I have been puddling along with a KitchenAid Artisan for six months, in
an increasing sweat of frustration over its capacity. Even with only
half a batch of stiff dough like bagel dough or stick dough like a
sourdough, it struggles, and today it burnt out for the third time,
though it was well below its own alleged maximum capacity and only on
#2. I've been thinking about replacing it, (since I make 2 batches of
bread a day, and hand-kneading is a bit too time-consuming.)

But what with? Here in the midnight that is the UK, one cannot get a
Bosch Universal or an Electrolux Magic Mill. One can only get enormous,
frighteningly expensive professional mixers like the Hobart for £2k+.
So the options seem to be:

1. Struggle on with the Kitchen Aid, doing a lot of hand-kneading every
few months. (NB: I actually like doing this, but it does make for
dryer bread).

2. Supplement it by getting another large stand mixer; there's a
Kenwood of slightly superior capacity, and I suppose this means that I
could knead two halves of a batch at once.

3. Supplement it with a bread machine, assuming they can be got to do
mix and knead only. Again, range is limited in the UK; no Zojirushi,
for instance. I gather these are only good for the kinds of doughs that
are easy to knead by hand, though some say they are best with brioche.

4. Import a Bosch or similar from the US and hope it doesn't ever need
repairing (not especially sensible-sounding, this).

I'd be grateful for thoughts and appliance recommendations.

--
Jane Lumley