There’s no horsing around when it comes to buying a new mixer.

 “You get one opportunity to get the horsepower right, and that’s when you’re sizing the mixers for the first time,” said Terry Bartsch, executive product manager, AMF Fusion, a part of AMF Bakery Systems. “If you miss it, you miss it, so you better get it right the first time. It is the most important discussion that we have with bakers. It’s important to know what they are making today and what they feel they will be doing in the future.”

Those vintage mixers of yesteryear now work harder than ever to keep up with the ongoing trend toward variety, whole wheat and specialty bread doughs.

“I’m seeing doughs today that require more horsepower than in the past,” Bartsch said. “The horsepower that we are putting on mixers today are higher than what we would have used 10 years ago.”

Bakeries and their vendors need to understand the characteristics of their products and understand the parameters that will affect the mixer’s horsepower such as a dough’s absorption rate, batch size and temperature, noted Marc Ferree, global account manager, Shaffer Mixers, a technology brand of Coperion.

For instance, a 2,000-lb mixer for a soft bread or bun dough may require a 100-hp motor while the same size system mixing a bagel dough could require 200 hp.

To determine the proper horsepower for mixers, bakers should share their recipe with their mixer OEM. This will give them the best chance of comparing their recipe to historical data that the OEM has gathered over the years, said Bill Everett, global account manager, Peerless Food Equipment, a technology brand of Coperion.

“We establish a pounds-per-horsepower ratio and apply it to every application to verify we are confident in the horsepower we are supplying on the mixer,” he said.

Motor size is just one variable that bakers should consider. Jerry Murphy, vice president of sales, Gemini Bakery Solutions, pointed out that variable frequency drives provide more precise matching and control of many mixing parameters such as tool and bowl speeds.

This article is an excerpt from the April 2025 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Mixing, click here.