Stella Parks on Creaming and on Scraping the Bowl

[BakerAunt]

I read the following Stella Parks discussion on scraping the mixing bowl, and also about creaming ingredients and found it a useful refresher:

https://www.seriouseats.com/2019/09/cookie-science-the-importance-of-scraping-your-bowl.html

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[Italiancook]

Thanks for the link, BakerAunt. After I bought my new KitchenAid stand mixer, I thought about buying their flex beater. It's supposed to scrape the bowl as it mixes. Does anyone have this beater? I ended up not buying it because it sticks batter to the sides of the bowl. I figured I'd feel a need to scrape the bowl and didn't want to plunk down that much money to still be scraping the bowl. If you have one, does it really eliminate scraping?

[RiversideLen]

I have the KA flex beater (the one made by KA, not an after market model). I use it for cake batter but not for anything heavy like cookie dough. I like it, it does a pretty good job of scraping down the side of the bowl.

I'm not saying it won't work for heavy cookie dough, it's just that I never tried it for that. I read some of the comments in that article about the flex beater, seems like mixed results (no pun intended). I wonder if there is user error or perhaps it matters whether your mixer has the narrow or wide bowl (mine has the wide bowl). I know the wide bowl is better for beating egg whites.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by RiversideLen.

[Mike Nolan]

My understanding of the flex beaters is that you have to have the right one for your bowl size and shape. That's true for other types of beaters as well, of course.

I find it interesting the KA's initial reaction to the third party flex beaters was to say that using them could void your warranty, and then they came out with their own line of them.

[Italiancook]

That is interesting, about the warranty, Mike. I didn't know that.

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