Smallest possible amount of dough for Famag IM5

[NeverSummer]

Hi there,

I have a question for the owners of the Famag IM5: From your experience - what is the smallest amount of dough that the machine is able to knead?

Thanks!
Jo

[barryvabeach]

Jo,   I just bought mine, and I autolyse first, with whole wheat,  I can do 450 grams of flour and 360 of water, no problem.  Without autolyse, not sure.  I asked the same questions recently and Pleasant Hill said 500 grams of flour is what they suggest as a minimum, if not using an autolyse.   The other night after doing some bread dough, I did a small batch of pizza dough - 260 flour 170 water, and it kneaded that ,  though I was not shooting for a window pane, and I only used the Famag because I had just finished the bread dough.  It is less efficient with small batches than with a larger amount, but still has some kneading action with smaller batches.  BTW,  no one mentioned it, but I find it is much quieter than my Ank.    What amount do you plan to do?  If you want me to try a test run, let me know flour amount, type, and water, and I will do it by this weekend. 

[NeverSummer]

Hey barryvabeach,
This was very helpful, thanks. I don’t have a specific amount of dough in mind. I’m currently trying to figure out whether I should go with the Famag or the Sunmix machine. I think both will do the job for my normal bread and pizza doughs, so I searched the forum for pros & cons and I’m now trying to validate some of them with real experience from the users. My normal amount of dough is higher than 500g of flower + water, but sometimes its not and therefore it is interesting for me to understand the minimum amount of dough the machine can handle.
Thanks again!
Jo

[barryvabeach]

Jo, sorry, can't give you any help on the Sunmix.  I wanted the removable bowl and that is why I went with the Famag, though those with the Sunmix say cleaning is not an issue.  I would think that the size of the bowl would be the issue - the narrower the bowl, the more efficient with smaller amounts. I use 450 grams of whole wheat on a regular basis, and am quite happy, though frankly the Ank would easily handle that amount as well.

[02ebz06]

Jo, have you read thru this thread ?  -->  https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=70385.0
Good posts in it about the Famag.

If you normally make small batches, you can always double or triple the batch and freeze part.

[jenea]

I have a sunmix 6 and regularly do batches as small as 520 g of flour and then water and have never had any issues with a batch that small. Its a great mixer and highly recommended. I worried about the non-removable bowl regarding cleaning, but found it takes only a few minutes to clean it

john

[amolapizza]

A bit late with the reply, but I tried 540g of dough in my Sunmix 6.  I think that that is about the minimum quantity it would do, it didn't knead it as well as a larger batch, but the dough was ok.

[Camarie]

A bit late with the reply, but I tried 540g of dough in my Sunmix 6.  I think that that is about the minimum quantity it would do, it didn't knead it as well as a larger batch, but the dough was ok.

A machine like that is probably made for large batches only. 

[amolapizza]

Likely yes, I normally do about 1-1.5kg and that works very well.  I recorded that video for someone that was asking about what the minimum dough quantity was.  Possibly it's more reasonable to knead by hand if one wants only 500g of dough..