Whether in a bakery, independent restaurant or K-12 kitchen, a commercial mixer offers the versatility to make any number of recipes — when paired with the right attachments, that is. In fact, commercial food mixers with attachments for multiple uses can help expand menu options, while also ensuring consistent food output. The key is to understand what each attachment — whether an agitator or hub attachment — is best suited for specific ingredients.
Types of Commercial Mixer Agitators
There are several types of commercial mixer agitators for planetary mixers. Those for Legacy+ mixers, specifically, are called Quick-Release™ agitators. This style locks the agitator to the shaft of the mixer to create a consistent agitator-to-bowl ratio and prevent movement associated with bayonet style ones. Operators can install and remove the agitators by simply pulling a pin.
A B flat beater (sometimes called a paddle attachment) is an excellent multi-purpose attachment that can be used for everything from creaming butter and sugar for cookies to mixing cake and quick bread batter, making mashed potatoes and even shredding chicken or pork for sandwiches or enchiladas. This agitator offers the benefit of uniform output of ingredients and is a must have for any kitchen that wants to create a versatile menu.
There are three common types of wire whips for commercial planetary mixers: D, C and I style.
A D wire whip is designed for mixing air into light ingredients. These include beating egg whites for souffles, crepes or mousse and for mixing meringue and buttercreams.
A C wire whip offers greater whipping capacity than a D wire whip, making it well suited for heavier jobs like whipping potatoes and for making mayonnaise or creaming butter.
An I wire whip is the sturdiest of the three agitators and increases aeration of ingredients. It is commonly used for mixing sponge cakes and marshmallows.
ED and E dough hooks are the go-to attachments for mixing, folding and stretching most any yeast-raised dough.
The ED dough hook works well for mixing ingredients in heavier bread, rolls and pizza dough.
The E dough hook is better suited for lighter doughs.
A P pastry knife combines ingredients through a cutting action (at higher mixer speeds), making it the best attachment for combining shortening and flour for pastry and pie dough. The cutting action mostly eliminates any rubbing of ingredients to prevent the dough from becoming overdeveloped. This attachment can be used at lower speeds for stirring ingredients.
A bowl scraper used when mixing with a B flat beater or the wire agitators scrapes the sides of the bowl to save as much of the ingredients as possible.
Hub Attachments: Food Processing and Meat Grinding
Agitators aren’t the only attachments that can turn a commercial mixer into a multi-use machine. Commercial mixer hub attachments that connect to the front of planetary mixers allow for both food processing and meat grinding.
For example, the Hobart VS9 vegetable slicer attachment fits the #12 attachment hub on Legacy+ mixers, along with the Hobart food cutter and power drive units. This attachment comes with multiple plates designed for processing specific ingredients:
The slicer plate can slice vegetables and cheeses in thicknesses from 5/8 inch to wafer thin according to how it is adjusted.
There are also plates for grating hard cheeses and vegetables, spices and breadcrumbs, and for finely shredding cheeses and quick cooking vegetables.
Medium shredding plates are also excellent for quick cooking vegetables, salad vegetables and thicker shreds of cheese.
For course items like cabbage for coleslaw or potatoes for hashbrowns, use the course shredding plate.
A #12 commercial mixer meat chopper attachment furthers the versatility of a commercial mixer. Like the VS9 vegetable slicer attachment, the meat chopper attachment fits on the front hub of a Legacy+ mixer. Depending on the knives and plates used, this attachment can grind beef and pork for sausage, meatballs and more. It can also grind boneless turkey or chicken for burger patties.
For more information on agitators and attachments for Legacy+ commercial mixers, visit our website.
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