Double batch of brioche turned into a sticky disaster last night

I tried scaling my usual brioche recipe up to 2 kilos of flour and my stand mixer nearly walked off the counter at my place in Portland. The dough got so hot from overmixing that the butter broke and I ended up with a greasy puddle instead of that silky texture. Has anyone else hit a limit on batch size with a home mixer and found a fix that doesn't involve a 600 dollar spiral machine?

3 comments

3 Comments

paige42724d ago

King Arthur's blog had a piece about this exact issue and they said anything over 1.5 kilos of flour in a standard KitchenAid is asking for trouble. You could try splitting the batch in half, mixing each separately, then folding them together by hand before the bulk rise. Or just accept that home mixers tap out around that weight and plan for two batches next time.

danielhenderson23d agoTop Commenter

Gently pushing back a little here, but @paige427 is pretty spot on about the KitchenAid limits. I checked their blog too and they specifically said that 1.5 kilos is the sweet spot for avoiding overheating the motor, especially with stiff doughs. Splitting the batch and hand folding really does save your mixer from sounding like a dying lawn mower.

hollyg5924d ago

Wait, is that really true about the 1.5 kilo limit? I always thought my KitchenAid could handle more, but now I'm second guessing myself hard. @paige427 your King Arthur tip about splitting the batch and hand folding is actually genius, I used to just let the mixer struggle through a heavy dough and it always sounded like it was about to take off. Honestly, I used to think the whole "home mixers tap out" thing was just people being dramatic, but after reading your post and realizing how much wear and tear I've probably put mine through, I'm totally changing my approach. I bet splitting the batch also helps with even mixing since the dough isn't so cramped in there. Seriously, thank you for pointing that out because I definitely would have kept pushing it past its limits lol.