Why You Should Buy An Extra Bowl For Your Stand Mixer

Baking can feel like the most expensive hobby out there. To make the good stuff, recipes often require the priciest ingredients, like specialty flours, imported single-origin cocoa powder, and high-fat European-style butter. Then there's the equipment, with at least 30 different tools that a home baker has to have even to start the hobby — not including the frills that will come later, like forty separate piping tips and sixteen specialty cookie cutters. But none of these tool price tags can touch the hefty cost of a quality stand mixer. 

Still, the heart wants what the heart wants, and if your passion is dough and batter, the stand mixer is the best investment you can make. The second best investment? A second bowl for your stand mixer. Before you dismiss this idea as one of oil-tycoon-style decadence, let us make our case for doubling down on your stand mixer bowl. 

This is all about maximizing your time in the kitchen. Two bowls equal less time cleaning between each recipe's components. For instance, some sponge cakes require egg whites and egg yolks to be beaten separately into aerated foams. Instead of frantically cleaning between the two steps (worried about your ever-deflating egg whites), you can jump seamlessly from one step to another. 

It works similarly for baked goods that require a two-toned batter, like pinwheel cookies or marbled cheesecake; there's no need to pause and do clean up in between. Ditto for frosting an ombré cake, as you now have two bowls to create quick gradients of color. It's also helpful for large-batch baking as only so much space is available in one standard stand mixer bowl.

Beyond that, the stand mixer bowl is just as handy for other kitchen projects, like catching excess pasta water after straining your pasta or housing a large batch of salad. Some include handles that make the bowl easier to maneuver, and its large size makes it a versatile choice for quarts of broth and proofing dough. If you're wavering on getting that extra bowl, doing it will be a practical and time-saving option.