Mixer versus Hand

Nowadays updated kitchen technologies are allowing bakers to be in and out of the kitchen faster than ever! But if baking is your passion, something you enjoy doing, something that always fills your spare time with joy; why rush through it? Is it better to quickly use these high-tech machines or do it all by hand and enjoy the process? Does this choice affect the final outcome of the baked good? Electrical handheld mixers, food processors, minichops, blenders, and standmixers are just some of the many new technologies available to us today. But is the old-fashioned never-failing hand the best choice?

Personally, I prefer to do as much by hand as possible. Whether it is for cookies or cakes or squares, I always cream butter and sugar together by hand. When mixing up a simple blend of wet or dry ingredients, I always use a whisk or a wooden spoon. And for kneading bread, I always do that by hand too; it's therapeutical.
However, I do turn to my trusty handheld electric mixer for beating cake batter, whipping egg whites, whipping cream, and mixing up buttercream icing, but not much else.

So which technique is better? Well, back before technology, obviously everything was done by hand. Cake batters had to be mixed for at least three times as long as we do today with electric mixers. Egg whites had to be whipped up by hand until they formed stiff peaks. This was very time consuming and led to many sore arms. But creaming butter and sugar and mixing dry ingredients takes just as long by machine as it does by hand. In fact, often when machines are used, ingredients tend to become overmixed.

There is also the concern about the reliability of technology. Technology has failed us in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. Power outage? You may find a recipe for no-bake squares, but you can't whip the cream for the topping without electricity! The standmixer breaks, how are you supposed to knead the bread you have already started? The blender leaks, and now there is chocolate flung all over the walls. The lid of the food processor flies open, pie crust dough is caked on everything! Your beaters break apart, now there are bits of metal stuck throughout your buttercream icing.

 I believe that technology is helpful in some situations, but we should never rely on it. And this goes for everything - not just cooking appliances. I prefer to do most things by hand, I find this part of the joys of cooking; it is fun and relaxing. However, there are a few things that are just so much quicker and easier to do by machine. The only tools I own are an electrical handheld mixer, a very small, old food processer, and a modest blender. I don't have a heavy-duty standmixer or a minichop, or an ice cream maker, or a popcorn popper. And that is all I need.