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Advise on Ankarsrum Stand Mixer
My wife is an avid baker. She has a good KitchenAid stand mixer that she's been using for years now. I don't know the different models, but I know it was one of the better ones. Sorry, but I'm one of those husbands that's always in the background just watching things happen. Recently she saw an Ankarsrum Stand Mixer in a video. She loved that had an open top and many cool gadgets available. I went online to consider purchasing one for Xmas. I read some reviews and many of them mentioned that it was only good for baking bread. She mainly loves baking cookies and cakes. It's her way of blowing off steam and she's very good at it. (Unfortunately for me lol).
I guess my question is would this be a good overall stand mixer or should I be considering a different Mixer? I really wasn't looking to purchase a different one, but it has limited capabilities, i might go a different route. The cost for the Ankarsrum Stand Mixer was $750. It seems like it doesn't go on sale, but I'll be ok with that if that's the case. That's about as much as I want to spend. Is this a good idea or should I be looking at something else? Since its obvious I'm a novice, any advise would be welcomed. TIA
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I just received one today for my birthday and have already used it to make cookies and can tell you Wow, this thing is phenomenal! It mixed the dough in about half the time as my KitchenAid. And I have a hefty KitchenAid. I’m a sourdough baker and can already tell it’s going to be phenomenal for that as well. I’ll be doing dough tomorrow for three or four loaves as well as pizza dough and can post a follow up if you’re still deciding and want more input.
I’m already planning on getting the blender attachment so I can get rid of my Vitamix. Having only owned the Ankarsrum for about 10 hours, I already love it!
so glad to read it's good at more than just bread since I'm more of a cake / biscuit (cookie) baker myself :D
This morning I made a double batch of jalapeño cheddar sourdough with about 20% Kamut flour, a double batch of Pain de Mie (soft sandwich bread), and pizza dough. Normally I would do the jalapeño cheddar by hand, but I wanted to test everything in the Ank. It definitely did a better job than my KitchenAid. There is a little bit of a learning curve. There are two options for dough: a hook, or the round wheel thing – sorry, forgot the name of it. I found the Pain de Mie worked better with the dough hook, and the others did just fine with the Spinning wheel. I don’t miss my KitchenAid at all.
The reviews are positive for applications other than bread. I’m also about to splurge for one for my husband’s birthday.
Our 20+ year old KitchenAid mixer has been in the shop twice. It’s a workhorse, but some of those bread doughs really push the machine to the limit.
Thanks for asking this question.
I'm a hobby baker (https://www.instagram.com/bakingbykoala/) and have a Breville right now (which I've been very happy with) and looking to get a new mixer at some point in the future.
I already knew I did not want a Kenwood or a Bosch ... initially I was tossing up between another Breville (so I could reuse my bowl and attachments) or the ubiquitous KitchenAid. The Ankasrum has really caught my fancy. I'm not really a bread maker though other than cinnamon scrolls and Japanese milk breads. I'm more of a cake and a biscuit (cookie) person.
I get why people like the KitchenAid but it's kind of frustrating to hear the reason being: "I've owned a KitchenAid all my life, I've never heard of the Ankasrum so therefore KitchenAid is the only option out there..."
One of my shallow reasons for wanting the KitchenAid was that you can get an engraved name plate plus it's really easy to get parts - but there are a lot of cons about the KitchenAid as well as the pros - I hate the KitchenAid flex edge beater as it's got one scraper only (preferring the double scraper flex edge beater of the Breville) and I really dislike the fact that the attachments that come with the machine have a powder coating. Although you can get stainless steel attachments without the gross powder coating - you have to buy those separately for around $129 extra. Equally important, KitchenAid is rubbish at small portion batches.
Thus, it's nice to see some competition for the KitchenAid. The Ank seems to be something of a dark horse but part of me is wondering if it's better than the KA in some ways.
My main reservation about the Ankarsrum is that I'm in Australia, there's only one distributor so it's quite expensive and parts may be harder to get.
It's tricky because as with all things, every single mixer out there has a tonne of good and bad reviews out there about it...
Based on my reading:
Advantages seem to be - more powerful, quieter, longer warranty, less scraping down needed and better for bread, good for small portions.
Downside: More expensive and I worry that the whisk beaters seem a bit flimsy, the bowl you get with the whisks is made of plastic not glass or metal. Apparently it's strong, but still. I make a lot of génoise and clearly I can't heat the plastic bowl over a saucepan of boiling water ...
In any case, for me there's a lot that's attractive about the Ankarsrum and to be honest part of me wants to go against the almost overwhelming trend / monopoly of the KitchenAid in the baking community if I can ... but I don't want to do that if not actually a better mixer 🤣
I'm happy to hear that it is more than just a bread maker and is also good for cakes and biscuits (cookies) ...
Thanks very much for such an informative answer. After looking around a little more, I decided to purchase the Ank. She’s an avid baker and loves to create sweets for friends and family.
I was a contractor for years, and one thing I know is that good tools are an absolute necessity. This seems pretty well made, Lord knows the box is really heavy lol. Hopefully all goes well at Christmas time! Again, thanks very much
I saw recently they sell a metal mixing bowl to work with the beaters that has made me feel much more comfortable using heat (or putting in the freezer for cold mixes). It's unfortunate it's a separate buy but worthy. I've used the meat grinder more than the mixing aspects but I have made butter from cream in the big bowl successfully. It's a great machine with a learning curve.
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