Thank you Richard. I’ve really struggled with my Ankarsrum over the last 6 months and end up having it to knead for around 40minutes before I get a window pane result. If a KA professional came with the old style dough hook and not a spiral I’d have sold it and got that but for now I’m persevering. I’ll try your methods of a quick mix and leaving for 30minutes and see if that helps. I’m doing all yeast dough at the moment (used to do soughdough) so should I hold back the yeast until after the 30minutes? When should the salt go in? Thanks.
Good info, I just got mine and have been scouring the internet for more comprehensible information. Not many videos out there. Yours made sense. Time for me to dive in and make a regular bread while I wait for my starter to be ready. Thank you
@@richleonard55Just got mine and new to bread making and sourdough. Thanks SO much, was a tad confused about what was happening and how to assess the dough with the Ankasrum. Feeling better now!!!
This is absolutely fantastic. I have an Ankarsrum for the past year (after giving up on KA, had 3 in the past 5 years and kept on breaking, KA can’t handle bread doughs even if you follow their instruction to not go beyond 2 minutes and total 6-8 minutes of kneading). This machine is a beast and I do hope it won’t get as popular and mainstream as KA.
Haha! Why not? Surely a good design from a good company deserves success...not to mention all the people who could benefit from the Ank, who are currently struggling with planetary mixers that aren't up to the job.
Thanks for sharing this kneeling process. I am interested in buying this mixer. But i was not sure how good it is for sourdough which is the only bread i make.
I would say it's the best mixer for sourdough. And that's for one simple reason: sourdough requires a lot of kneading to build the gluten structure, and the domestic planetary type of mixer is not happy with that workload, while the Ankarsrum takes it in its stride. It doesn't overheat, it doesn't raise the dough temperature much during the kneading, and it doesn't stress itself when you do a large batch. I bought the Ank when my planetary mixer's gearbox ate itself, during a sourdough batch knead. Planetary mixers are fine at industrial scale, (I used them when I was a restaurateur) but scaled down to a domestic size and price point they just aren't strong enough for serious bread making. But if and when you buy an Ank, do remember to allow enough time to develop your dough...expect 20 minutes or so of kneading time to really get where you want. Don't stop after 8 minutes or whatever it says in your recipe - the dough won't be fully developed by then. It wouldn't be properly developed in a planetary mixer either, but the mixer would certainly want to stop by then. With the Ank, the mixer is happy to keep kneading until the dough is ready, however long that takes.
Do you have a recipe you like to use or just any sourdough recipe will work? I are it a lot by hand but have never used a mixer. Mine is on its way and I am trying to figure out what part of the mixing/stretching folding the mixer covers and what part I still need to do by hand. Any guidance? Also thank you for this video and your help 😀
I do have my own favourite recipes, but any good recipe that works for you will benefit from using a good mixer - if you use it in the right way 😃. If you are used to making your bread by hand, you will already have a good feel for dough development so you should adapt fairly quickly to using the Ank (or any other mixer) to develop the dough. You can use the Ank to mix the ingredients, and then to knead until the dough is fully developed - allow the mixer time to get the dough really well developed. But then if you are doing sourdough, you will need to follow the usual folding and stretching routines by hand over several hours during the bulk fermentation, plus the hand shaping prior to baking. Machines can't do that for you!
Thanks for showing the kneading. I’d love to know how much time you kneaded each of the loaves. I just bought an Ankarsrum, and I made some potato bread. I’m getting the idea that it takes longer to develop dough in the Ankarsrum than in a KitchenAid (my 3rd one died, which is why I now have an Ankarsrum).
Thanks for your comment. Yes, as a rule I think it does take longer to make bread dough in the Ankarsrum. I didn't give exact times because I think it's too easy to take timings given in recipes and treat them as absolute values. In reality the time it takes to develop a dough can vary a lot, and depends on a number of different factors (type of flour, hydration, ambient conditions, altitude, fat content, etc etc). So the answer to 'how long?' is really 'as long as it takes'...but that's not very helpful if you don't have the experience to recognise when your dough is fully developed. So that's why recipes give timings - it's better than nothing. But if a recipe says 'knead on low speed for 5 minutes, then medium speed for 8', that's only a rough guideline. I find most recipe timings are usually a minimum (with any type of mixer) and I have to keep going a fair bit longer to get the dough fully developed. But, having said all that, I usually expect to run the Ankarsrum for at least 20 minutes for a dough with a lot of wholewheat in the mixture, or for an enriched dough like brioche. And perhaps more like 25 minutes, but it really varies even with the same recipe...for example with brioche you have an inbuilt variability in the recipe because 6 eggs is not an exact quantity of liquid, so each time I make brioche I'm dealing with a slightly different hydration, and maybe the temperature of the butter is different...and so on. That means it could take 20 minutes' kneading, or 25...perhaps even more. And then a simple white dough might come together very well in 15 minutes or less. That's why I tried to show how the dough tells you when it's ready - not the clock!
