Blender vs. food processor...

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pengyou

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What's the difference? I have a 10 speed blender and also a small bullet blender with a couple of attachments. I see recipes that say something like "put in the food processor for 2 minutes, until smooth".
 
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What's the difference? I have a 10 speed blender and also a small bullet blender with a couple of attachments. I see recipes that say something like "put in the food processor for 2 minutes, until smooth".

Try making a pasta or pizza dough in the blender.:rolleyes:
 
Blenders are really good with liquids or solid ingredients with a fair amount of liquid. Dry things don't work well in a blender. The opposite is true of a FP. A FP is really good at chopping, slicing, grinding, shredding, etc. dry ingredients.

As mentioned, it's also good at making dough for pie crusts, bread, pizza, etc.
 
Try making a pasta or pizza dough in the blender.:rolleyes:

I have never tried making any kind of dough in a food processor.
Will the blade not just chop up the ingredients? Does one need a special attachment for dough? I have two processors, but only use them for chopping and mincing. I have a big one and a small one.
I am asking as I have never tried it.
 
I have never tried making any kind of dough in a food processor.
Will the blade not just chop up the ingredients? Does one need a special attachment for dough? I have two processors, but only use them for chopping and mincing. I have a big one and a small one.
I am asking as I have never tried it.
I chopped the butter into the flour for a pie crust in my food processor. I added the liquid and the food processor turned it into a ball of dough, as I had read it would do.

My food processor also has a plastic, non-sharp blade for dough, but that wasn't what I used for the pie dough.

So, no, surprisingly, it doesn't just chop up the ingredients.
 
I have never tried making any kind of dough in a food processor.
Will the blade not just chop up the ingredients? Does one need a special attachment for dough? I have two processors, but only use them for chopping and mincing. I have a big one and a small one.
I am asking as I have never tried it.

Our processor has a plastic blade as well, but we just use the metal blade. You'll think its magic the first time you see that ball form.;)
 
If my food processor were on the fritz I might try making pasta dough or pie crust in the blender using a pulse method. But I would know that there would be a big difference in getting the stuff out of the container when the job was finished. I usually use the blender for mixtures that will pour out and the processor for solids.
 
I have never tried making any kind of dough in a food processor.
Will the blade not just chop up the ingredients? Does one need a special attachment for dough? I have two processors, but only use them for chopping and mincing. I have a big one and a small one.
I am asking as I have never tried it.

Bread dough can challenge your food processors motor so I use my KA mixer.

But the food processor is terrific for making pie dough.
 
Bread dough can challenge your food processors motor so I use my KA mixer.

But the food processor is terrific for making pie dough.

Yep. The KA mixer is the ticket for bread dough. It's almost hypnotic watching the spiral dough hook work. I'll have to try the processor the next time I do pie dough.
 
Is there a difference between a chopper and a food processor? They look the same to me, with the exception of the size.
 
Our processor has a plastic blade as well, but we just use the metal blade. You'll think its magic the first time you see that ball form.;)

I will try it!

Bread dough can challenge your food processors motor so I use my KA mixer.
But the food processor is terrific for making pie dough.

We use the KA mixer for cookie dough and for the couple times I have tried pizza dough. If I have tried making bread, I can't remember. But I think I still removed the dough ball and hand kneaded it on the counter.

I have heard peoples comments about the KA kneading dough for 30 minutes before. Sounds like that would burn up the motor?
Do doughs really require that long of a kneed time? And do you let the mixer do all the work?

Is there a difference between a chopper and a food processor? They look the same to me, with the exception of the size.

We would need to know what you mean by "chopper" to answer.
 
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...We use the KA mixer for cookie dough and for the couple times I have tried pizza dough. If I have tried making bread, I can't remember. But I think I still removed the dough ball and hand kneaded it on the counter.

I have heard peoples comments about the KA kneading dough for 30 minutes before. Sounds like that would burn up the motor?
Do doughs really require that long of a kneed time? And do you let the mixer do all the work?...

I make bagel dough in my KA mixer about once a month. I bloom the yeast, mix in the dry ingredients and knead the dough all in the mixer. I see no need to hand knead when I have a machine to do the work. Also, machine kneading is twice as fast as hand kneading. If a recipe calls for hand kneading for 10 minutes, you can do it in a KA in five.

Running the mixer for a long time is not an issue. Overloading it with too much dough and/or using the wrong speed can wreck the motor. I've done it.
 
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Chopper....looks like a food processor (as I know them) has a metal blade in it and I use to chop vegetables into tiny pieces.
 
Chopper....looks like a food processor (as I know them) has a metal blade in it and I use to chop vegetables into tiny pieces.

There isn't really a difference in terms of how they work, but a larger food processor is more versatile and includes a slicing blade that my 1-cup chopper doesn't have. My FP is about 4 cups and it works well for us.
 
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There isn't really a difference in terms of how they work, but a larger food processor is more versatile and includes a slicing blade that my 1-cup chopper doesn't have. My FP is about 4 cups and it works well for us.

My processor is a KA and it has the standard blade, the dough blade, a slicer, a shredder, and it also has a smaller bowl with a small chopping blade to fit it. It also has a citrus juicing attachment, which frankly, was more hassle than it was worth the one time I used it. I can juice a pile of lemons with a plain squeezing press in the time it takes to just set up the KA for it, and much less to clean up and put away afterwards.


We use the KA mixer for cookie dough and for the couple times I have tried pizza dough. If I have tried making bread, I can't remember. But I think I still removed the dough ball and hand kneaded it on the counter.

I have heard peoples comments about the KA kneading dough for 30 minutes before. Sounds like that would burn up the motor?
Do doughs really require that long of a kneed time? And do you let the mixer do all the work?

Like Andy says, kneading in the mixer takes less time (I can't imagine doing it for 30 minutes), and most breads only recommend 10 minutes by hand. I usually go for 4 or 5 minutes, then a couple of minutes by hand just because I like to feel the dough.
 
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What's the difference? I have a 10 speed blender and also a small bullet blender with a couple of attachments. I see recipes that say something like "put in the food processor for 2 minutes, until smooth".

Your bullet blender and your 10-speed blender will be useful for the same things, except the bullet blender "should" do a better job whipping liquids (they usually come with a flat whipping blade). They tend to run hot though, so be careful you're not cooking the things you're whipping.

A full sized blender is good for chopping ice, and blending liquids. I don't own a full sized blender because every time I've owned one in the past I've never used it.

A food processor is good at chopping firm things into smaller pieces, grating large blocks of cheese, mixing some doughs, etc. I also use my food processor to grate frozen butter into flour for biscuits, to "sift" dry ingredients after measuring,

The bullet blender fits between these two devices. It's a small blender, and a small chopper/grater. It really shines at chopping fresh herbs, grinding coffee/hard spices, grating cheese, and small amounts of veggie/fruit chopping, etc. I use my bullet blender for making fresh pesto, grinding up small batches of peppercorns for red sauce, grinding hard spices to make my own "apple pie spice", whizzing sugar and fruit zest together to help break the zest up for frosting. I also use it to finely chop ice for granita (a Sicilian ice snack).
 
What's the difference? I have a 10 speed blender and also a small bullet blender with a couple of attachments. I see recipes that say something like "put in the food processor for 2 minutes, until smooth".
Generally speaking food processors are somewhat more versatile than blenders as they do more things but if you want a very smooth sauce or soup. FPs can deal with dry ingredients or thick mixtures which most blenders can't. I have a large high end FP and a cheap and cheerful blender. I use both. There is a blender attachment on the heavyweight Kenwood mixer I inherited from my mother but haven't used it yet.
 
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