I had to pick between a stand mixer and a food processor for my sourdough bagels, and I chose wrong.

Watched my friend try to make bagel dough in her food processor last month. The motor started smoking after like thirty seconds of kneading that stiff dough. She ended up finishing the whole batch by hand, which took forever and her arms were sore for two days. She said the texture was still off, too dense and tough. Now she's saving up for a proper stand mixer because she learned the hard way. Some tools just can't handle that job.

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laura_green826mo ago

Read an article by a baker who said food processors are built for quick, sharp cuts, not the long, slow push needed for stiff doughs like bagels. They explained that the fast blade can actually tear the gluten strands you're trying to build up, which would make the final texture tough. A stand mixer with a dough hook mimics the folding and stretching of hand kneading much better. It seems like the wrong tool just fights against the process from the start. That's probably why your friend's bagels turned out dense despite all her hard work.

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the_daniel6mo ago

Yeah, been there. That stiff bagel dough is a beast. You can try finishing it by hand on the counter, but honestly, it's a workout and the texture still might be off.

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