Adventures with my Ankarsrum Mixer

[BakerAunt]

When my 7-qt Cuisinart stand mixer stopped working in November 2025, I replaced it with an Ankarsrum mixer in December. There is always a learning curve with a new mixer. I have never used a Kitchen Aid, so I cannot compare it to the mixer that resides in most kitchens, but I hope this thread will be helpful to people who either own an Ankarsrum or are considering whether to buy one.

I bought my mixer from Pleasant Hill Grains, and it arrived very quickly on Christmas Eve, although I did not start using it until the next week. You can read about the mixer at various sites and there are YouTube videos available, some from Ankarsrum. The mixer's bowl turns rather than having the motion from the top. The bowl is nice and wide, so it is easy to monitor as your mix. It has a roller arm, which gets positioned for kneading depending on how much dough is being kneaded, and a scraper that rests against the bowl. Initially there is some need for adjusting dough, but it is easy to do with the wide bowl.

The liquid ingredients go into the bowl first, and that includes the oil, although I wait until I have the other liquid ingredients (including proofed yeast) mixed before adding it. With my old mixer, I usually mixed in the wholegrain flours, let the dough rest for 15 minutes, then added the salt and any bread flour. However, with the Ankarsrum, it seems to be best to mix all the flour and dry ingredients together--holding back about 1/2 cup of flour, and not to do the resting period.

I find that it helps to increase the water for bread dough mixed in the Ankarsrum by 1-2 oz.

The dough is mixed on speed one, then kneaded on speed 2. The kneading period, at least with my wholegrain breads seems to be 8-12 minutes. The mixer is designed to mimic hand kneading, so I think that is why it takes longer than in my other mixer, but so far, it seems to me to give bread with a softer texture. I may be necessary at the start to "help" the mixer start kneading, and to adjust the arm. If dough starts to go out of the bowl, the arm gets moved more toward the center of the bowl.

The mixer comes with a dough hook for low hydration breads or mincemeat. I have not tried using it yet.

I will discuss in future postings the two breads that I have made with it so far: Whole Wheat Oat Bran Bread and Rustic Sourdough Wholegrain Bread in a Cloche and describe the adaptations I needed to make to the recipes.

Spread the word

      

  

  

[skeptic7]

Thanks for writing this up!! How much bread dough have you kneaded at one time? What do you think are the upper and lower limits?
Mincemeat sounds wonderful. I haven't seen any in the grocery stores for awhile.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA. I've tended to put mixers in two categories - stand or planetary like your Cuisinart and my KitchenAid - and spirals mixers like the Famags I've used. The Ank is interesting because it tries to be a hybrid that wants to be able to mix bread and cakes, cookies, etc. It appears to be a spiral trying to be like a planetary. Ooni makes one now as well now. The folks at Pleasant Hill said the Ank works with much large batches of dough than a comparable stand mixer. It also works very well with stiffer doughs like bagel dough, especially when using high protein flour. The bagel guys my son works for love the Ooni for home bagel making but that is all they bake so they cannot tell me about cookies or cakes.

[Mike Nolan]

I looked at the Ooni mixer page, I notice it doesn't try to compare itself to Ank or Famag mixers. I wonder who's making it for them?

It has a tilt head, does the Ank have that?

[BakerAunt]

The Ankarsram has an arm that can be positioned from the side of the bowl to the center, so there is nothing to tilt, which takes up less room when in use. I loosen the arm and allow it to rest back from the bowl when the mixer is not in use.

The largest batch of bread dough I have done so far is the Whole Wheat Oat Bran Bread, and that has about 8 cups flour plus 2 cups oat bran and 1/2 cup flax meal.

I used the mixer today to make Pompanoosuc Porridge Bread. (I'm not sure the recipe is still at King Arthur, as they no longer sell the Pompanoosuc porridge, although they may have the recipe made with steel-cut oats. This bread has about 4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of the porridge, which is cooked up to one cup. The Ankarsrum did an excellent job with the smaller amount of dough--something my 7-qt. Cuisinart could not handle well. I did not need to hold back any flour; indeed, I needed to add 2 Tbs. Kneading time is longer at about 12 minutes, but I do not mind that.

I will write up the recipe with my changes and post it sometime in the next couple of days.

[BakerAunt]

Today, I made the dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers for the third time using the Ankarsrum. I am getting better at judging where to adjust the arm. I do not seem to be able to incorporate the last little bit of the flour with the mixer, so I do that with a little bit of hand kneading. I might hold back 2 Tbs. of flour, but I am reluctant to do so because crackers are not supposed to be like bread, and I think all the flour is necessary. I mix on the first speed for a longer amount of time than with my former stand mixer, but the dough comes out well. The Ankarsrum is also a lot easier and faster to clean up than the mixing paddle that the Cuisinart used.

[Italiancook]

I appreciate you sharing your Ankarsrum Mixer adventures with us, BakerAunt. I seriously considered one a few years ago but didn't buy. I really want a product with a paper instruction booklet. I didn't want to have to watch a bunch of You-Tube videos in order to learn how to use it. I also decided against it, because my perception at the time was that it'd work best for 2 or more bread loaves. Usually, I make only one. In addition, I wasn't convinced it'd work on one batch of cookies or one cake better than my Kitchen-Aid. So I'm reading everything you type on this topic with interest. Thanks for taking the time to share.

[skeptic7]

Thanks for writing so much about your mixer. Do you think the Ankarsrum does a better job of mixing dough than your old machine? Do you like using it better? I found using a mixer gives me a moister bread dough as I don't need to add flour when kneading.
Have you tried to make quick bread or cookies with it?

[Mike Nolan]

My wife came close to getting me an Ank as a surprise Christmas present a few years ago when our 50 year old KA was making a lot of clunking noises. It still does, but not quite as much.

Finding counter space for it might be an issue if I want to keep both mixers.

My son keeps hinting that he's going to give me a 'send it to Mr. Mixer' gift certificate for our KA one of these days, but he's got big college tuition bills for the next few years with our granddaughter at Rensselaer Polytechnic.

If I ever get serious about setting up a bread subscription service from home, a bigger mixer would be a necessity.

[BakerAunt]

I have been using the bread machine for pizza dough, as it was too little to mix well in my former mixer. I decided to try it in the Ankarsrum for my Sourdough Pan pizza crust today. I think that the bread machine may overdo the kneading, so I wanted gentler and not as long. After the dough came together, I mixed it for two minutes, still at the first speed before putting it aside to rise. The final crust was more bready than usual. I'm not sure if that is because I increased the water from 4 to 5 oz. or because of the current density of the sourdough starter. Next time, after mixing it, I will knead it on the second speed for a couple of minutes and see if there is a difference. The pizza was very good, which means there were no complaints from my husband who prefers that kind of crust. I like it to be chewier.

[Mike Nolan]

Was it a soft crust? I'm into thin crust crunchy pizza myself. I think that's why we like the lavosh pizzas.

[BakerAunt]

It reminded me of a piece of soft bread.

[BakerAunt]

I baked another loaf of the Wholegrain Sourdough Bread in a Cloche today. I used very little of the final addition of bread flour, perhaps 3 Tbs., which is less than the last time. Perhaps the Ankarsrum requires less flour because it kneads more efficiently? I kneaded on the second speed for 10 minutes until I could pull a windowpane.

[Mike Nolan]

I've heard claims that the Ank helps flour get fully hydrated faster.

[BakerAunt]

Interesting, Mike. With my other mixer, I would mix in the wholegrain flour, then let the dough rest for 15 minutes before adding any AP or bread flour, but with the Ankarsrum, I find that I do not need to do that.

[Author]

Posts