Ooni Halo Pro Spiral Dough Mixer Review

My mom’s copy of the Magnolia Bakery cookbook was my bible growing up. Thumbing through its glossy pages, I saw visions of my adult self owning a cupcake shop, complete with pastel pink buttercream and confetti sprinkles. By sixth grade, I attempted to turn this dream into a reality, enlisting my friend to bake over 200 cupcakes for a young entrepreneurs market held at our local bank. With our mothers’ permission, we ditched school, seized control of their decade-old KitchenAid stand mixers, and set about making every recipe in the book.

Not only did both stand mixers conduct themselves admirably during this 2-day baking frenzy, but they have also continued to thrive in the intervening 18 years. Such is the promise of KitchenAid: It can, and likely will, last a lifetime in your kitchen. Naturally, when it came time to buy one for myself, I didn’t do any research before clicking “add to cart” on the brand’s signature 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer. I’ve never once regretted this purchase, but there’s officially a new kid on the block and I can’t help but (reluctantly) admit that I’m impressed.

Ooni Halo Pro Spiral Mixer

Ooni

If you’ve ever been interested in making pizza at home, you’re likely already familiar with Ooni. The brand manufactures everything from indoor pizza ovens to cast iron skillets, allowing home cooks to make restaurant-level pies without having to go to an actual restaurant. Up until today, providing us with the tools we need to cook at a high heat was Ooni’s main priority, but with the launch of the Halo Pro Spiral Mixer, it’s now hoping to attract customers before any cooking begins.

I was lucky enough to receive a sample ahead of today’s drop. For weeks, I’ve been putting it through its paces: whipping cream; folding chocolate chips into brown butter cookie dough; and mixing eggs, oil, yeast, water, sugar, flour, and salt together for challah. My KitchenAid can do the first two tasks with ease, but the last has always caused its motor to overheat. It also tends to jump around on my counter unless I drape myself over the top for the 10 or so minutes it takes to properly develop the gluten. Ooni’s model had none of these issues. It stayed put and stayed cool, even mixing the dough more quickly than I anticipated.

Liv Dansky / Food & Wine

The brand is positioning the Halo Pro Spiral Mixer as “professional spiral mixing technology” for the home cook, so I wasn’t particularly surprised by its efficacy. That said, I was impressed. Also impressive? Its built-in timer, 58 speed settings, LED lights, and “breaker bar,” the last of which can be used in conjunction with the dough hook to form stronger gluten strands. The coolest feature, though, might be the rotating bowl. While home cooks are used to planetary mixers (i.e. mixers with non-rotating bowls), Ooni designed the Halo Pro after the models most often seen in bakeries (i.e. spiral mixers). Since both the bowl and the hook rotate, the mixing process is much more efficient.

So, should you buy it? As it’s only been a few weeks, I can’t say for certain if it will last as long as a KitchenAid mixer. One might assume that the more bells and whistles built into a gadget, the more opportunities there are for said bells and whistles to malfunction, but that might not be the case here. What I can say for certain is that if you make bread regularly — be it pizza dough or conchas — Ooni’s Halo Pro Spiral Mixer is undoubtedly worth its high price tag. Obviously, the flip side to this is that if making homemade bread isn’t your thing, stick with a model that won’t put a $799 dent in your wallet. Another factor to consider is that the brand doesn’t have KitchenAid’s line of handy attachments for pasta-making, meat-grinding, and more.

Since I love making bread from scratch, I couldn’t be happier to have this mixer near to hand. If you’re likewise infatuated with flour and yeast, you might want to think about adding Ooni’s Halo Pro Spiral Mixer to your kitchen collection, too. I might not be able to comment on the longevity of the brand, but I can tell you that my baked goods have never tasted better.