If you have been following me for a little while, you must know by now that I’m a bit of a bread nerd…
I didn’t want to use the Magimix Cook Expert standard blade because it didn’t get me the same result as the traditional dough hook such as the one attached to my Kenwood Chef. So I cooked all my food and grated and sliced it in my Cook Expert and had to keep my Kenwood on the bench for the daily bread.
Also, my Kenwood had two major accidents: it fell from the bench twice when kneading my bread. In French they say something like, it happened once poor you, it happened twice fool you… Well…
The front part broke the first time, and later on, the rubber feet broke one after the other. As a result, it became pretty mobile and I had to hold it firmly to the bench for 5 minutes on slow and 7 minutes on fast. And let me tell you what…these daily 12 minutes are soooooooooo long… The sound that the Kenwood makes is simply unbearable and so are the heavy vibrations.
So when I heard that Magimix had just launched a dough blade for the Cook Expert, I was super exciting but also very doubtful. I decided to get it when I went over to Paris and try it out.
So I received it in a nice big box and compared it to the Universal blade (on the right).
When the Universal blade can knead 0.8 kg of bread and 0.6 kg of brioche; the XL dough blade can knead 1.6 kg or 2 loaves of bread and one massive 1.2 kg brioche.
It’s exactly the same principle as the Universal blade. You just need to screw it at the bottom of the metal bowl with the usual ring.
It is not sharp at all, it has a funny shape that pushes and raises the dough to make a ball instead of little beads.
The back of the new XL Dough blade is different from the Universal blade. It is shaped to fit in the Food processor motor, which is slower than the metal bowl’s motor. It makes the movements strong and steady. This is why it can handle so much dough.
See the difference. The Universal blade on the left has a smaller base than the XL Dough blade.
But the real difference is the way this new blade moves the dough.
I start by 3 mins at speed 3 and no temperature. The dough looks wet and flat at the bottom. Then 7 mins at speed 13 (which is much slower than the other blade’s speed 13) and the dough slowly starts to form a ball.
If your dough is well balanced, humid enough but not too much, it will form a round-ish ball. Then the genius step is to use the low induction heat to nicely raise the dough. This is possible because the machine has 1) a “no movement” blade setting 2) a precise induction system with low temperature.
All you need is to do the previous steps (3 then 7 mins kneading) with the cap on to keep enough humidity inside. Then, for 30 mins or more, depending on your recipe and the outside temperature, you select “no speed”, and 35°C.
Edit (21/12/2016): I forgot to mention how stable the machine remains in the process. As I said before my Kenwood reacted pretty violently to the kneading action especially at high speed and after the dough ball was formed. It fell from the bench which was so dangerous. None of that here. The Cook Expert will wiggle a little but won’t move a millimetre on the bench. No motor smell or overload. It works a treat.
With this method, you can make bread even in cold weather. It works very well with sourdough bread which doesn’t contain any other yeast than the sourdough starter. It helps a lot weak starters and can be used as a warm-proofing before a cold night in the fridge. It gives a great flavour to the bread and beautiful holes :) Of course it works super well with fresh yeast or even dry yeast.
It’s important to note that you can totally use the “normal” or universal blade to make bread in the Cook Expert. This XL blade allows you to make larger loaves and more “traditional” and authentic breads.
If you make dough that gives you a regular error from your machine “motor overload”, try this blade instead. It works very well with sticky heavy dough (think gingerbread house, brioche, kougelhopf, cookie dough, etc).
Last but not least, it is only a dough blade/hook. It cannot be used to do anything else. It will not chop and make you the perfect smoothie or curry paste at all… Just use it with any program (Expert, or Pastry) if you’re kneading dough.
I have tried many recipes with it. So if you have any questions, feel free to post a comment below :)
Edit (21/12/2016): Magimix says it will be available in Australia first half of 2017.
MORE:
My Cook Expert “opening of the box“.
My complete review of this machine.
A Thermo-machines’ comparison table.
Magimix Cook Expert improvements for 2017
Hi flo do you make gluten free bread with the cook expert? Thanks
Hi Kim, I have never tried because we’re all about gluten here :) But my Mum is gluten free and she got a Cook Expert. She’s not too keen on baking I think. (She uses it every day for soups and veggie grating and chopping). I will go to France next July and will only try it out then.
Maybe you should have a little look at the Magimix Australian Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1059768560746067/ I’m sure someone would have tried.
Wow – this looks great. Any idea if the blades will be available in Australia?
Hi Amanda,
It will be available very soon from what I heard but I don’t know precisely when.
Hi all,
As far as I know the dough hook is not yet available in Australia. I can’t wait, so investigated some international options. The friendly people at http://www.lessecretsduchef.be were happy to post one to me, even if their online portal doesn’t offer postage to Australia. https://www.lessecretsduchef.be/fr/robots-cuiseurs/4805-magimix-couteau-petrin-xl-pour-cook-expert–3519280172422.html
Hi Flo, thanks a lot for posting these updates today. Very interesting and appreciated. I bought my CE at the end of Oct and am loving it- use it all the time. It was your earlier posts on the CE, and comparisons, along with all your thoughtful replies to questions, that gave me the info needed to decide this was the machine for me.
