VERSATILITY
Dive into a world of endless possibilities with a food procesor’s wide range of attachments, each with a different purpose. Magimix Food Processors come with a dough blade for kneading, an egg whisk for fluffy egg whites, slicing discs, grating discs, a BlenderMix ring for smooth blending and plenty more.
CONSISTENCY
In the world of baking, precision is key. The science behind each recipe demands consistent results, where even one small change in measurements, or overmixing by a minute can be the difference between perfection and disaster. This is where a food processor comes in handy. Thanks to its sharp blades, and powerful motor, food processors ensure uniform mixing and chopping, so you can rest easy knowing that your food processor will achieve perfect results, every time.
TIME SAVING
The days of kneading, whisking, and mixing by hand are gone. Not only will it save you a sore arm, a food processor can get the job done in half the time and with unparalleled efficiency. Especially thanks to the ability to use an ‘all in one’ method with cake batters. Just place all of your ingredients in at once, and watch the Magimix do all of the work for you.
So, what can a food processor do? We’ve compiled a list of the many capabilities of our iconic machine, along with some recipes for you to try out yourself.
KNEADING
Kneading can be tiresome and tedious, which is why having a helping hand in the kitchen can make all the difference. Food processors allow you to simply press one button and leave the rest to the machine. They provide a consistent and even kneading action, helping ensure the proper development of the dough. This is especially important for achieving consistent results with bread and pizza dough. Gluten development is also a crucial factor for creating the desired texture in bread. The consistent and powerful motion that the food processor uses helps achieve this gluten development effectively.
If you have a Magimix Food Processor, you’ll find they’re even more effective. With a dough blade attachment included, they are easily transformed into an efficient kneading machine. This clever attachment pulls and stretches gluten, making it perfect for all types of bread, enriched doughs like brioche, pasta dough, and choux pastry. Working on a rapid kneading principle, you only need to knead the dough from 30 seconds to 1 minute, the time varying depending on the recipe, saving you time and reducing your chances of over kneading. The5200XL can knead up to 1.2kg of dough but, unlike other mixers, the Magimix also produces great results for smaller amounts of dough as it continually makes contact with the sides of the bowl for all sizes.
Here are our top 3 tips for kneading with a Magimix Food Processor:
1. Add the liquids very gradually through the feedtube as the Magimix mixes the flour/s and salt together. As soon as the mixture comes together and forms a soft dough ball, stop adding liquid and allow to knead for 30-60 seconds.
2. Visually the dough ball should be soft and pulling and stretching around the sides of the bowl, stop kneading if the dough gathers in the centre as this indicates maximum hydration has been reached. For those wondering what hydration means in this scenario, it’s generally the amount of water or moisture within the dough, compared to how much flour it has. This is usually based on how much liquid has been drizzled into the mixture.
3. Maximum hydration is between 70-75% (this is based on standard milled white bread flour with a 13% protein/gluten level, but will vary depending on the type of flour used). To achieve the higher 75%, reduce the quantity of dough. If you would like to increase the hydration level above 65%, reserve a small amount of liquid and drizzle it in gradually until fully absorbed.
CAKE / BATTER MIXTURE
In a Magimix food processor you can make a cake in numerous different ways; creaming together softened butter and sugar using the main blade, whisking together egg white and sugar or whole eggs and sugar, adding wet ingredients to dry ingredients, the all-in-one method, or the reverse creaming method, all using the main blade. The reverse creaming method works particularly well in a food processor as you get an excellent coating of the flour with butter. When you add the liquid ingredients the flour absorbs less of this liquid, which in turn limits gluten development and results in a softer, tender cake. This method is less known, but is one that’s well used by professional cake makers.
Magimix Food Processors are famous for their ‘all in one’ baking method, and are able to blitz up a cake batter in as little as 7 seconds. Instead of following multiple separate steps of adding in each ingredient at a time, you simply add both of the wet and dry ingredients together and mix them in the Food Processor.
If you fancy trying this yourself, here are some top tips to get the most out of your food processor:
1. If your butter is cold when creaming butter and sugar, you can soften using the main blade.
2. When making a cake using the reverse creaming method there is no need to soften the butter, it can be cut in cubes straight from the fridge and added to the mixture.
3. When making a cake using the main blade, in order to keep pieces of dried fruit or chocolate whole, add them at the end of mixing and use the pulse button a couple of times to combine. Alternatively use the plastic dough blade supplied in the accessories box.
4. Decorate the sides of your cakes by blitzing pistachio nuts using the main blade into a crumb and adding on top of the buttercream coat.
PASTRIES
Pastries can be complex and time-consuming to make from scratch, but it’s worthwhile for the end result. But how can food processors lend a helping hand? Like other baking methods mentioned, food processors can help save the amount of time you spend in the kitchen. They can combine flour, butter and other ingredients in a matter of seconds, which is more efficient than your hands. In terms of pastry, cold ingredients, especially butter, is important for achieving flaky pastry. Food processors can keep the ingredients colder longer than mixing with hands during manual mixing due to less heat generated by the motor. If you’re creating large batches of pastry, you’ll appreciate the generous capacity of our food processors with the5200XL allowing you to make up to 1.2kg in one go.
Most professionals will use a commercial grade machine to make their pastries, so you can trust Magimix to offer the best food processors for pastry making at home. In fact, a Magimix is one of the leading tools for blending together cold butter and flour. Cutting butter and evenly coating the flour makes the lightest and flakiest pastry.
Here are our top 3 tips for making pastry in a Magimix Food Processor:
1. To keep your butter very cold, place your butter in the freezer for 30 minutes before using. Butter is 20% water and as soon as butter melts this water is absorbed by the flour, which in turn develops gluten, making the pastry tougher.
2. Handle the mixture minimally after blending. Use cold surfaces like marble and place back in the fridge if needed.
3. Add flavour to your pastry by chopping hazelnuts, using the main blade and blending into your pastry. This makes a delicious base for a chocolate tart.
WHISKING EGG WHITES
Beating egg whites until those peaks form can be fairly tiring for your arm. Just like kneading, having a machine that can do all of the hard labour for you is much easier, not to mention, you’ll get great results. The Magimix Food Processor comes with an egg whisk attachment, which is perfect for lighter mixtures like whipping egg whites, meringues, cream, mousses and souffles. The whisk is an exclusive, patented design which beats the egg whites gradually, in turn making them stiffer and gives them more volume. This is extremely important if you want to achieve a consistent foam with your egg whites, as inconsistencies can lead to deflation. For fluffier egg whites, make sure to use eggs at room temperature.
Here are our top tips for whisking with a Magimix Food Processor:
1. When whisking egg whites, make sure the bowl is clean and dry. Ensure that residues of fat or oil are removed. Clean with white vinegar or lemon juice if you want to be sure. Also, to stabilise the egg whites a small amount of salt and cream of tartar can be added.
2. Make sure to remove the pusher from the lid to allow air into the mixture.
Whether you’re a newbie to the baking world, or a proficient baker, you can rest assured knowing that a Magimix Food Processor can cater for all abilities. Thanks to its multifunctional capabilities, you’ll not only be able to perform almost any task, but you’ll also save time in the kitchen.
Now that you have a few tips and tricks up your sleeve, head over to our recipe pagehere for some inspiration, or click here to find out more about our food processor range.
