Planetary Mixer and Spiral Mixers | American Eagle® Food Machinery

Planetary Mixers vs. Spiral Mixers

Planetary and Spiral Mixers are the most common commercial mixers, while both of these dough mixers are great choices for any foodservice operation. Let’s take a look at their main differences.

What is a Planetary Mixer?

Planetary mixers are multi-functional mixers with a fixed, non-rotating bowl. The bowl is raised and lowered into the mixing position. The utensil rotates around the non-rotating bowl like the way the planets rotate the sun. That’s why it’s called a Planetary mixer. This is a great choice as a pizza dough mixer as well a mixer for cakes, pastries, and breads. Many different kinds of customers, ranging from small caterers to large-scale baked goods companies, use a Planetary mixer.

One of the main benefits of a Planetary mixer is the ability to add attachments to this bakery mixer. With the many attachments available, it can turn into a meat grinder or vegetable slicer. Do you need to make some batter? It’s not a problem with the Planetary mixer. It can also whip potatoes. Because of this versatility, many bakers and pastry shops use this mixer. A paddle attachment allows for blending and creaming. These mixers a great choice for pie crusts, cake fillings, and cookie dough. If meringue or whipped cream is needed, the whip attachment can be used. Pizza shops and bakeries can take advantage of the dough hook attachment for all their dough mixing needs.

What is a Spiral Mixer?

Now let’s look at the Spiral mixer. Spiral hooks rotate along with a rotating bowl in a Spiral mixer. This spinning motion imitates hand kneading and rolling motions and gently mixes bread dough. This allows it to develop the proper gluten structure, while not overworking the dough. Although they come in many sizes, Spiral mixers are usually bigger than Planetary mixers. The Spiral mixer usually does not have interchangeable attachments like the Planetary mixer. It’s ideal for mixing many dough types, from stiff, low hydration to high hydration doughs.

Choosing a Planetary Mixer vs. Spiral Mixer for Your Foodservice Needs

There are many things to consider when you choose a commercial mixer. It’s important to note your product volume and range. Spiral mixers are a great product if you’re making large volumes of dough. Some of the largest Spiral mixers are able to tackle hundreds pounds of dough at a time, making it a great industrial mixer for a large bakery. It’s also a great pizza dough mixer for a large pizzeria. For smaller bakers, a Planetary mixer is a great choice because of its adaptability. Bakers and pastry chefs love the fact they can use it for more than just dough. Depending on your specific needs, both of these mixers are ideal choices as commercial kitchen mixers, commercial food mixers, restaurant mixers, or industrial dough mixers.

We hope this gives you a good idea on the differences between Planetary and Spiral mixers. Please let us know if you have any questions, we’ll be happy to discuss what kind of mixer is ideal for your specific baking needs.