Using Ankarsrum with Peter Reinhardt's artisan sourdough recipe (2024)

First, congrats on your purchase, I am sure you will love it. The roller scraper Assistent works best when you start with the flour, then add water, if you do it the other way around, there is not much friction, so it does get started mixing very well. I have made very high hydration doughs ( up to 95% ) so it can be done. My recollection of his method is that you in essence dissolve the starter in water, then add flour. One method is to use a danish dough hook or even a spoon in a separate bowl to get the starter dissolved - you are just trying to break it up so it is easily incorporated into the mix. It takes a few seconds. Then you put the flour in the Assistent, and add the starter water mix. The other option is to put the starter in the Assistent bowl, then add water, turn on the machine and babysit the roller for a few minutes. By that I mean you move the roller arm to the middle and release it and you do that repeatedly until the mix looks a lot like soup, then add the flour. Also, I would not worry much about the time suggested by Peter, the Assistent uses a different method of kneading, so it may take a little longer, depending on the hydration. I have used the Assistent on a number of Reinhart recipes, and no complaints.

May 7 2015 - 4:42am

I have undergone the reverse of your mixer journey...

I triedan Assistent about 8 years ago when my Kenwood with its plastic gearbox died on me. I found it mixed well enough with2lb loaf quantities but tended to throw itself around the counter. I can't comment on your full 4.5lb loaves because they are larger than I used to handle. In the end I gave up and gave it away.

Because my loaves were yeasted, I started with the dry ingredients then added the wet.

I changed to the Kitchenaid 5KPM5 Heavy Duty and carried on making the same 2lb loaves about three times a week for overfive years without issue. I have just replaced the nylon gear for the first time because it was showing signs of wear (as it is designed to do) but also uncovered wear on one of the main rods. I took the decision to stick with Kitchenaid and move up to the 6.9L 5KSM7591X with the bigger motor and so far (albeit after only three loaves) am very pleased with it. It seems to struggle less than the 5KPM5 with 2lbs of dough.

May 7 2015 - 4:50am

Sep 11 2018 - 7:23am

Many people run into gear problems because they run dough mixing at a speed higher than #2. I have a KA 610 and I regularly mix 2.2 kg of dough and it barely breaks a sweat.

May 7 2015 - 5:18am

Hello Ellie,

I have been baking Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough using the Ankarsrum Assistent.

I start by putting the fluids in the bowl first. Then using the roller and the scraper I gradually add the flour until it is incorporated. I then autolyse for about an hour before adding the salt. I then add the salt and mix for short while to incorporate it. I then remove the roller and then fit the dough hook (I have also just fitted the dough hook after the hour point before adding the salt and it has not made much difference).

I them mix with the dough hook until I am happy with the dough development (anywhere up to about 15 minutes). I then follow Hamelman's recipe stretching and folding as per the recipe.

This way has been producing great tasting light loaves. The link below demonstrates the starting with fluid way to make dough with the Assistent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMB4CVG5fLs

Happy Baking!

These look lovely. I will watch the video with my husband a bit later.

I am not using any commercial yeast with my bread doughs and have been happy with them, but I might try your method to see how that works out. (I usually do a 1 minute mix starter with water, 3 minute mix flour and salt in, rest for 5 minutes, 3 minute knead with hook, then out on the counter for the 4 stretch and folds for a total of 40 minutes and then putting into bowls for sitting for 2 hours before putting in the fridge). Maybe not too different to yours except for leaving it for 1 hour. (I am a little nervous of being tied to this for 4 hours instead of only three, which is already pretty long, not able to go far or do much while waiting).

Thanks Victor. (It's all guys who have replied to me so far! My husband leaves this to me until he puts the loaves into the oven for me on our Super Peel he made for me - they are too heavy for my arthritic wrists to risk holding steady).

Ellie

After my 7-qt Cuisinart went up in smoke (literally!), and I was very unhappy with the KA Pro 600 I bought, I decided to splurge on an Ankarsrum.

I'm still getting used to it. Basically you have to forget all the instructions in baking books that refer to the usual type of mixer like KA or Cuisinart. I use the roller (with knife), and add the liquid, mixed with the starter and/or yeast first, moving the roller to the middle a few times, then add the flour and other ingredients in batches.

When the dough firms up and startes crawling up the roller, I adjust the position, moving it an inch or so away from the side of the bowl. For the kneading time I go more by how the dough development looks like than by the times stated in the recipe.

