Making bread the easy way with the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl

My KitchenAid Stand Mixer has always been one of my favourite appliances to bake with, and after testing out three of KitchenAid’s attachments over the past few weeks, I’m starting to realize that my trusty baking companion is designed to do so much more than I realized.

I had a lot of fun with my reviews of the KitchenAid Spiralizer and the KitchenAid Ravioli Maker, and this week I spent some time using the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl.

What is it? In a nutshell it’s a heat-able bowl for any KitchenAid Stand Mixer with a 4.5 quart or larger bowl. Once you plug it in and set the right temperature you can use it to proof bread, make fondue, soup, yogurt, as a slow cooker, or to temper chocolate.

If you’ve ever tried to temper chocolate you know how difficult it can be to juggle your double broiler and melting chocolate, but the Precise Heat Mixing Bowl makes it so simple you’ll want to melt chocolate just so you can use your mixing bowl.

I had no idea that KitchenAid made something like this, but now that I’ve spent some time using it I can only imagine how often I’d use it. Here’s a look at what I thought of the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl.

What’s included with the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl

When you open the box of the Heat Mixing Bowl you’ll find the bowl itself, a lid, and three KitchenAid Stand Mixer attachments. These are the same three attachments that you receive when you buy your stand mixer; a whisk, dough hook, and scraping paddle.

You can use the Precise Heat Mixing Bowl on its own or attached to the stand mixer, and it has it’s own plug in.

There is an insert inside the bowl that looks like a thinner version of the stand mixer bowl and you can pop it in and out for easy cleanup.

Setting up the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl

Set up is very simple with this KitchenAid attachment. All you need to do is pop it down on the same spot your bowl normally goes, plug it in, and turn it on. There are two buttons on the left that you can use for temperature or tempering chocolate, and the dial turns so you can turn the temperature or time up and down.

Testing out the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl

I looked around online to find out how people used the precise heat mixing bowl and I found a lot of great posts. So many people use it specifically for tempering chocolate, and that’s because of how easy it is to put a paddle on your stand mixer and have your chocolate constantly melting and stirring while it melts.

I decided to try to use the bowl to proof bread, and that’s because I’ve found it incredibly challenging making bread in my kitchen. I have a fairly chilly house, so rising bread or buns on the kitchen counter isn’t really an easy option. I’ve waited for two hours and it literally never rises.

I started my bread making process by plugging in both the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl and my stand mixer. I turned the bowl on and switched the dial to 95 degrees because that’s the perfect temperature for proofing bread.

I added yeast, water, sugar, and a pinch of ginger, then popped the lid on. I’ve made enough bread to know how long it takes for yeast to activate in my house, so I was expecting it to be at least 5 minutes. I was kind of surprised to see that it only took 3 minutes for the yeast to be bubbly. At the 5 minute mark the yeast was tripled in volume.

I added the rest of my ingredients including flour, honey, and buttermilk. That’s when I attached the dough hook and let it do it’s job. Can I just say how satisfying it is to use all one bowl when baking bread? I’ve used a glass bowl for rising my yeast and a metal bowl for mixing, but with the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl you really get a one-pot wonder: there’s one pot to activate your yeast, mix your dough, and let it rise without having to remove anything or switch. You don’t have to use your oven until it’s time to bake either.

Once my dough was mixed up it was ready to rise. I turned the timer dial to 30 minutes and put the lid on. As I mentioned it takes about two hours for dough to rise in my house because of how cold it is, so I was really interested in what would happen at the half hour mark.

When the timer went and I took the lid off I was pretty happy to see the dough had doubled. I punched it down and let it rise again for another thirty minutes. It doubled again, so it’s safe to say the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl really does the job.

You don’t have to use your KitchenAid stand mixer with the Precise Heat Mixing Bowl because it also works as a stand alone. I also did a batch of chicken noodle soup in it and just set it for 100 degrees and let it go for six hours. It works great as a slow cooker.

Cleaning the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl

Just like the KitchenAid Stand mixer, cleaning up the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl is really easy. You just take the insert out of the bowl and put that and the lid in the dishwasher. All of the attachments go in the dishwasher too.

The actual bowl is easy to clean as well. You just need to wipe down the inside and outside with a damp cloth. I dripped honey down the side and it wiped right off.

Overall thoughts

What’s not to love about a KitchenAid attachment that heats up and lets you blend, whisk, and mix dough right inside its cozy bowl? The possibilities really are endless, and whether you’re making bread like I did or creating a yummy cheese or chocolate fondu, you’re going to really enjoy using this bowl.

You can find the KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl on Bestbuy.ca right now.