I am not a great baker but when I saw this post I went straight ahead and made a loaf with a GF bread mix using your instructions and am happy to say it was my best result ever! Dough rose beautifully in the CE bowl. Thank you, Tracey
Hi Tracey,
Thank you so much for your kind message :) I’m so glad I could help! When you do you little experiments in the kitchen and write a solitary text behind your computer, you don’t really know who’s reading it afterwards and what will come of it. I’m really happy that your gluten free bread turned out great with the universal blade.
I wonder if the XL dough blade would change anything in that case. I really have to try it :) I’ve gotta find myself gluten free friends!
x
Flo
Hi Flo,
Trying to work out the best replacement for my 20+ year old Kenwood Chef & wondering if the new dough blade is actually the same one as the Magimix Patissier? I am trying to work out the differences & which to buy… I need something that will do a good job in the cake mixing/creaming department.
Would these machines do asd good a job creaming/aerating cake mix?
Thanks for any advice
Hi Carolyn,
The new dough blade is very different in shape as the Pâtissier one. Unfortunately I do not have the Pâtissier so I cannot compare both blade or both machines in the creaming/aerating job…
I’ve been only using the Cook Expert with the universal blade for my cake mixing and it does a great job. But of course, I can’t compare :) You could use the egg beater as well to get a fluffy result if this is what you’re after.
Cheers,
Flo
Hi!
If your Kenwood Chef was still alive, what would you prefer now to cook dough? Are the results with the CE as good as they were with your Kenwood Chef?
Btw, thanks for all your informations & tries about the cook expert and other appliances: really interesting :-)
Hi Nessie,
Thank you for your kind message!
Well, without hesitation I’d use the Cook Expert. The Kenwood Chef was wiggling way too much. I had to stay standing by the bench during the whole process (5 + 7 minutes) with unbearable vibrations and noises.
I think the dough hook was made for cake or biscuit dough, certainly not my heavy country style bread…
Now my morning routine is a lot less violent :) The Cook Expert doesn’t move and the noise level is normal.
I just place all the ingredient in the metal bowl with the dough blade and go slow (3) for 5 minutes and fast (13) for 7 minutes. The I raise the temperature from 0 to 31.5°C and leave it be for 30 minutes or longer, depending on the bread.
For me this is life changing :)
Hi Flo,
Just to clarify, you never use the bread/brioche automatic programme?
Also, thank you for your appliance comparison, one of the reasons I went with Magimix :)
Very happy with it.
Hello!
I have used it. Now I don’t because I prefer doing my own program depending on the wetness of the dough :) But you can totally use it.
I’m so glad I was of any help in your decision. I hope you’ll like the machine as much as I do!
Cheers,
Flo
Hi Flo do you think you could use this blade to mix stews and curries? I still find the universal blade minces some of my meat due to its sharpness and the dough blade may alleviate that issue?
Hello Caroline,
That’s a question I’m asking myself :) I haven’t tried yet to make a stew. I wonder if it would stir enough and if if it does, I’m pretty sure it would be quite gentle with the food.
What I’ve tried by mistake is a soup program with the blade, it leaves mini chunks, which in the case of a mushroom velouté was a disaster hahahahaha!
I will let you know through the blog if it works or not for stews or curries, etc.
Hi Flo,
How do you set a temp of 31.5C? On my CE (using the EXPERT setting), temp goes from 31 to 32
Hello David,
You cannot put the temperature on half degrees :)
But contrarily to most thermo-machines, it’s very accurate.
Cheers!
Flo
Hi Flo,
In that case, you may want to change: “All you need is to do the previous steps (3 then 7 mins kneading) with the cap on to keep enough humidity inside. Then, for 30 mins or more, depending on your recipe and the outside temperature, you select “no speed”, and 31.5°C.”
Regards,
David
Hi!
I would also be interested by your recipe of bread and not only the temperature and speed on the CE.
Hi Nessie,
You can use any of my bread recipes in the Magimix.
http://www.thefloshow.com/category/recipes/bread/
What I do is:
– put the dough blade one
– put the ingredients in, on speed 3 first for 1 minute
– then on speed 13 for 5 minutes.
– The 30 mins at speed 0 at 37°C temperature.
Then the rest of the recipe can be followed normally.
I hope this help!
(I’ll try to put on a full recipe step by step for the Magimix very soon)
Hi David!
I wonder how that happened! Thank you so much for noticing. I now put it up to 37°C but still experimenting so I’ll put 35 in the meantime.
Thanks again! Lucky you’re here :)
OK, when I make bread this week I’ll try 37C. Actually, after my first loaf was not very successful (using 32C) , I added yeast to the bread mix, and it worked fine.
