Pizza Today - September 2017 - 28

pomace grade olive oil. It has a lower
cost and a much stronger (more robust)
flavor than any of the other forms of
olive oil (which make it unsuitable for
use as a standalone oil); however, when
used in a dough formulation it provides
a desirable olive oil note to the flavor
profile of the baked crust.
We are thinking about purchasing a spiral mixer for mixing our
dough. What should we look for in
a spiral mixer?

A: Spiral mixers are great for use
as a dedicated dough mixer. But like
everything else, there are some things
you want to make sure you have on your
mixer to get the greatest benefit from it.
In my opinion, multi-forward speeds, as
well as a reverse speed, are game changers. If the mixer is sized for making
doughs based on 100 pounds of flour
or less, a removable bowl is nice to have
(but not required).
Also, a plastic drain plug in the bowl

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is a very nice feature to have that all too
many manufacturers have not thought
to add. The drain plug is great to have
to facilitate cleaning the bowl, primarily
in draining the water out of the bowl
after the bowl has been cleaned. It sure
beats bailing the water out of the bowl
like bailing out a sinking row boat. But
like everything else, there is a drawback
to the plastic plug (namely forgetting to
put it back into the bowl after draining...oops!). Then, too, there is losing
the drain plug, which is easily addressed
by having a spare on hand. The good
news, though, is that both of these
issues are easily addressed through employee training - so it really shouldn't
be a problem at all.
One thing that I've seen on some
of the new spiral mixers is a lack of
provision for adding anything while the
mixer is running. The mixer will have a
safety shroud covering the bowl opening, but in many cases there is no opening in the solid metal shroud to add
anything (such as oil for a delayed oil

addition method of mixing). See if the
manufacturer can provide an opening in
the shroud to do this, but if they can't,
it is an easy task to have a metal shop
cut an opening and protect it with small
diameter metal bars running across
the opening. Just be sure to retain the
designed safety integrity of the shroud
when doing this.
For cleaning the spiral mixer, I've
found that if you pour several gallons of
very hot water into the bowl and drape
a piece of plastic sheeting over the bowl
and allow it to set for 20 to 30 minutes,
the moisture released from the hot
water will soften any dough remaining in
the bowl, making its removal much easier for faster and more effective cleaning.
Remember that drain plug we discussed
earlier? This is now where you will wish
you had it if you don't have one. n
TOM LEHMANN is a former director at
the American Institute of Baking in
Manhattan, Kansas and Pizza Today's
resident dough expert.

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Pizza Today - September 2017

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