Ooni Halo Professional Spiral: Specs
Value: $799
Weight: 32 kilos
Dimensions: 13.5″ (H) x 9.9″ (W) x 17.2″ (D)
Capability: 7.3 quart
Wattage: 650W
Velocity ranges: 58 Speeds
Attachments: Versatile Beater, Spiral Dough Hook, Geared Whisk
Supplies: Die Forged Aluminum, Glass, Stainless Metal
Ooni is finest recognized for making a few of the finest pizza ovens, however as any house chef will know, your pizza is barely pretty much as good because the dough you utilize. Which is why the model created its Ooni Halo Professional Spiral Stand Mixer, which makes use of a dual-kneading spiral design which develops stronger gluten networks for “pizzeria high quality dough.” Signal me up.
I’ve at all times made my pizza dough from scratch, and whereas I nonetheless assume my KitchenAid is a tremendous stand mixer for whisking up desserts and meringues, I am going to confess that it lurches round my counter tops if I dare to throw greater than a loaf’s value of bread dough in there to knead. So I used to be first in line to attempt the Halo Professional mixer, and I even threw a pizza celebration to place it to the last word take a look at.
My verdict? Whereas it is costly, Ooni does not relaxation on its repute with the Halo Professional. This mixer is well-made, sturdy, and highly effective, and its declare of restaurant-quality dough undoubtedly stood as much as rigorous taste-testing.
Here is my full verdict.
Ooni Halo Professional Spiral assessment: Value and availability
(Picture credit score: Ooni)
The Professional Halo is $799, and is available in white and gray. You should purchase it on the likes of Ooni, Greatest Purchase, and Williams Sonoma.
Within the U.Ok., the place Ooni originates, you should buy the Halo for £699 direct at Ooni.
Included, you will get a piece bowl, splashguard lid with spout, dough hook, energy whisk, breaker bar, and silicone-edge beater.
Ooni Halo Professional Spiral assessment: Design
I needed to apologize to the postman who delivered this mixer. At 32 kilos, it is severely heavy. However as soon as I would managed to slug it onto my kitchen counter, this now not felt like a draw back. All that heft absolutely helps maintain it in place whereas it throws round as much as 11 kilos of dough, proper?
(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information / Millie Fender)
This mixer is a tilt-head, which stunned me. Usually, I affiliate tilt-head mixers to be much less sturdy and secure than bowl-lift fashions, equivalent to KitchenAid’s extra premium line. However the tilt-head is locked firmly into place with two levers, one both facet, which it’s good to press as a way to elevate and decrease your mixing attachments.
The Halo Professional comes with very premium-feeling attachments. The dough hook and breaker bar are each product of sturdy, heavy chrome steel. Becoming attachments is intuitive, and there is a detachable protect that slots onto the tilt-head to guard you from splashes whereas mixing.
(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information / Millie Fender)
Becoming the splash guard is a bit finicky. It’s essential to do it whereas the lean head is lifted, because it will not slot in if it is lowered. It is a good guard, although. The entrance lifts as much as permit you to pour in components, and there is additionally a dripper slot which may also help to slowly drizzle in oils or different liquids whereas mixing.
Ooni Halo Professional Spiral assessment: Efficiency
Cake
I used the flat beater to mix my cake components within the Halo Professional. The beneficiant bowl is good to make massive batches, however I used to be involved that my loaf cake components would unfold across the bowl an excessive amount of, making the beater much less efficient.
With numerous mixers, I have to go in and scrape the surplus off the facet of the bowl, however as a result of the Halo has a flex edge beater, it softly removes any stuck-on components because it strikes across the bowl and re-integrates it into the cake batter.
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(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information / Millie Fender)(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information / Millie Fender)(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information / Millie Fender)
You possibly can see within the video beneath how briskly the mixer works when cranked as much as 100% energy. It is tremendous noisy. I hit 75dB on prime velocity, which might be a bit overwhelming in the event you ran it at prime velocity for a very long time. I used to be solely mixing for a couple of minutes although, and it did a wonderful job of creaming collectively mushy butter and sugar to create a light-weight texture. After including the remainder of my components, I used to be left with a clean and buttery batter that was able to scrape into my loaf tin.
My completed cake was tasty, however a bit dense. I’ve had higher luck when making bigger layer desserts on this mixer, so be warned that in the event you’re making smaller servings, you may not find yourself with the fluffiest texture.
Whisking
Normally I take a look at stand mixers by making whipped cream or beating egg whites into meringue, however I made a decision to take it one step additional for the halo, and make butter from scratch.
This was my first time making butter, and the Halo made it very simple. I added 600ml / 20fl. oz. to my bowl after which turned the whisk up steadily to its most velocity of 345 rpm.
I set the timer for 10 minutes, and slotted the splash guard into place to stop any messes.
(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information / Millie Fender)
It took round two minutes of blending for my cream to succeed in stiff peaks, after which one other two for it to start out reaching a grainy texture that, in previous experiences, has indicated that I’ve taken my whipped cream too quick.
I left the Halo to maintain mixing, and it slowly began to separate the fats solids from the buttermilk, which instantly started to splash throughout my guard.
