The differences in the process of mixing verses folding?

Mixing involves combining different ingredients together with a beater, electric mixer, wire whip or even just a fork. The goal is to blend them completely together. If a recipe calls for something to be "folded"in, then you're trying to gently combine different ingredients. A recipe may tell you to beat cream or egg whites till fluffy and fold them in to the rest of the batter. Add the fluffy ingredients to the batter and then, with a rubber spatula, slide it to the bottom of the batter and "fold" the batter over the whipped ingredients. Turn the bowl and continue gently folding the batteruntil you have incorporated the lighter ingredient. By folding instead of mixing, you won't break down the delicate, whipped ingredient and the result will be a lighter, fluffier batter.

First answer by Crankone. Last edit by Crankone. Contributor trust: 33 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 1 [recommend question]