"Rina" > wrote in message
news:sTlrd.699018$8_6.447626@attbi_s04...
> I've thought about a food processor, but nixed the idea... I couldn't
think
> of a single reason to buy one other than my curiosity...
>
> I have a KA mixer and a good set of knives....
> My bread machine is one of my favorite appliances!
>
> Rina
>

Your KA mixer and knives are about all you really need. Since the OP asked
about getting a mixer or a bread machine, I recommended the mixer or a food
processor. Both are much more versatile than the bread machine. Of course
if you already own a bread machine, it is a moot point. I just don't see
any advantage in using the machine to make dough, and then removing it and
completing the process by hand. Bread machines are fine for people who want
to dump and run. It isn't baking, in my opinion just as I don't think that
using cake mixes are baking. I know that stance upsets people, but alas,
that is how I feel. If you don't own any appliances and want to make bread,
then the bread machine would be the last device that I would recommend
buying. I think that if you really want to learn how to bake, you aren't
going to progress much with a bread machine. Does that make you a bad
person or immoral - absolute not! It's just that you won't learn to drive
by taking the bus even though it gets you to your destination the same as a
car. Bread machines are probably a godsend for people with disabilities.

As for the food processor, I use mine for small batches of yeast dough and
pie pastry, grinding nuts, making bread crumbs, grinding meat, chopping
large amounts of onions, shredding cheese, making jullian cut vegetables,
preparing mayonnaise and other emulsions, chopping chocolate, making
ganache, preparing pasta dough, and many other tasks. You can do all that
with a knife or your hands, as I do for small quantities, but it would take
forever to make salmon mousse with a knife. With the bread machine, you can
only make bread (OK, I know that some machines have a jam setting). I leave
my food processor and KA mixer on the counter, otherwise I wouldn't use
them.