During bulk fermentation, yes. And I fold it several times during that time. Each time you fold it, the dough deflates a little, but you are not knocking the air out of it, just gently stretching and folding. I usually do this 3 or 4 times, over 6 hours or more, depending on the ambient temperature. Sometimes I retard the fermentation overnight in the fridge. Then, after shaping the loaf, I let it rise again until it's ready to bake. Judging when it's ready to bake is not as simple as saying 'let it double in size': if you look for videos on the 'poke test', that should help.
Get a spiral mixer like a Wilfa Probaker or a KYS Pro Baker. They are much better and dont require the complicated baby sitting of an Ankarsrum. I have one and really regret buying it. It's a piece of junk outside scandinavian rye bread. No way you can develop the high gluten necessary in pizza, brioche or baguette doughs.
Complicated babysitting? There isn't any. As for high-gluten-developed doughs, I do those all the time in the Ank and it's really good for that. I used to own and run pizza restaurants and I've used industrial spiral mixers for years, and yes they are excellent for pizza dough, but a domestic spiral mixer is a one-trick pony, while the Ankarsum is an all-purpose domestic mixer that is particularly good for bread. So since most people are looking at the Ankarsrum as an alternative to a planetary all-purpose kitchen mixer like KA etc, I don't make the comparison between it and a spiral mixer. If someone wants a general purpose mixer that can do pasta, mince, blend, stuff sausages etc etc •and• is a strong tool for bread making, the Ankarsrum is very worth considering. As a dedicated machine for making pizza dough, if that's all they want, a KYS might well be better, but it won't do all the rest.
It is intimidating but I believe you gave up too early. It is a marvelous machine, sort of like a Formula 1 automobile, and like a Formula 1 automobile it takes understanding and practice. Once you get the fundamentals you are only limited by your own abilities. It has made my preparation of high hydration bread doughs (sourdough, baguette, et al) so much easier, faster and more uniform.
Thank you Richard. I’ve really struggled with my Ankarsrum over the last 6 months and end up having it to knead for around 40minutes before I get a window pane result. If a KA professional came with the old style dough hook and not a spiral I’d have sold it and got that but for now I’m persevering. I’ll try your methods of a quick mix and leaving for 30minutes and see if that helps. I’m doing all yeast dough at the moment (used to do soughdough) so should I hold back the yeast until after the 30minutes? When should the salt go in? Thanks.
Very impressive, both the old machine and the result, and not to forget the narrator with the pyjamas! It just shows the committment to bread making.😊
This guy knows what he's talking about. Bravo!
Good info, I just got mine and have been scouring the internet for more comprehensible information. Not many videos out there. Yours made sense. Time for me to dive in and make a regular bread while I wait for my starter to be ready. Thank you
Good luck! Be patient and you'll get there. I'm going to post another video soon on timing the knead.
Me too❤
@@richleonard55Just got mine and new to bread making and sourdough. Thanks SO much, was a tad confused about what was happening and how to assess the dough with the Ankasrum. Feeling better now!!!
This is absolutely fantastic. I have an Ankarsrum for the past year (after giving up on KA, had 3 in the past 5 years and kept on breaking, KA can’t handle bread doughs even if you follow their instruction to not go beyond 2 minutes and total 6-8 minutes of kneading). This machine is a beast and I do hope it won’t get as popular and mainstream as KA.
Haha! Why not? Surely a good design from a good company deserves success...not to mention all the people who could benefit from the Ank, who are currently struggling with planetary mixers that aren't up to the job.
Thanks for sharing this kneeling process. I am interested in buying this mixer. But i was not sure how good it is for sourdough which is the only bread i make.
I would say it's the best mixer for sourdough. And that's for one simple reason: sourdough requires a lot of kneading to build the gluten structure, and the domestic planetary type of mixer is not happy with that workload, while the Ankarsrum takes it in its stride. It doesn't overheat, it doesn't raise the dough temperature much during the kneading, and it doesn't stress itself when you do a large batch. I bought the Ank when my planetary mixer's gearbox ate itself, during a sourdough batch knead. Planetary mixers are fine at industrial scale, (I used them when I was a restaurateur) but scaled down to a domestic size and price point they just aren't strong enough for serious bread making. But if and when you buy an Ank, do remember to allow enough time to develop your dough...expect 20 minutes or so of kneading time to really get where you want. Don't stop after 8 minutes or whatever it says in your recipe - the dough won't be fully developed by then. It wouldn't be properly developed in a planetary mixer either, but the mixer would certainly want to stop by then. With the Ank, the mixer is happy to keep kneading until the dough is ready, however long that takes.
