An Sincere Evaluate of Ooni’s Halo Professional Spiral Stand Mixer

Whereas the KitchenAid is much and away the most well-liked stand mixer in American house kitchens, most individuals who bake bread or pizza ceaselessly know it’s not at all times the perfect at kneading dough. KitchenAid mixers are planetary mixers, which imply that they principally simply rotate round a single mounted level, and even with the dough hook, aren’t excellent at forming gluten. As such, many house bakers covet standing spiral mixers, that are higher at producing robust, superbly silky doughs.

The issue, although, is that the majority standing spiral mixers are large — and costly. Among the many bread fanatics on nerdy hubs like r/Breadit, the Italian-made Famag is wildly standard — however solely for many who have upwards of $1,500 to spend on a mixer that’s fairly explicitly restricted to producing bread doughs.

Enter Ooni, the corporate behind these inescapable house pizza ovens that fermentation bros throughout the nation are utilizing to provide completely charred Neapolitan-style crusts, and its newest providing, the Halo Professional Spiral Mixer.

Ooni

In its promoting copy, Ooni takes thinly veiled jabs at KitchenAid. “The blending expertise we bought from utilizing different home stand mixers left us annoyed,” it reads. “The dough merely wouldn’t combine correctly. It bought clumpy and caught to the dough hook.” And actually, they’re proper. When my KitchenAid has to deal with way more than a single pizza’s value of dough or a batch of cookies, it actually struggles. After 4 or 5 minutes of blending dough on medium, it begins to overheat and precariously bounce round on the counter, and I repeatedly must spend at the least a couple of minutes kneading my dough by hand to make sure that it’s robust sufficient. The Halo Professional hopes to resolve these issues, promising “artisanal-bakery-level” outcomes, albeit at a worth level round $800. That’s about double the price of a brand-new KitchenAid, and solely about half of what it prices to attain knowledgeable spiral mixer. However does it really succeed?

Ooni despatched us a Halo Professional to check, and right here’s what we thought after a few bakes.

First impressions

Instantly upon taking it out of the field, it was clear that this machine is a countertop stunner. It could not have the classic attraction of my baby-pink KitchenAid, which I’ve owned since I used to be in my early 20s, however it’s each smooth and fashionable. It’s additionally surprisingly compact contemplating that the bowl is a whopping 7.8 quarts in comparison with my KitchenAid’s 4.5-quart capability, and doesn’t take up way more room on the counter (though it does make my dinky residence kitchen have a look at least slightly bit extra skilled). It’s managed virtually fully with a big knob on prime, which you should utilize to regulate the velocity of the mixer or set a timer to make sure that your dough isn’t overworked.

Along with the spiral hook, the Ooni additionally features a paddle attachment for beating cake batter and cookie dough, together with a whisk for whipping buttercream frosting or fluffy whipped cream. I haven’t used the attachments but, however they appear similar to those that include a KitchenAid mixer, although the paddle attachment’s sides are lined with silicone to assist scrape errant bits of batter again into the combo, which does really feel like an improve. The Ooni’s attachments are heavier and really feel extra sturdy than the KitchenAid’s, although time will inform whether or not or not they’re — or the machine — is as sturdy. My KitchenAid has survived 13 years of abuse with large a great deal of dough, and regardless that it’s not nice for making bread, the Ooni nonetheless has large sneakers to fill.

How I examined it

As soon as I’d eliminated the mixer and its many equipment from the packaging and given them a wash, I instantly got down to make a batch of these Critical Eats hoagie rolls, one among my favourite single-day bakes. I plopped all of the substances within the drum, cranked it as much as 25 %, and wandered off to go stare at my telephone whereas the mixer did the work. Once I returned, the dough appeared nothing like what I used to be anticipating. When combined in my KitchenAid, it tended to clump up across the dough hook, forming a decent, clumpy ball. This dough was completely different, a bit extra slack and resembling the “pumpkin” form that many bakers describe as supreme in figuring out gluten improvement. As I eliminated the dough from the mixer for a fast closing knead, it was silky in my fingers and shortly handed the windowpane check.