Best regards,
David
Hi David,
What do you think went wrong the first time? A weak starter?
Eric Kayser who wrote the “Larousse du Pain” always add fresh yeast to his bread recipe, even using a starter. I do sometimes. I love the flavour :)
Hi Flo,
Yes, I think my starter was a little weak: it had bubbles, but it was nowhere near as ferocious as the one in your photos :-) I don’t really understand how I can get it going more. I keep the starter on top of the hot water heater, which works well. Adding some yeast to the bread recipe certainly helps. I have some wheat kernels to be ground for the next batch, and I have rye kernels on order. Softly, softly.
Best regards,
David
Hi David,
It depends on so many factors, I find it very hard to really know what makes it lively or dead… But I’ve noticed that of course, the warmer the temperature, the more likely it is to ferment. My stater prefers rye over wheat. “He” loves a touch of honey (sugar helps fermentation and the good bacteria in honey help combat the potential bad ones from what I heard). And he prefers much more grains/kernels/berries over flour that has been milled days/months/years ago. He likes the fresh stuff like us :)
Also, even a starter with small bubbles, when left by itself without any external yeast help, can produce a decent bread. It only means that you need to ferment longer. What I’d do: I’d do an autolyse: mix flower and water only and leave it be for an hour or more in a bowl covered with a wet tea towel. This brings more yeasts and bacteria from the air into the mix. It’s an old French thing. Then In the flour mix, I’d use freshly milled rye (with my little electric coffee grinder). I’d add the rest (water, salt, starter), I’d put more starter than usual (I’m not too precise with my recipes…) to give it a better chance. Then I’d mix, then proof until is starts to look a bit puffy. If it doesn’t, at the end of the day, I put it in the fridge for a cold fermentation, then I’d take it out, make a ball and wait. If it doesn’t puff up enough, back to the fridge, until it starts to work…
It’s a good experiment to do, but it’s something you can only do if you work from home or on holidays. You need to keep an eye on it.
My problem at the moment is to be way to busy with my photos, my textile mag, my kids, my house, etc and I constantly over-proof… I have to fix up vomit-looking dough which has exploded everywhere…. It can be fixed-ish but it’s so annoying… I go grocery shopping and my dough which looked dead goes overboard…
It’s hard to know…
I’m doing a fabulous workshop with Sarah Owens, the brilliant NYC baker. Sourdough is her speciality. She’s been doing this for years. I can’t wait to learn more. I’ll be sharing it here :)
Good luck and keep me posted!
Cheers,
Flo
Hi Flo,
You recommend using a coffee grinder or FP to process the rye and wheat grains/ Our burr grinder (DeLonghi) got totally clogged trying to do this, and the CE FP (small bowl) just flailed around, even on pulse. The only gadget that would touch the job is our blender. Guess we won’t be getting rid of that in a hurry :-)
Best regards,
David
Oh no!!!
Mine is a little Breville. I’ve been grinding my grains, icing my sugar and milling rice and spices for years and it’s still going strong!!
What’s your food processor? Which bowl do you use? And last question, how fine is the “flour” you get? (flour, couscous or freekeh? :)
Kind regards,
Flo
Hi Flo,
The FP is the one included with the CE: I was using the small bowl. The blender – which did the job- is a Braun. It resulted in roughly flour consistency. Does your Breville have a burr grinder or a blender-like blade?
Best regards,
David
I should add the the coffee grinder was not harmed – I stopped it when it was making strange noises and no output was happening – it just required a lengthy cleanout.
Phew… I started to feel guilty…
Mine does its daily job without fail. I just have to rinse it with hot water and wipe.
Hi David,
That’s very interesting! I’ve tried milling my wheat grains with the Magimix food processor and it didn’t even harm the grains or berries. It made a little bit of dust and that’s it. I must be doing something wrong…
How do you do it?
My Breville is very tiny which and atrociously noisy… I think my cat is going to just drop dead one day when I start it. It has a very fine double blade, much finer and thinner and shorter than the Magimix small plastic bowl one.
Cheers,
Flo
Hi Flo,
I had about the same experience with the mini bowl on the CE FP. The Braun blender (http://www.service.braun.com/line/HH/H4184/H4184_14_NA.pdf) did the trick and was pretty quiet, considering. Certainly no cat killer :-)
Best regards,
David
Oh great! That’s a great tool…
I wonder why the Magimix mini bowl doesn’t mill. It’s such a shame.
Hello,
Could you please explain where to place the XXL blade?
Do I have to place it in the metal bol or where.
Thanks
Mylene
Hi Mylene,
Thank you for your message.
The dough blade takes the place of the standard blade in the metal bowl :) It’s just less sharp and has only two blades. It also connects to the slow motor of the machine, it makes it more resistant to weight (bread dough can be quite heavy).
I hope this helps :)
Flo