Why does KitchenAid dough hook move up the shaft?

Question

I have a KitchenAid Professional 600 mixer. I use it almost exclusively for Kneading whole grain sourdough or other bread on speed 2. The sourdough is medium hydration. I purchased a spiral dough hook to fit the model. When I’m mixing the dough, I find that the dough hook moves up the shaft to the bottom of the notch, instead of remaining at the top of the notch, where it should be. This keeps the dough hook from reaching low enough in the bowl to mix thoroughly. I lubricate the mixer shaft often with vegetable oil. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Answer 1

This is just kind of what the spiral hook does. KitchenAid mixers used to have a sprung retaining plate which kept it from riding up as much, but even then it would wobble. The force of pushing the dough down pushes the hook up.

Neither the spiral nor the flat dough hook is particularly good at initial mixing. If you like, you can use the paddle until things get a little bit mixed and the motor starts to struggle, then switch to the hook.