Modified Spiral Hook for KA Artisan

[Botch]

A long time ago I saw a video of the spiral dough hook used on the larger "lifting-bowl" Kitchenaids, it seemed to work so much better than the "C" hook my Artisan has.  I tried searching for one, could never find one (its actually how I discovered this place).
Anyway, in the interest of Science I bought the larger spiral hook and, after comparing it to my "C" hook, carefully figured out how much I needed to cut off, and twenty seconds of hacksaw work later I had my shorter spiral!
I mounted it on the Artisan, lowered the head, and the cut cleared the bowl by about 1/16", was pretty pleased with myself.
 
Then, I turned it on.

    
 
I forgot to take into account the planetary motion of the head, and the stub of the spiral put a nice big dent in the side of my mixing bowl.  I stopped the machine, did some more measuring, and realized I'd have to cut off almost half of the spiral to clear the sides of the bowl, leaving the dough at the bottom untouched. 
 
Oh, well.  Paraphrasing the great Thomas Edison, I now know one thing that doesn't work... 

[breadman_nz]

Ouch. That hurts. Especially when a quick search on Amazon reveals the proper Kitchenaid spiral hooks for a very modest price:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=spiral+hook&x=0&y=0#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=spiral+dough+hook&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aspiral+dough+hook

The exact one you want will vary according to what bowl your kitchenaid has (e.g. wide versus narrow). There are at least 2 different bowls in use and as you've discovered a slightly incorrect hook will either hit the bowl or inadequately knead.

Furthermore, there is a risk in using a spiral hook on certain models without the correct shaft bearing, in that the greater vertical force of the spiral hook can damage the planetary. YMMV.

[Botch]

No, none of those spiral hooks fit the Artisan (the different-sized bowls are on the larger KAs only). 

[alex_chef2000]

No, none of those spiral hooks fit the Artisan (the different-sized bowls are on the larger KAs only). 

I had been using the spiral hook in my 20 year old KA for some time, it works just perfect, the final dough is better, you can even notice a better pizza because the kneading is better, the pizza crust is more tender inside and crunchy on the outside.

I know that this spiral was not designed for my old KA, two weeks ago I made 2 batches of dough for 12 large pizzas for my daugther's friends and the mixer worked fine.  I use it only in speed 1 for kneading and after 20 minutes the KA gets only warm.   

If one day it breaks, then I will buy a new Hobart N-50.

with my culinary regards,


Chef Alex.:

[breadman_nz]

No, none of those spiral hooks fit the Artisan (the different-sized bowls are on the larger KAs only).  

What model exactly do you have? I just ordered a spiral hook for my N50 (the KNS256BDH) and received an accessory sheet from KA with the hook. The sheet outlines what attachments (including c and spiral hooks) fit which mixer. It's an official list - so I guess it's guaranteed if it's on there, but you may[ have additonal success.

For example, the spiral hook works very well with my N50... no more dough climbing and seems to exert a very efficient knead on the dough ball rather than simply spinning it around. My bowl is a K5 bowl, I think, rather than the 'official' SST005 as listed here: http://www.globeequipment.com/Commercial-Kitchen-Equipment/Cooking-Equipment/Mixers/Bowl-SST005. It's just a touch short, however, so I'm going to try the KNS25BDH, which is listed for narrow bowls and is therefore hopefully just a half an inch longer than the wide bowl version.

Picking and mixing new and old KA parts seems part luck, part research, part art!

I doubt that the vertical vector imposed by the spiral hook will be an issue for the N50's over-engineered planetary unit (as per this thread: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5347.0.html), but time will tell I guess.

[EDIT: From the KA sheet, it seems you're correct - no spiral hook officially listed for the artisan series. However, the thread I just linked to has some good solutions for how you can make a minor modification to your artisan to safely accept a spiral hook without risking damage to your mixer. From my personal experience with 'c' versus spiral, I recommend considering it]

[Lespaul20]

I had been using the spiral hook in my 20 year old KA for some time, it works just perfect, the final dough is better, you can even notice a better pizza because the kneading is better, the pizza crust is more tender inside and crunchy on the outside.

I know that this spiral was not designed for my old KA, two weeks ago I made 2 batches of dough for 12 large pizzas for my daugther's friends and the mixer worked fine.  I use it only in speed 1 for kneading and after 20 minutes the KA gets only warm.   

If one day it breaks, then I will buy a new Hobart N-50.

with my culinary regards,


Chef Alex.:

As you can read the post above mine the KA Artisan series is much different than anything made by Hobart. You are comparing a $200 mixer versus a $2000 mixer.

[alex_chef2000]

As you can read the post above mine the KA Artisan series is much different than anything made by Hobart. You are comparing a $200 mixer versus a $2000 mixer.

I have been using this KA since 20 years, I am a professional chef, so it has been used in a commercial ambience for a while, still running like new.  The only thing I don't like from it is the noise of this mixer, commercial mixers work different.  I used to have a larger Hobart in my house some years ago and I love it, but was to big.  I have a small family, only a daugther 3 YO, she likes to bake with me.

If one day my KA breaks, then I will buy the Hobart N-50.

[Lespaul20]

My point is that your 20 year old KA is likely very different than a KA Artisan built today so it can handle a spiral hook just fine.

[breadman_nz]

As an update to my post above, and on further reading of the KA sheet... it seems that the KNS256BDH is NOT the ideal hook for an N50.

The KNS256BDH is the spiral dough hook for the wide bowls fits OK and works OK in the narrower bowl of the N50 (which is bowl K5ASB or K5ASBP for the polished version).

In fact it still works better IMHO than the stock c-hook. But as it's designed to fit a wider, shallower bowl it has a little too much clearance from the bottom of the bowl and therefore doesn't quite incorporate the ingredients initially into a ball with smaller batches of dough. Once the dough is together it's great, however.

So, I've now ordered the KNS25BDH (without the '6'), and will report back in due course. It's the spiral hook listed for the bowl type I have, and the bowl type which fits the KG25 mixer. The KG25 mixer is the one listed officially as accepting the K5ASB bowl and KNS25BDH.

Note: KNS25 and KNS256 come as burnised (BDH) and coated (CDH) versions.

[dmcavanagh]

Just a qiuck history lesson, Hobart sold the "Kitchen Aid" mixer line to Whirlpool back in the mid 80's, 1986 I believe. So, if you owned a KA before then it was built by Hobart and was a great unit. If your machine was purchased after '86, chances are good it was a Kitchen Aid/Whirlpool mixer, and not nearly as good a machine as the pre '86 Hobart's. Be leary of mixing components with machines which are not engineered for them, repairs are costly and warranties are void in these circumstances.

[breadman_nz]

I received the KNS25BDH - the spiral hook designated for the narrow bowl.

It's about 1cm longer/deeper in the bowl than the KNS256BDH, and is slightly thinner (more tapered at the end) and also has a slightly smaller radius of screw.

As it turns out, it's not quite as effective as the KNS256BDH. Because it's a little narrower, it gets less 'action' on the dough. In other words, the thinner tip moves through the dough without kneading it around the bowl - at least with the 1kg batch of 70% hydration dough I tried today. Switching back to the broader KNS256BDH, the action was smooth and thorough.

I'm not sure how much variance there is between individual hooks in therms of machining, but it seems that a small difference in length/shape makes quite a difference.

In summary, I'm sticking the with KNS256BDH for my N50. It's a very good improvement of the stock c-hook, with the minor caveat of incorporating the ingredients in small batches of dough.