Shannon sent photos of a failed baking project to me out of the blue a few months back. She sent three shots of the stripped gears in her high-end stand mixer, which was in the process of falling apart, instead of a picture of a plateful of cookies.
She asked if she should shell out $3K for a pro model that looks like it could power a tiny tractor through a stony field, which at that price, should rub your feet and tell you that you're beautiful.
I sent Shannon's pictures to Tara as a joke, but I wanted her to see the weird stuff people send me. She had a suggestion.
Tell her to get the Ankarsrum.
What now?
The Ankarsrum. It's from Sweden.
It's a thrill to say, "I've never heard of such a thing," knowing it's preapproved by someone who knows what's in the kitchen.
The $700 Ankarsrum Assistent, which was originally released in 1940, was not to be missed.
In the United States, where the brand of reference is KitchenAid, we're used to stand mixers with moving parts above the bowl and their primary attachment spinning around in the bowl.
The main bowl is powered by a motor in the base of the machine. Once I started testing it, I'd tell friends about it, usually accompanied by a short video I took, which would invariably elicit a response along the lines of "what the hell is that?"
The Ank's motor is controlled by two knobs, one for speed and the other for on/off, which allows it to run on a timer for up to 12 minutes. The company claims to be able to make five kilomes of dough at a time, with a seven quart metal bowl. In the back corner of the machine is a tower with an arm that swings out over the bowl and is attached to a kneading dough roller.
The dough roller is attached to the arm and the tower has a dough knife in it to keep it clean.
It was courtesy of Joe Ray.
The dough comes together when you turn it on, the bowl is spinning and the roller is hitting it against the side of the house. I used a big dough hook in place of the roller to mix together a large amount of meatballs. There is a second bowl that is stationary for other baking styles. The bowl in the shape of a bundt pan has a pair of balloon whisks for light work and thicker wired cookie whisks for chunkier doughs.
I went with classic breads to start testing, making sure to adjust recipes to add liquids first, so I could marvel at all the work done by friction. The roller rolls thanks to a rubber ring around its top that nestles into the bowl's lip. The dough knife is pushed against the bowl. It makes you feel like there's less to break.
Once the dough comes together, you can pivot the arm and roller toward the center of the bowl as it runs, allowing you to adjust the kneading pressure on the dough, occasionally allowing you to work through the step in the directions where you stop.
I followed the recipe in the book that came with the mixer and made four squat loaves of toast bread. I used up some olives to make a loaf. I tried two different recipes for focaccia, and one that many people said was good for challah. The Ank was sure on its feet for each of these.
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