For the dough hook I didn't find a good use so far, the roller works much better.

What I found very strange was the fact that the manual and DVD that came with this expensive piece of equipment only showed pictures of happy people around the machine, no explanation on how to use it whatsoever, worse than any IKEA assembly pictograms.

I had to search on YouTube for instructions on how to use the Ankarsrum, produced by other users, not by the company.

Karin

Sep 11 2018 - 7:27am

Sourdough Chick, two other tips. In many books you will see a suggestion that in working with high hydration doughs, you hold back a little water, let the machine knead until it develops a window pane, then add the remaining water. That process actually worked for me with a Bosch, because otherwise it would not knead very high hydration doughs in certain amounts - like ciabatta. With the Assistent, it is easier to use all the water with the flour, because trying to add significant amounts of water to an already kneaded dough is not that easy - the dough just slides around because the water reduces the friction on the side of the bowl.

Second, most of the time I add all the ingredients, mix for a short time on the low speed, and turn up to full ( I have the older 450 watt machine - with yours, you would only go to speed 3 ) to knead, set the timer and walk away. However. it is good to come back a few times and check and see if a little dough got stuck to the back of the scraper, if so, just flick it off so it joins the main dough. I agree with Karin that is surprising that the Assistent, and some other high priced appliances I have purchased, give you very little in the way of instructions.

May 21 2015 - 12:14pm

My understanding is that if you have a high hydration dough, you should use the roller to knead the dough. If the bowl starts rocking, then you probably have too much flour and you should switch to the dough hook. the roller allows you to knead a very wet dough - more so than any other mixer I've used. So, it's great for the sour doughs you are doing. I keep ending up with too wet dough for sandwich breads, but that's part of the fun learning curve!

May 21 2015 - 12:16pm

Dittos, liquids in the bowl first, then start to add dry ingredients; low speed is ok then. The roller should be against the bowl during this. As dry ingredients are added the dough will get thicker and the roller is adjusted away from the bowl at that time. Get the speed of the bowl up to about 3/4 speed, no higher. Do not use low speed with the roller after adding dry ingredientsas it defeats the action of the roller, bowl, and scraper to do so. The mixer requires centrifugal force to work and that only happens when the bowl is spinning rapidly.

The dough hook uses lower speed and also much stiffer dough. Maybe it can work with thin dough. I just haven't tried that. I do know that it excels when mixing/kneading dense dough.

I never change between the roller and dough hook midstream in a recipe unless it's the firs time I make it and choose the wrong innards for the mixer. If the arm is swinging back and forth from a too dense dough I change to the dough hook and make a note in the recipe. The hook might be inefficient at the start of a recipe where the yeast is being mixed with the liquid, but that changes rapidly after dry ingredients are added.

I never withhold water from the recipe to knead first. Get the speed up,achieve the dough ring and allow the machine to work as designed. Adding water at the end removes the friction required to allow the mixer to work properly. But if you do need to add water for some reason, add it to the center and allow it to fly into the roller from centrifugal force without getting it onto the bowl. Add it slowly. Add water to the mixer when using the dough hook and you'll see what happens when friction is removed from between the dough and the bowl. It will come back eventually, but it will take time to regain the mixing/kneading action.

First, using a liquid preferment, either sourdough or IDY seeds, place all the remaining liquid in bowl with the preferment. Set the roller in contact with the rim and run with speed set high for just long enough to aerate the mix. (Yeast will start better with good oxygenation.) Now turn the speed to dead slow and adjust the roller to ¾" to 1" or a little more if a large load. Start the mixer and pour in the dry ingredients. Assuming 60%+ hydration, the dough will be well mixed in 2 to 3 minutes. My doughs are usually well mixed at slo-ow speed in just over 2 minutes. Let rest if you like, then restart with the speed knob pointing a about 2:30 and let it knead.

With firm preferments, I pour the liquids in first. I pat the biga out and cut into small <1" squares, coat in flour and stir into the dry ingredients. From there, it is the same as with a liquid starter.

If the mixer is trying to walk or the arm/roller is slapping against its stops, you are running too fast or the roller spacing from the rim is insufficient. The Assistent is a gentle worker. You will soon fine-tune your methods to your own doughs. It wasn't until I gave up the notion that speed is good that my enjoyment of the quiet, efficient DLX's kneading really came to stay.

cheers,

gary

I will give that fast with liquids and then slow when adding the flour a try next time.

Thanks for all the tips, everyone.