So far, I’m trying to make a perfect loaf of White Bread before I move on to other stuff. I’m not too thrilled with the recipe that came in the manual. It’s a bit too yeasty, a bit too dense. Good with milk and soup, but overpowering in a sandwich. Maybe I screwed up somewhere, I don’t know.
Anyway, I’m turning to the cooking and baking mavens on this board. Could you post some Kitchenaid-specific recipes here? Any sort of food or baked goods that you make using this lovely, lovely machine! A beginning baker appreciates the help!
I don’t have a stand mixer, but I decided that I wanted to be able to make my own bread from scratch a few months ago. I wanted a nice all around/all purpose white bread that I could make from staples I had in the kitchen. I use this Amish White Bread recipe but I use about half the amount of sugar called for. It seems to work pretty well, but I just mix the ingredients up in a big bowl with a sturdy wooden spoon and kneed by hand on the counter. That recipe makes 2 loaves - I freeze one and use the other right away. I would think it would come out just fine if mixed mechanically.
The Amish bread recipe looks great! I’m a little scared to try pie-making, seeing as I know nothing about pies except eating them, but I’m sure I won’t be able to resist trying it out.
Anything other ideas? Anything widely appreciated that you whip up using your Kitchenaid?
Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Cooks Illustrated)
2 1/8 cups bleached all-purpose flour (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark), 7 ounces
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 - 2 cups 60% cocoa chocolate chips
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
In KitchenAid, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.
Drop dough by heaping tablespoons onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions at 8 minutes, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 12-15 minutes. Cool cookies on cookie sheets.
I astounded my friend by making these in about 15 minutes (plus baking time). They are dangerously quick and easy, especially with the KitchenAid.
Also, anything using whipped egg whites and or whipped cream: mousses, spongecake, angel food, meringue, whatever. Even compared to using a hand-held electric mixer, the KitchenAid makes achieving soft peaks effortless.
Oooh! Cookies! Thank you, Cinnamon. I’ll be making those for sure.
Are there any websites you go to for instructions on Kitchenaiding? The booklet I got with the thing is strangely bereft of information. It just has one or two recipes. It would be nice to find out more about what speed settings to use to get a particular effect. How to get stiff peaks, soft peaks, that sort of thing.
I hate to say this, because I hate to hear it, but I’m going to anyway.
The best way to learn any of this is to just pick something and do it. When I got my Kitchen-Aid, I just went to town. I made all sorts of things, and I’m not at all an expert. Just pay attention to the instructions in the booklet about the maximum number of cups of flour and the highest speed for lots of flour, and go to town.
And this may be blasphemy, but in so doing, I found some recipes that just need to be made by hand. Not bread, though.
A basic sweetdough recipe should be essential and integral. I think this recipe is one of the best, and you just mix it and switchout your breadhook to knead it.
1 cup of lard/shortening
2 cups white flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Combine dry ingredients, then cut in the shortening with the dough hook. Add:
1 egg plus enough liquid to make a half cup - water, milk, cream, orange juice, soured milk, whatever.
Mix together. If it’s too wet, add a little more flour. Mix it until it’s combined but don’t over-mix, or it’ll be tough. Turn out onto a floured surface, roll out. It makes four single crusts. If you’re blind-baking the crusts, poke holes in the bottom with a fork (blind baking is when you bake the crust before filling it, like for lemon meringue or cream pies) to let out steam. You can also fill the inside with dry beans after lining it with waxed paper.
You can brush the top of a two-crust pie with an egg wash to make it shiiiiiny.
This was my Auntie Laura’s recipe. She was the cook and baker in mining and logging camps for years and years.
I don’t think it’s blasphemy at all. Just this morning I whipped up some muffins, and reflected that the KitchenAid would be a poor tool to use. There’s no heavy or extended mixing, and you actually want to retain a few lumps, just barely incorporating the ingredients. If you used the mixer, all you’d contribute is more gluten to make the muffins tough, and more dishes to wash, when a bowl and a spoon are all that’s required.
I’m glad someone else thinks so, too. I’ve definitely made some recipes that I wish I hadn’t used the mixer for, some of which other people I know really like it for!
I think I use it a lot less than I’d thought I would when I got it, but I’m really glad to have it when I do need it.
Just start making stuff. You don’t need special recipes to use your stand mixer any more than you would need a special recipe for using a wooden spoon. It’s just another tool in your kitchen now. Useful in some recipes, not so much in others.
Stand mixers are great for making most cookies (don’t over beat, but they are awesome at creaming butter and sugar. use speed 6), bread, cakes, biscuits (really. I just stop mine before the milk is fully incorporated and finish by hand), cheese cake, whipping egg whites (10 speed with the wire wisk, btw), making frosting, etc.
find something you want to make and make it. I’ve had mine since my wedding day and I use it three to four times a week. I love my stand mixer and can’t imagine cooking without it.