Do you have a recipe you like to use or just any sourdough recipe will work? I are it a lot by hand but have never used a mixer. Mine is on its way and I am trying to figure out what part of the mixing/stretching folding the mixer covers and what part I still need to do by hand. Any guidance? Also thank you for this video and your help 😀
I do have my own favourite recipes, but any good recipe that works for you will benefit from using a good mixer - if you use it in the right way 😃. If you are used to making your bread by hand, you will already have a good feel for dough development so you should adapt fairly quickly to using the Ank (or any other mixer) to develop the dough. You can use the Ank to mix the ingredients, and then to knead until the dough is fully developed - allow the mixer time to get the dough really well developed. But then if you are doing sourdough, you will need to follow the usual folding and stretching routines by hand over several hours during the bulk fermentation, plus the hand shaping prior to baking. Machines can't do that for you!
Thanks for showing the kneading. I’d love to know how much time you kneaded each of the loaves. I just bought an Ankarsrum, and I made some potato bread. I’m getting the idea that it takes longer to develop dough in the Ankarsrum than in a KitchenAid (my 3rd one died, which is why I now have an Ankarsrum).
Thanks for your comment. Yes, as a rule I think it does take longer to make bread dough in the Ankarsrum. I didn't give exact times because I think it's too easy to take timings given in recipes and treat them as absolute values. In reality the time it takes to develop a dough can vary a lot, and depends on a number of different factors (type of flour, hydration, ambient conditions, altitude, fat content, etc etc). So the answer to 'how long?' is really 'as long as it takes'...but that's not very helpful if you don't have the experience to recognise when your dough is fully developed. So that's why recipes give timings - it's better than nothing. But if a recipe says 'knead on low speed for 5 minutes, then medium speed for 8', that's only a rough guideline. I find most recipe timings are usually a minimum (with any type of mixer) and I have to keep going a fair bit longer to get the dough fully developed. But, having said all that, I usually expect to run the Ankarsrum for at least 20 minutes for a dough with a lot of wholewheat in the mixture, or for an enriched dough like brioche. And perhaps more like 25 minutes, but it really varies even with the same recipe...for example with brioche you have an inbuilt variability in the recipe because 6 eggs is not an exact quantity of liquid, so each time I make brioche I'm dealing with a slightly different hydration, and maybe the temperature of the butter is different...and so on. That means it could take 20 minutes' kneading, or 25...perhaps even more. And then a simple white dough might come together very well in 15 minutes or less. That's why I tried to show how the dough tells you when it's ready - not the clock!
Do you let it ferment till it’s doubled?
During bulk fermentation, yes. And I fold it several times during that time. Each time you fold it, the dough deflates a little, but you are not knocking the air out of it, just gently stretching and folding. I usually do this 3 or 4 times, over 6 hours or more, depending on the ambient temperature. Sometimes I retard the fermentation overnight in the fridge. Then, after shaping the loaf, I let it rise again until it's ready to bake. Judging when it's ready to bake is not as simple as saying 'let it double in size': if you look for videos on the 'poke test', that should help.
@ thank you so much for replying
@@richleonard55would you do the same for yeast doughs?
Get a spiral mixer like a Wilfa Probaker or a KYS Pro Baker. They are much better and dont require the complicated baby sitting of an Ankarsrum. I have one and really regret buying it. It's a piece of junk outside scandinavian rye bread. No way you can develop the high gluten necessary in pizza, brioche or baguette doughs.
Complicated babysitting? There isn't any. As for high-gluten-developed doughs, I do those all the time in the Ank and it's really good for that. I used to own and run pizza restaurants and I've used industrial spiral mixers for years, and yes they are excellent for pizza dough, but a domestic spiral mixer is a one-trick pony, while the Ankarsum is an all-purpose domestic mixer that is particularly good for bread. So since most people are looking at the Ankarsrum as an alternative to a planetary all-purpose kitchen mixer like KA etc, I don't make the comparison between it and a spiral mixer. If someone wants a general purpose mixer that can do pasta, mince, blend, stuff sausages etc etc •and• is a strong tool for bread making, the Ankarsrum is very worth considering. As a dedicated machine for making pizza dough, if that's all they want, a KYS might well be better, but it won't do all the rest.
I hate my Ankarsrum, it doesn’t knead well and takes forever. I just sold it.
then why are you watching this
@@glxbe why can’t I.
It is intimidating but I believe you gave up too early. It is a marvelous machine, sort of like a Formula 1 automobile, and like a Formula 1 automobile it takes understanding and practice. Once you get the fundamentals you are only limited by your own abilities. It has made my preparation of high hydration bread doughs (sourdough, baguette, et al) so much easier, faster and more uniform.
Ankarsrum is not for the lazy or those who are not willing to learn.