(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)
The mixer was fairly noisy at prime velocity, hitting 73dB, and the whiny sound was extra akin to the noises made by a KitchenAid.
It took round eight minutes of blending earlier than I made a decision the butter was completed. I discovered that I needed to pause the mixer to test on the butter; in any other case, I would have been instantly splashed by buttermilk when peeking underneath the lift-up part of the guard.
From there, I merely strained the butter from the buttermilk (I am preserving this apart to tenderize some rooster) and rinsed my butter underneath chilly water to take away any remaining buttermilk.
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(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)
I used to be left with 300g / 10.5oz. of butter, which I mixed with some flaky Maldon salt to make my very own selfmade butter. After rolling it in some baking parchment and letting it set within the fridge, I used to be in a position to unfold it (maybe a bit liberally!) on a slice of toast, and it tasted improbable.
That is extra of an endurance activity for many stand mixers, however the Halo did not break a sweat when making fairly a big quantity of butter. I used to be additionally impressed that the cream did not find yourself caught in opposition to the facet of the blending bowl, regardless of how comparatively empty it regarded.
Bread dough
(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information / Millie Fender)
Bread kneading is the place the Halo comes into its personal. The primary loaf I made on this mixer was a easy white bread, and I used the traditional fundamental bread recipe that I at all times flip to.
I’ve made this recipe in my KitchenAid Artisan earlier than, and whereas it did a succesful job, I did fear that it moved round my countertop because it kneaded. I undoubtedly would not threat a bigger amount of dough within the KitchenAid, whereas I had no issues that the Ooni could not deal with this easy recipe.
After 10 minutes of blending at 20% velocity, I used to be tremendous impressed with the gluten growth I used to be in a position to obtain with this mixer.
The kneading mechanism of the Ooni jogs my memory numerous the well-known Ankarsrum mixer, which can also be ideally designed to knead bread dough and makes use of a rotating bowl to create the blending mechanism.
In keeping with Ooni, the spiral mixing expertise is often present in skilled kitchens. However in these skilled mixers, the breaker bar is non-removable, that means they will solely be used to make dough.
Becoming the detachable breaker bar is simple sufficient. You merely want to fit it into place and screw down a canopy, and it is firmly locked in.
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(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information / Millie Fender)(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information / Millie Fender)
I used to be tremendous pleased with my white sandwich loaf, which rose massively once I left it to show for an hour, earlier than knocking it again and folding right into a loaf tin for additional proving.
As soon as out of the oven, it had a springy texture and wonderful taste. I loved it with some extra selfmade butter, feeling like a type of TikTok cooks who make all the things from scratch.
One factor that struck me when making this recipe is that I would have loved the addition of an in-built scale with this mixer. It is a premium characteristic that you’re going to discover within the likes of Kenwood and Bosch mixers, however then, it is a premium product.
Pizza dough
After how simply the mixer kneaded my bread loaf, I made a decision it was time for it to hit the house straight: pizza dough. Let’s not overlook, the Halo was created by Ooni, maker of some severely good pizza ovens, so it will’ve felt fallacious to not make just a few pies.
I adopted a recipe for New York-style pizza dough, which I left to ferment for twenty-four hours in a chilly fridge. I made sufficient for eight pizzas, utilizing over 1kg / 2lbs of flour alone with a mixture of 00, bread and plain flour.
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(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)
I left the dough to knead for 10 minutes, slowly integrating increasingly more of my heat, yeasted water because the flour mixed. I used to be left with an enormous, sticky mess of 65% hydration dough prepared for chilly proving, and the gluten growth was excellent.
I used to be additionally impressed to see that the protect grew to become a bit steamy once I left my dough to show, which is an indication of simply how a lot yeast exercise the mixer had stimulated.
(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)
I threw a pizza celebration to benefit from the fruits of my (and the Ooni Halo’s) labor, and there have been numerous feedback on how nicely the dough held up. You will should forgive my sub-par shaping in my demo pizza, which isn’t my most interesting work!
It had a great chew and nice taste, and the crusts overrated completely whereas the bottom proved sturdy and best for holding up some over-zealous toppings.
Ooni Halo Professional Spiral assessment: Verdict
There isn’t any query that the Ooni Halo is essentially the most succesful stand mixer I’ve ever examined. It combines the comfort of a tilt-head mixer with the rigor of knowledgeable product.
However until you like cooking massive volumes of bread, otherwise you’re actually keen about pizza, you would possibly be capable of discover a mixer that is able to assembly your day-to-day wants for much less.
That is not a failing of the Ooni Halo Professional Spiral. That is the heftiest, brashest stand mixer I’ve ever used. However it’s tremendous costly, and its cake-mixing capacity was sub-par due to the big and flat-based mixing bowl.
I made some huge bakes on this factor: an enormous batch of butter, dough for eight pizzas, three-layered desserts, and I by no means as soon as felt just like the machine was straining. Should you’re on the lookout for a real workhorse, and do not thoughts paying for premium high quality, it is best to look no additional than the Ooni Halo Professional Spiral stand mixer.
At present’s finest Ooni Halo Professional offers
