There’s a lot of fun in baking, but it’s an activity that can get really messy in the kitchen, what with numerous tools to use as you get through each step. It could well take hours before you place anything into the oven.
Kenwood’s baking appliances offers a simple, more convenient approach to baking. Each equipment comes with all the tools you need and best yet, are easy to set up.
Case in point: We recently put the Kenwood Chef XL Sense Mixer to the test with a recipe by Lifestyle Asia’s deputy editor and avid baker, Azimin. His Kaya Brioche — a recipe that he conceived — is no piece of cake as the bread dough requires intense kneading to get the soft pliable texture that brioche is so well-known and loved for.
The Chef XL Sense Mixer nearly halved the preparation time. The appliance comes with five default attachments all conveniently stowed away in its large stainless steel mixing bowl. There’s a whisk, dough hook, creaming beater, folding tool and Kenwood’s own K-Beater for mixing dry ingredients or crushing biscuits for cheesecakes.
The 6.7-litre mixing bowl is big enough to pour liquid and throw in ingredients without spilling or creating a mess. It’s great for sizeable bakes, such as this one.
Following Azimin’s recipe, we added fresh pandan juice to a mixture of flour, egg and yeast and then left it in the hands (the dough hook, rather) of the mixer to deal with the kneading. Within minutes, there was smooth brioche dough in a light green hue. The electronic speed control on the side allows for gradual increase to a precise rhythm of kneading or stirring.
The resulting bread dough is easier to work with. With the hard part done, we got to the fun part: rolling it out, smothering kaya, braiding and finally baking the brioche.
The Chef XL Sense Mixer is a great tool for seasoned bakers and hobbyists. Still, there’s also a range of basic, easy-to-use tools for novices like Lifestyle Asia’s dining writer, Jasmine.
The lightweight Kenwood Hand Mixer HM530 came in handy when whipping cookie dough for her earl grey dark chocolate chunk cookies. The mixer comes with three speed settings and a pulse function on the side, easily adjusted with a slight push.
The HM530 also comes with two fixtures, a dough hook and a steel beater which whips up butter and sugar effectively. Both tools can also be kept together in a compact stowaway under the hand mixer.
Jasmine’s breezy baking experience also came hand in hand with fuss-free baking kits from Bakestarters. The local baking kit platform offers various recipes together with all ingredients measured out and individually packaged for extra convenience and cutting down time need to clean up (read: less mess in the kitchen). All kits are developed and tested by Bakestarters and comes with an easy-to-follow recipe card containing instructions and tips on baking.
Keeping this in mind, Kenwood is offering promotions on starter baking tools with purchase of any Bakestarters kit. Bakestarters customers are eligible to a promotion code for discounts on the Kenwood MOM880BS electric oven and hand mixers such as the aforementioned HM530.
It’ll be a deal that’s worth considering especially with the festive season approaching. To sweeten the deal, Bakestarters is also launching their Christmas Collection of recipes, such as gingerbread men cookies and yule logcakes to try.
Visit www.lovewholesome.com for recipe ideas and more information on Kenwood appliances.
Jasmine Tay
Senior Writer
Jasmine Tay is the dining, culture and jewellery writer. She makes fine silver jewellery and causes mini-explosions in the kitchen when she can't afford fancy dinners. Sometimes she tells people what she thinks about art, and binges on the music of Danzig when they don’t agree.
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