Ooni Halo Professional Spiral Stand Mixer Assessment

Ooni is a stalwart of yard pizza ovens. However its newest providing leaves the outside and enters the kitchen: Meet the Ooni Halo Professional Spiral Stand Mixer. It’s marketed as a robust machine that’ll support your quest to make one of the best Neapolitan pizza dough—stretchy, ethereal, and never liable to dreaded rips. It differs from different stand mixers in that it has a rotating bowl slightly than spinning attachments, and it sports activities a digital interface and dial management. May simplicity and a smooth kind issue make it a winner? I examined the Ooni stand mixer for weeks to seek out out, utilizing it to make pizza dough, rolls, whipped cream, and cookies. 

The Checks

• Dinner Rolls Take a look at: I made dinner rolls utilizing the dough hook attachment. This take a look at examined how nicely the Ooni stand mixer might combine and knead a sticky, comfortable, buttery dough. 
• Pizza Dough Take a look at: Ooni is understood for its pizza ovens, so after all, I needed to make Neapolitan pizza dough. I used the breaker bar, which attaches to the middle of the mixer, and the dough hook to knead it. 
• Sugar Cookie Take a look at: The Ooni stand mixer comes with a paddle attachment, which I used to cream butter and sugar for sugar cookies. 
• Whipped Cream Take a look at: The Ooni additionally comes with a whisk attachment. I examined it by beating one cup of heavy whipping cream and timing how lengthy it took to kind stiff peaks. 

What We Discovered

Ooni vs. KitchenAid Stand Mixers: What’s the Distinction?

For starters, the Ooni is a spiral mixer, that means it has a bowl that rotates, just like the Ankarsrum stand mixer. KitchenAid stand mixers are planetary mixers, that means they make use of an arm that spins the attachments. A spiral mixer’s spinning bowl can attain quicker speeds and thus higher kneading and gluten formation in dough. It additionally makes it simpler to achieve in with a spatula and scrape the perimeters with out hitting the attachment. 

One other distinction between the 2 is the form of their bowls: The Ooni’s giant, seven-quart bowl has a flat backside, which helps forestall dry pockets of components when kneading dough. It is a frequent downside with the extra sloped KitchenAid bowl, the place dry components are inclined to sink to the middle and stay unmixed. Lastly, the Ooni makes use of a touchscreen show and dial for its controls, whereas KitchenAids have a lever for switching between speeds. 

The Ooni Stand Mixer Was Sturdy, Highly effective, and Simple to Use

The Ooni is tremendous simple to arrange: Press the hinges on each side of the top to carry it, twist on the bowl and screw within the attachment, press the ability button on the again, and the machine involves life. I preferred the digital touchscreen interface, which encompasses a timer and pace settings, each linked to the only dial. To regulate the pace or set a timer, you solely must faucet the digital show and switch the dial.

The Ooni can also be extremely sturdy: It weighs 33 kilos, making it one of many heaviest stand mixers I’ve examined. It has a robust engine on it, too, at 650 watts, which is a whopping 150 watts greater than our favourite KitchenAid stand mixer. 

It Excelled at Making Bread Dough 

When it got here to kneading bread dough, it was the Ooni stand mixer’s time to shine. The rotating bowl ensured even ingredient integration and a correct knead, and the detachable breaker bar, which slots in subsequent to the hook, helped knead and stretch. The Neapolitan pizza dough I made emerged robust however supple, whereas dinner rolls baked up into buttery, tender buns. The timer perform was tremendous useful, too, particularly for longer kneading instances. 

It Wasn’t so Nice at Different Duties

Whereas the Ooni excelled at kneading, it struggled to cream butter and sugar and whip cream. It took practically 5 minutes at its highest pace to whip one cup of heavy cream into stiff peaks. That is fairly lengthy contemplating the Ankarsrum, the same fashion of mixer, took 35 seconds in our exams. The splatter guard was important throughout this course of, for the reason that cream flung all over the place. Nevertheless, it didn’t sit totally flush with the bowl, so some drops nonetheless escaped. 

It additionally struggled to cream butter and sugar for cookies. I used the paddle attachment and set the Ooni to 75% energy, per the recipe’s directions. Nevertheless, the silicone-lined paddle simply pushed the components round. I needed to bump up the pace and use a spatula to scrape the perimeters to assist incorporate the components. Nevertheless, the cookies nonetheless baked up tender and nicely blended, so there’s that. 

The Verdict

In case your yard appears to be like prefer it was transplanted from a pizza restaurant otherwise you nerd out about dough hydration, then the Ooni Halo Professional Spiral Mixer will doubtless make you content. Its rotating bowl ensures complete ingredient incorporation for bread dough (no pockets of flour within the heart of the bowl), and the timer perform is useful for lengthy kneads. It made glorious bread dough, together with a sticky, buttery dinner roll dough and a well-kneaded Neapolitan pizza dough. Nevertheless, it did wrestle at different duties, like creaming butter and sugar for cookie dough and whipping heavy cream, making it much less versatile than different stand mixers I’ve used. 

It was tremendous simple to arrange, although: To regulate the pace or change the timer, simply flip the dial. Its hefty weight prevented it from wobbling on my countertop, which is all the time factor with a stand mixer. It isn’t tremendous tall both, and simply suits below my cupboards when the arm is down. 

The Execs

The Ooni stand mixer excels at making bread dough, which is smart, contemplating the model is understood for its pizza ovens. The dough hook seamlessly included butter into comfortable dinner roll dough, leading to mild and tender buns. When mixed with the breaker bar, which slots in near the dough hook, it additionally kneaded completely elastic Neapolitan pizza dough that baked up mild and ethereal with the requisite chew the fashion’s recognized for. 

Past its efficiency, the Ooni stand mixer was additionally simple to make use of: Simply pop the highest of the mixer upward, add the attachment, safe the bowl, and toggle the ability swap. The consumer interface is a straightforward single dial with a touchscreen for selecting between time and pace. It was simple to toggle between the 2, and the timer perform was useful for lengthy kneads. The bowl spun easily, and it was simple to achieve in with a spatula to scrape the perimeters because it blended, one thing you possibly can’t do with a planetary stand mixer like a KitchenAid. 

The Cons

The silicone-lined paddle attachment was gradual to cream butter and sugar, although the cookies baked up properly. I’d’ve most well-liked a non-silicone-lined paddle, which I believe would have gripped and overwhelmed the combination higher and quicker. The machine was additionally downright sluggish whipping cream. 

The Ooni stand mixer is sort of costly, much more so than the Ankarsrum, one among its important rivals. It’s additionally heavier than most of our favourite stand mixers and takes extra effort and power to maneuver. I’d have preferred if the bowl had a deal with on it for simple dough switch.

Key Specs

• Weight: 33 kilos
• Dimensions:10 x 13.5 x 17 inches 
• Acknowledged bowl capability: 7.3 quarts
• Wattage: 650 watts
• Wire size: 63 inches 
• Attachments: Whisk, dough hook, bar breaker, paddle, pouring defend
• Colours: Charcoal gray or polar white
• Care directions: Bowl, lid, and attachments are dishwasher-safe. Wipe whisk gear field and base clear with damp fabric. Dry completely.
• Supplies: Die-cast aluminum, stainless-steel

Why We’re the Consultants 

• Grace Kelly is a senior editor at Severe Eats, the place she’s been testing and reviewing kitchen gear for practically three years. 
• To check the Ooni Halo Professional Spiral Stand Mixer, Grace used it to make dinner rolls, Neapolitan pizza dough, whipped cream, and sugar cookies.