Spiroforce

A spiral mixer is used to mix bread and pizza dough in bulk. The bowl rotates while a fixed spiral arm works the dough, which develops gluten with less friction and keeps the dough cooler than a planetary mixer over a long mix.

A spiral mixer is built only for dough: the bowl turns and a spiral arm kneads. A planetary mixer has an off-centre beater and swaps attachments for whisking, beating and mixing, which makes it more versatile but less effective on heavy dough.

Size a spiral mixer by the largest single batch you mix, not by daily output. A mixer also needs a minimum load to knead properly, so a machine that is too large will leave small batches sliding around the bowl unworked.

Hospitality Connect lists nine Spiroforce spiral mixers, with model codes running from SF60 through to SF250. The range is aimed at bakeries, pizzerias and commercial kitchens mixing bread and pizza dough in production batches.

Dough temperature drives fermentation speed. If mixing friction pushes the dough too warm, it proves faster than the schedule allows and results become inconsistent between batches. A spiral action generates less heat than a planetary beater over the same mixing time.