How To Batch Bake Crusty Bread With A Stand Mixer
If you have tried our recipe for Easy Homemade Crusty Bread Made With A Stand Mixer, you will know just how easy and delicious homemade bread really is.
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Using a stand mixer really takes away all of the hard work when making bread. Kneading the dough is often where most people feel uncertain when making their own bread. Having a machine that can do that job for you makes bread making so easy and , dare I say, even foolproof!
Most stand mixers that come with a dough hook should be capable of making at least one loaf of bread. The smaller, cheaper ones will most likely struggle with anything more than a small loaf due to motor size, plastic gears and lightweight bodies. While lightweight may sound an attractive proposition, especially if you have to keep the mixer in a cupboard, it isn’t good for mixing dough. The machine will move and walk across your worktop and could end up in a heap on the floor.
The better quality stand mixers like Kenwood and Kitchenaid do mix the dough really well but their capacity means you can only safely make a maximum of 1 or at a pinch, 2 loaves at a time. The machine will then be working against the dough which can cause the head to bounce on the Kitchenaid.
Working at their limits generates a lot of friction that creates heat in the dough. Too much heat and your yeast can suffer or even be killed.
The Ooni Halo Core is a brand new stand mixer than brings professional dough mixing to every kitchen. It can easily handle dough made with 1.5kg flour. The Kitchenaid can only handle 1kg of flour and the Kenwood Chef has a capacity of 1.3kg of flour. This means that the Kitchenaid is probably happier to make just one loaf at a time and the Kenwood can just about manage 2 loaves but it really is at it’s capacity limits for the motor. The Ooni Halo Core can easily make 3 large loaves in one go and it even makes a far better job of kneading the dough. The dual action kneading techniques creates a much stronger gluten network without overheating the dough.
Why Is The Ooni Halo Core Better Than The Others?
It all comes down to how the mixer works. The standard stand mixers like Kenwood and Kitchenaid are planetary mixers. This means that the bowl stays still and the dough hook moves around in a planetary action so it covers all of the bowl. The Ooni is very different.
The Ooni Halo Core is a spiral mixer. The dough hook turns but stays in position while the bowl turns, delivering the dough to the hook. It also has a breaker bar than continually stretches the dough in conjunction with the dough hook. This works in the same way as a professional bakery mixer.
So, for batch bakers who would like to get ahead and get the freezer stashed with bread for the week but only have to mix and bake once, the Ooni Halo Core is an essential addition to the kitchen.
Mixer Comparison: Kneading 2.5kg of Heavy Bread Dough
When you scale a recipe up to 1.5kg of flour and nearly a litre of water, you are asking a machine to move a dense mass weighing over 2.5 kilograms. This is where the physical engineering of your mixer matters. If you try to mix this mega-batch in a standard kitchen mixer, things can go wrong very quickly.
Here is exactly how different tiers of mixers stack up against this ultimate batch-baking challenge.
1. Ultra-Cheap Stand Mixers
- The Verdict: A total non-starter.
- The Reality: Ultra-budget mixers are lightweight, often utilising plastic internal gear trains and smaller motors. Trying to add 1.5kg of flour into these bowls will cause the motor to stall instantly, smoke, or strip the gears within seconds. These budget machines are strictly designed for light cake batters or a single, small loaf. Attempting this mega-batch will break them.
2. The Kitchen Icons: KitchenAid Artisan & Kenwood Chef
- The Verdict: Brilliant for single loaves, but overwhelmed by the mega-batch.
- The Reality: We all know and love the traditional planetary stand mixer (where the bowl stays perfectly still and the hook orbits around it). My trusty Kenwood Chef and my Kitchenaid have kneaded countless single loaves beautifully over the years. However, a 2.5kg total dough load exceeds the physical safety limits of standard planetary models.
- The Struggle: If you try this full batch in a KitchenAid Artisan or standard Kenwood, the dense dough will quickly begin to “climb” up the dough hook, wrapping itself around the top mechanism and spilling into the mixer head gears. Because planetary mixers have to fight the dead weight of the static bowl, the motor will strain heavily, the mixer head will violently wobble or bounce, and the machine will rapidly overheat. To bake this batch with these machines, you must split the ingredients and mix it in two separate sessions.
3. The Game Changer: The Ooni Halo Core Spiral Mixer
- The Verdict: The undisputed heavy-batch champion.
- The Reality: This is where commercial bakery technology enters the home kitchen. The Ooni Halo Core is a spiral mixer, which works fundamentally differently from standard mixers. Instead of a stationary bowl, both the spiral dough hook and the 4.5-litre bowl rotate independently at the same time while a central breaker bar holds the dough in place.
