s usually the bread machine dough cycle for pizza. I’ve done the recipe on this site a couple times and was happy with it too.
This discussion reminded me of my grandmothers house and this beast of an appliance.

[Rob Johnston]

As many others have said, I use my Kitchenaid stand mixer. I finally broke down during a Black Friday sale a few years ago and have never regretted it. My only regret is why I did not buy it sooner!

[mrteddyprincess]

I like using my hands. I also use the KA on occasion. But I saw a "Danish Dough Whisk" being used in a video I watched about bread making and bought an $11 one off Amazon. That thing has proven itself handy! From crackers to biscuits to cookies, this thing is useful in mixing baked goods.