Whether you are in the business of making pizza, cakes, breads, or pastries you probably have one common understanding – the important role of a good dough mixer for your restaurant. Even though this much is understood, it can be a little more challenging to decide exactly which type of mixer is required for your unique needs. It should be noted that there are two primary types of mixers: a planetary mixer and a spiral mixer. In this buyer’s guide, we will identify the uses, features, and benefits that set these two types of mixers apart.
Planetary Mixers
Kitchen Usage
Planetary mixers, also referred to as vertical mixers are most common in commercial kitchens in general. The motion of the utensil turning on an offset shaft that rotates around the fixed, non-rotating bowl, is comparable to the way planets rotate the sun, hence the name planetary.
Parts
These mixers will come with a removable dough pot with accessories that include a dough hook, mixing paddle, and a whisk. The dough hook is for kneading the dough. A mixing paddle is a general tool that allows you to mix all items together. Lastly, a whisk is for beating eggs, whipped cream, and other soft creams.
Features/ Benefits
One of the greatest benefits of this type of mixer is that most of them come standard with a power hub on the front of the mixer. This feature gives the mixer the ability to accommodate additional interchangeable utensils, or mixer attachments, making it a highly versatile choice. Because of this, it can not only handle dough, but with additional add-ons it can also whip potatoes, create batter, slice or shred vegetables, and even grind meat!
Featured: This 30 Quart Planetary Mixer by Globe has a 60 minute timer + overload protection!
Spiral Mixers
Kitchen Usage
Establishments with less interest in versatility, and more interested in solely mixing a high-volume of dough may opt for a spiral mixer, which is also known as a dough mixer. The rotational movement of its spiral hooks with a rotating bowl makes the spiral mixer great for creating perfectly homogeneous dough. The way this works is:
- The bowl's spinning motion creates more torque for use with dense dough - like pizza dough or other high density, specialty, and ethnic dough.
- The spinning bowl along with the spiral hook creates an environment that is gentler on the dough while mixing.
Spiral mixers come in a variety of capacities with some of the largest models able to tackle up to 600 pounds of dough at a time, making it a great bakery mixer or a bread mixer for large operations such as a pizzeria.
Parts
A standard spiral mixer will typically only have a dough hook and bowl.
Features/ Benefits
A spiral mixer is a much better choice for high volumes of dough making it much quicker than a planetary mixer.
Maintenance
Your spiral mixer requires maintenance in order to continue operating at its best. In some cases you can troubleshoot the unit on your own, but it’s important to know when to call a service technician. For example, if the main power switch is ON but the spiral hook does not start, the micro switch on the bowl guard may be defective, and you will need to call a technician to replace the bowl guard. Do not use extension cords to connect power, and always follow the capacity chart for mixing dough. Your spiral mixer will come with a manual guide with complete recommendations for you to follow in all instances.
To get the power of a spiral mixer with a small footprint and at a budget friendly price, check out this
Eurodib countertop 40 Quart Spiral Mixer!
Buying the Right Mixer
As covered in this guide, there are many considerations when deciding whether you’ll need a commercial spiral mixer, a commercial planetary mixer – or both. Remember to consider your product and production volume in order to make the best decision. For smaller operations with simple needs, an adaptable planetary mixer should work just fine. With it, you will not only be able to mix dough, but with the different attachments, you can also slice vegetables, grind meat, and whip product. If you are running a pizza powerhouse, or a busy bakery that produces large daily batches, invest in that spiral mixer to tackle large quantities of dough to get the job done!
Looking at a budget mixer to make dense dough such as naan bread? We don't recommend this, as warranty issues will not be covered for using a mixer improperly. If you do insist then we would suggest purchasing a reputable brand. Whatever you do, please make sure not to under size –You’ll want power for dense dough mixing!
If you’re still not quite sure which mixer is right for you, call our commercial mixer experts at 404-752-6715, and we’ll get you on the right track!
