Forum: cooking.stackexchange.com
Tags: <equipment><shopping><pizza>
Title: Do I need a stand mixer to make good pizza dough? If so what should I get?
Question: A lot of recipes I read for pizza dough call for a mixer. Is that the best way? If so, which mixer should I get? I've seen the kitchen aid and a electrolux. What else should I consider?

Answers:
sents: text: You don't need a stand mixer, but it's a shortcut for those of us who don't like kneading the dough.
text: You could also use a bread machine (most have an option to mix and kneed, but not bake), or a food processor (use a dough blade), or just knead by hand.
text: If you look, you can find some no-knead, or at least less-knead pizza dough recipes, and there's some styles of pizza crust that are more biscuit like than what most people think of as pizza.
text: (It's popular in Maryland, and it has the advantage that you don't have to wait or things to rise,
text: etc, so there's no advance planning necessary other than pre-heating an oven). ...
text: As for brands of mixer ...
text: I won't get into that discussion, as I haven't owned enough of them to be able to give a good comparison.
text: Just make sure it has a warranty or a return policy, as my neighbor had some problems with the first model she bought ...
text: she ended up going with a different brand because of all of the problems.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/67/Joe
score: 7
sents: text: All the "made from scratch" pizza dough I've seen made was mixed by hand, and it was always delicious, so I would say no,
text: you don't need a mixer to make good pizza dough.
text: In fact, I'm sure even modern style pizza predates the common use of electricity and mixers.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/123/Ryan Elkins
score: 4
sents: text: You don't NEED a mixer, but if you're making a lot of dough it certainly can speed things up.
text: Also if you don't have a nice stand mixer and do a lot of baking they are well worth the investment.
text: As for picking I would stick with one of the well known brands.
text: I've my Kitchen Aid for nearly 10 years and love it.
text: My mother's lasted 30 years before she burned out the motors and replaced it with a new one of the same.
text: I've heard positive things about both the Electronolux and Cuisinart, but I've never used either personally.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/161/acrosman
score: 4
sents: text: Nope! Check out Jim Lahey's no-knead pizza dough.
text: Really easy, simple, requires little of your time, and no special equipment needed (you can use a cookie sheet for the pizza stone.
text: Won't be quite as as good, but i still love it).
text: The dough still has to rise for a while (Jim Lahey lets the yeast do the kneading, instead of having to do it yourself), so you gotta plan ahead.
text: I've only made the pizza dough recipe from his book, which hasn't been released online, but this one is fairly similar: http://tastingtable.com/entry_detail/99/Jim_Lahey_reveals_his_recipe_for_no-knead_pizza_dough_.htm
text: BTW, I'd really recommend his book.
text: It's awesome for beginning bakers.
text: Made my first bread out of it 6 months ago, and I still make bread from the same recipe weekly for some bonified foodies who love it.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/722/Xepo
score: 3
sents: text: Fanzoo, I've made several hundred batches of pizza dough over the last 7 years.
text: The short answer is no, you don't need a mixer to make great pizza dough.
text: There two main reasons you should consider using one though: Consistency - If you mix your dough for a specific period of time (say 8 minutes), you'll be able to do that more consistently.
text: Mixing by hand is a little more subjective.
text: Ease -
text: If you're making large batches of dough, it'll make your life easier.
text: KitchenAids are the most common.
text: But I've found they can be a little bit of a pain because the hook doesn't always cut through the ball of dough.
text: Instead, the ball just bounces around in the bowl.
text: The Electrolux DLX line, although more expensive, is a better mixer for making pizza dough.
text: There are also fork mixers (I believe Santos makes a great one).
text: You'll be able to make great pizza dough with any of the three.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/2098/raji
score: 2
sents: text: You can also use a food processor to knead dough if you have one.
text: Just pull a fist size peice off and throw it in, the blade will kneed it.
text: When done put in in a bowl and do the next fist size piece until all of your dough is done.
text: It kneads a lot faster than a mixer so be careful.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/995/kls
score: 1
sents: text: You don't need a mixer to make a proper pizza dough, but it does come in handy.
text: I like my Kitchen-Aid a lot
text: , I hear Kenwoods are nice as well (and a lot more affordable).
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/744/Boetsj
score: 0
sents: text: Much as I love my KitchenAid, you don't need it for pizza dough.
text: I typically use this recipe (with half whole wheat flour): http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/main-courses/basic-pizza-crust/ -- and don't bother hauling out the mixer, even though she uses it.
text: Easy as pie and really fast.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/832/melle
score: 0
sents: text: As the others have said, you definitely don't need a mixer for pizza dough.
text: I don't have a fancy mixer at all, but I did start off trying to use a regular hand mixer with the dough hook attachment.
text: I thought it was a pain, so I tried kneading by hand the second time.
text: It was much easier and worked just as well.
text: On a side note, do you have a baking stone for your pizza?
text: I noticed that made a huge difference in the texture of the dough.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/800/hwillow
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
Pizza dough made in a mixer is not necessary and may be inferior to a hand-made dough. However, it does speed up the process and save effort. A food processor with a dough hook or a bread maker can offer similar results.
You don't need a mixer to make pizza dough. If you don't like kneading, why not try a bread machine or a food processor to speed things up.