Amy McCarthy

I didn’t, nevertheless, account for the elevated temperature that the spiral mixer’s vigorous mixing would convey. Within the KitchenAid, there’s often not sufficient friction for a major temperature improve, however that was not the case with the Ooni. My dough was fairly heat, which meant that it was going to ferment extra shortly than I anticipated. I caught it within the fridge to assist decelerate the fermentation course of, nevertheless it nonetheless ballooned inside an hour. I shortly formed my rolls, then waited for them to proof one closing time earlier than sticking them within the oven. After their bake, it was instantly clear that the rolls have been barely over-fermented, which meant that they have been barely pale and a bit dense towards the underside. This was a direct results of my temperature situation, which occurred as a result of I didn’t account for the elevated warmth generated in the course of the mixing course of. That mentioned, the mixer offered sufficient gluten construction that my rolls nonetheless rose moderately effectively.

Figuring out that the problems with this batch have been seemingly my fault, I got down to make the identical batch of dough once more, however this time, I used chilled water. That labored like a appeal, and my dough emerged from an eight-minute combine at room temperature. It rose superbly, formed simply, and baked superbly. The rolls have been each ethereal and durable, making them excellent for holding tons of hoagie toppings. These are at all times fairly strong hoagie rolls, however after a spin within the Ooni, they have been decidedly — if solely barely — higher.

Amy McCarthy

After the hoagie experiment, I put the Ooni to the check with the fundamental sourdough loaf that I make about as soon as every week. As a substitute of blending the dough by hand, I let the machine do the work, mixing the dough at various speeds till it handed the windowpane check, which many bakers use to find out if their dough has developed sufficient gluten. After just a few hours of bulk fermenting on the counter and an in a single day chilly proof, the ensuing loaf had a lofty rise and a really open crumb.

Amy McCarthy

And maybe most significantly, I didn’t must spend upwards of 10 minutes getting flour goop throughout my more and more drained fingers whereas strengthening the dough.

Do I really want the Ooni stand mixer?

If you happen to repeatedly make yeasted or sourdough bread, pizza crust, or bagels at house, it’s positively value contemplating the Halo Professional over a KitchenAid. This one is for many who are actually severe about bread-baking and mixing hefiter and extra complicated doughs — and it does so with ease and panache.

Extra informal bakers — the sort who solely bake a batch or two of cookies each few months — will seemingly discover its hulking dimension and bread-specific attachments overkill. In actual fact, if a sheet cake or a pair dozen cookies is what you bake most, it’s most likely not the only option for you in any respect. The machine isn’t designed to work with smaller batches of dough, which implies that while you’re creaming collectively the butter and sugar to your chocolate chip cookies, the Ooni’s large dimension implies that it simply can’t combine these two substances collectively as effectively as my KitchenAid.

It might even be good if the Ooni got here with extra recipes or strategies for which speeds to make use of and for a way lengthy. If you happen to’re used to growing your dough, it will seemingly come intuitively, however in the event you’re not, it would seemingly appear overwhelming and complicated at first. Contemplating the wealth of content material Ooni has created round its pizza ovens, it’s seemingly that these recipes will come, however for now, you’re type of caught counting on the early-adopter bloggers to provide you with optimized strategies and ideas and tips.

Professionals

• Seems nice on the counter and doesn’t take up an excessive amount of house
• Very steady and well-made, doesn’t bounce round everywhere in the counter when kneading dough
• The attachments are very sturdy and — bonus — dishwasher-safe
• Fairly quiet, even when dealing with very massive batches of dough
• Does an incredible job of strengthening bread and pizza dough

Cons

• Not nice for small batch baking
• Barely larger than a KitchenAid

The decision

If you happen to’re the kind of one who spends hours twiddling with hydration percentages, biga recipes, and stone-milled flours, Ooni’s stand mixer could possibly be a wonderful addition to your baking arsenal. That mentioned, I don’t suppose this can be a gadget for the novice bread baker. If you happen to’re not accustomed to what your dough ought to appear like when it’s absolutely strengthened, it’s simple to over- or under-mix with any mixer, and the Ooni isn’t any exception. However for sourdough freaks, this mixer will impress.

The Ooni Halo Professional mixer is on the market at Ooni and Williams Sonoma.