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Ooni expanded from making pizza ovens last year when they released the Halo Pro mixer. Just like they use in professional bakeries, it’s a spiral mixer, rather than a planetary mixer like a KitchenAid.

To expand their mixer line, Ooni just release a smaller version, called the Halo Core. They sent me one to see if it lived up to the hype of making better dough.

It delivered when it came to making dough. It made better, professional quality dough, and it was quicker than using a planetary stand mixer. It also worked well for other types of baked goods, all while being a good-looking mixer.

Features and Specs

• Retail price of $599 (check price)
• 4.8 quart bowl that will mix up to 12″ pizza dough balls per batch
• 20 speed settings for mixing more than just dough
• A motor that’s designed to prevent overheating
• Weighs about 23 lbs

What’s in the Box

The mixer isn’t the only thing that comes in the box, Ooni has other accessories to make using it easier and better. It comes with a stainless steel bowl, a dough hook and breaker bar, a beater with a silicone edge, two whisk heads and a gear to use them, a splash guard, and a silicone lid.

Mixers usually come with different mixing instruments but it was nice to get other accessories too. It gives you more for the money and the splash guard and lid are both very useful.

Design

Ooni did a great job with the overall look and functionality of the Halo Core. It comes in two colors, black or white, and it has a sleek look to it. The head of the mixer pivots open and closed with a toggle on the side.

There’s a power switch on the back to get the party started. You’re greeted by a light that illuminates the mixer bowl, which is really helpful, especially since my eyes aren’t getting any better.

To control the speed, there’s a dial on the top that fits well with the overall look of the mixer and has a nice feel to it. It’s easy to tell what speed your at amongst the 20 speeds by the lights on the top that surround the dial.

Difference of a Spiral Mixer

A spiral mixer operates very differently than a convention mixer. The mixing attachments spin in place, rather than also spinning around the bowl, and the bowl itself rotates. Here’s a video from Ooni that does a great job of showing the differences.

Making Dough

When it comes to making dough, I’m a beginner. I’ve cooked a ton of pizzas but I almost always start with pre-made dough that I bought.

Cooking dough on the Halo Core has converted me to making dough. I followed the ingredients form this recipe on Ooni’s website with the process on this recipe from their website. The yield was four 10″ pizza dough balls.

Other recipes I’ve seen take much longer and the method I used was very easy, and it didn’t take much time comparatively. I’d argue it was easier in some ways than going through the thaw process of buying frozen dough balls and the results were much better.

The dough was easy to work into the right shape, cooked well, and had good flavor to it. The mixer made the process simple, and I really liked having the splash guard with a hole for adding liquid. I was also surprised by how clean the dough hook and overall clean-up was with the mixer.

Compared to dough I’ve made in the past with other mixers, it’s really no comparison. It was quicker and better with the Halo Core.

Mixing Baked Goods

Ooni touts this mixer as being better for dough and they deliver on that process, but can it be your only mixer? A mixer is a big purchase for most people, so the idea of buying one for dough and bread, then another for general baking may not be in the cards.

I’m more into grilling then baking, so I enlisted my wife to try it for other baked goods. She’s an excellent baker that makes genuine art when it comes to cakes, and a devoted KitchenAid user.

First up was trying it for cookie batter. She made some chocolate chip cookies that turned out delicious. She commented while making them that the beater with the silicone edge did a great job of scraping the sides of the bowl clean.

This made it so she didn’t have to continually do that with a spatula, like she would with the KitchenAid. She did notice though that when you add an egg at a time to integrate it into the batter, the beater would miss it for a bit. It would eventually get it and mix it well but it took longer to mix everything sufficiently.

On to mixing whipped cream using the whisks. The Halo Core performed this task well too. Much like the cookies, it just took a bit longer to mix everything to the right consistency.

She also noted that when you’re a beginner at making whipped cream you can tell it’s done by the large peak that appears when lift the mixer head. With the way that the Halo mixes the peaks were less pronounced. It didn’t change the taste or consistency, it’s more just an observation.

Finally, she made a chocolate cake, also with the beater. The results were pretty similar to the cookie batter, she noted that it took longer to mix but it turned out as good as with the KitchenAid.

The frosting that she made for the cake also went well. One thing to note with it is the splash guard helps, but with all the butter used for frosting that doesn’t immediately absorb liquid, some liquid splashed out underneath the splash guard. It usually makes more of a mess with a KitchenAid though.

She also had to scrape the bottom of the bowl while mixing to thoroughly mix everything. This is common with a KitchenAid too.

Overall, you absolutely could use this as your only mixer. Keep in mind it takes longer to mix baked goods on this than a KitchenAid, but dough is quicker and superior on the Halo, so to me that’s a win for the Halo.

You could run into an issue with any baked goods that are sensitive to overmixing, so keep that in mind. One other note is the Halo Core is noticeable quieter than her KitchenAid.

I’ve read that some of the newer KitchenAid mixers have a DC motor that’s quieter but her mixer is loud. Around Christmas when she’s constantly baking, that thing is screaming for hours. That alone would make me lean towards the Halo Core.