


Meringues, brioche, cheesecake, choux, eclairs, and so much more easily mix up in the machine. Pastry chef Jean-Baptiste Lucas says people often underestimate how much easier home baking can be with a good stand mixer: “You can use it for 90 percent of pastry and baking recipes, only a few techniques have to be done by hand. Whether you are raising your bread game or trying to find a versatile, all-in-one machine, there is one model that will be your speed. The field is wide when it comes to choosing the best stand mixer-there are tilt-head and bowl-lift models, large- or small-capacity bowls, countless attachment options, and various sizes for whatever level of counter space you have available. Since 1919 when KitchenAid pioneered the small appliance, home cooks have leaned on stand mixers to take some of the toils out of prep work, and as more attachments have become available, the utility of a stand mixer widened to include pasta-making, meat-grinding, juicing, food processing, and even ice cream-making. Batches of cookies, loaves of bread, and layers of cake topped with airy buttercream all testify to the stand mixer’s role as a kitchen workhorse.
