Kneading yeasted bread by hand is an important part of the learning process – you can feel the dough quality change as the liquid is absorbed and the gluten develops.

It’s also a chore if you’re doing a couple of loaves every evening after work.

In Singapore I have a Kenwood Chef Titanium XL GTS Turbo. I love it. I know how it works, I know what it will produce and my method is pretty consistent. But it’s a big heavy beast and a bit large for my 70cm X 50cm counter space in Hong Kong. I wanted a smaller footprint but with 2kg of dough capability.

Enter the Ankarsrum Assistent (TM)

After researching online, the quirks and uniqueness of the Ankarsrum Assistent (TM) – henceforth known as the Ank – appealed to me. The big open bowl, the Heath Robinson-esque vibe and the notion of a spinning bowl – sounds great, right?

The distinctive feature of this mixer is that it spins the bowl and its contents, not the stirring paddle. As a result, there is more torque and less noise. The bowl is driven by an electric motor and worm gear from beneath. The power of the motor has increased over time from 250 W^[1] through 400 W, 450 W, 650 W, 800 W and now 1500 W.^[2] Original machines had a simple single speed switch; modern machines have both variable speed and a timer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolux_Ankarsrum_Assistent

The Swedes have been using these since 1940 with the fundamental design unchanged. Nothing slows this beast down. Even the Kenwood changes tone as it works harder in stiff dough, but the Ank takes it all in it’s stride. And it won’t walk across the countertop.

It is slim enough to leave me space to the side for measuring and faffing about in my 70cm X 50cm space.

There is a bit of a learning curve if you come from the Kitchen Aid camp, but generally I put liquids in first then the dry stuff. But mostly I just weigh everything straight in to the bowl and then set it spinning, letting the roller massage those gluten strands in to fruition.