Ooni Halo Pro Spiral Mixer Review: Dough as Far as the Eye Can See

The Halo Pro is overmuch quieter, and the centrifugal does not overheat; I don’t get the consciousness that the centrifugal is straining to knead the dough. There’s also—sorry, I don’t cognize however other to picture this—no convulsive thwapping of dough arsenic it’s being kneaded. Unlike a KitchenAid, you tin permission it unattended. This is truthful casual that I ruined not 1 but 2 batches of shokupan with over-kneading earlier I realized what was happening.

Being capable to much precisely calibrate the velocity of the mixing with a dial alternatively of the KitchenAid’s 5 settings helped. You tin knead it overmuch slower and dainty it much mildly with a dial and a spiral mixer than with a KitchenAid.

I besides emotion the Halo Pro’s flexible paddle, which is overmuch amended than the KitchenAid level paddle. It fits perfectly against the bowl’s sides, which means you tin enactment adjacent the smallest amounts of softened food and sweetener successful the bowl, and the paddle volition pick them perfectly. No stopping each fewer seconds to assistance the limb and scrape the sides with a abstracted spatula, though you volition astir apt consciousness the request to bash that anyway. I’ve lone had this mixer since February, truthful I can’t vouch for the paddle’s semipermanent durability, but it seems to beryllium holding up well.

Finally, determination is adjacent a light inside, truthful you don’t person to person the mixer perfectly positioned successful your room to cheque if your cocoa chips person been good distributed successful the dough.

Mucho Gusto

As you whitethorn person guessed, getting a commercialized basal mixer is mostly astir volume. If you’re a breadstuff baker who wants to amended your 1 oregon 2 play loaves for your family, determination are cheaper and easier things you tin bash that would person a overmuch amended effect earlier you put successful 1 of these. (For those tips, I notation you to Ken Forkish’s publication Flour Water Salt Yeast, which my workfellow Kat Merck edited and recipe-tested.)

The Halo Pro’s main rival is the Ankarsrum basal mixer. It is beauteous and has the aforesaid retro aesthetic arsenic the KitchenAid, if that’s your thing. The Halo Pro has amended specs successful immoderate regards. For example, I got the Halo Pro up to 345 revolutions per infinitesimal versus the Ankarsrum’s measly 130 rpm. The Halo Pro has the interior airy and the flexible paddle, which I liked rather a bit.

The large downside has to bash with wherefore radical bargain KitchenAids: You cognize they'll past a lifetime, and possibly several. No substance however large immoderate spiral mixer is, it's hard to basal up against that benignant of well-known guarantee. But if you’re similar me, and you similar entertaining successful a carby, chaotic way—pizza! Pretzels! Cinnamon rolls!—getting a bigger spiral mixer is worthy it. No much worrying astir making aggregate batches, oregon overheating, oregon having to babysit your dough. It's besides convenient for whipping up small batches of this oregon that successful the mornings, too.