- Why it Wins: Because the bowl spins with the hook, the massive 2.5kg dough ball is continuously folded against itself rather than dragged around. The dough doesn’t climb the hook. Powered by dual high-torque DC motors, the Halo Core effortlessly glides through the entire 1.5kg flour batch for the full 10-minute knead. It remains rock-solid on your counter without “walking,” and develops a gorgeous, professional gluten structure with minimal friction heat—keeping your bulk fermentation perfectly stable.
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Batch Baking 3 Large Loaves With The Ooni Halo Core
Batch Baking Crusty Bread With A Stand Mixer
Equipment
- 1 Ooni Halo Core Stand Mixer
- 1 Digital Scales
- 3 Large 800g Bread Tins
- 1 Pastry Brush
- 1 Tea Towel or cling film
- 1 Dough Scraper
- 1 Bread Lame
Ingredients
- 950 grams Water
- 30 grams Salt
- 20 grams Caster Sugar
- 30 grams Oil, Butter or Solid White Fat
- 12 grams Instant Easy Blend Yeast
- 1.5 Kg Strong White Bread Flour
- a little extra oil for oiling the tins
Instructions
- Place the water into the bowl of the stand mixer
- Sprinkle over the salt, sugar and yeast
- Add the oil or solid fat, cubed small
- Add in all of the flour and put the bowl onto the Ooni Halo Cor Mixer with the dough hook and breaker bar fitted.
- Start the mixer on the slowest speed and slowly increase to about 25% as the dough comes together
- Leave the machine to knead the dough for 10 minutes.
- When the dough is kneaded, tip out onto a lightly floured surface and bring together into a ball
- Cover the bowl with the silicone lid that is included when you buy the Ooni Halo Core
- Leave to prove for 1 – 1½ hours or until doubled in size. This time totally depends on how warm or cool your room is.
- Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly to dispurse any large air bubbles.
- Weigh the dough to get the total weight and divide equally into 3
- Lightly oil the 3 bread tins
- Shape each piece into a rectangle by pressing with your fingers
- start rolling the dough and with each turn press the edge down so it sticks to the dough it is touching
- continue rolling and pressing until you get to the end then pinch the bottom seam together
- Place the dough into the oiled tin with the seam underneath and cover with a damp teatowel or a piece of clinfilm that has been oiled to prevent it sticking to the dough
- Leave them to rise until doubled in size
- Preheat the oven to 240℃/ 220℃ Fan / 475℉ / 425℉ Fan Gas 9
- When risen, if required, slash the tops of the loaves with a bread lame. This is a razor blade held safely in a handle. Slashing the dough allows the bread to rise to it's full volume as well as looking nice!
- Place all 3 tins on the shelf just below centre making sure they are not touching and that air can still circulate
- Bake for 30 minutes until a lovely golden brown
- Cool on a wire cooling rack before cutting a slice and smothering it with homemade butter…enjoy!
Remember, this recipe will be too much for a standard stand mixer. Our Easy Homemade Crusty Bread Recipe Made With A Stand Mixer will give you a single great crusty loaf to make with your stand mixer while you wait for your new Ooni Halo Core stand mixer to arrive!
Is The Ooni Halo Core Worth The Money?
Take a look at the Ooni Halo Core Here:
I ordered my Ooni Halo Core stand mixer when it came out so I’ve owned it for a few months now.
At around £499 it is an investment that needs a little consideration. If you aspire to, or already do, make your own bread for your family then this mixer will absolutely be worth every penny. It will give you professional quality bread at home and make bread making so very enjoyable.
As someone who makes all of the bread for my household – factory made supermarket bread doesn’t get a looking here! – I can honestly say this machine is an absolute game changer. The ability to mix a large batch of dough and make 3 large loaves or a loaf and some rolls or even more smaller loaves and then bake them all at the same time not only saves so much time but it also saves money by making full use of the oven.
The dough is far superior to anything made in a normal stand mixer, meaning your bread will be better and easier than ever to make.
It also comes with a geared whisk and a paddle so it’s great for making larger batches of cakes, meringues, biscuits and pretty much anything you currently make in your stand mixer.
You Will Also Need…
3 x 800g Bread Tins – the better the quality, the better the results. Lakeland have a great choice but these bread tins are ideal
Digital Scales – These are the ones I use and I love them!
Bread Lame – Essential if you want to score the tops of your loaves for more rise and you can even make pretty patterns!
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