jay wrote:
> I have a small Kitchenaid mixer (250 watts) and have used it for preparing
> many one and two loaf bread/flour dough batches. The recipe I would like
> to try calls for 5 lbs of flour and it seem that cutting it in half would
> be the easiest way to handle the amount of dough with my small mixer.
>
> Will a mixer this small even handle 2.5 lbs of flour for bread? I am
> guessing that is about 10 cups of flour which will fit into the bowl.
> Thanks for your input.

I'd like to have a dollar for every time I've posted this same
information.

With these type of electrical appliances wattage has very little to do
with shaft horsepower (usable power available), wattage is a
measurement of electrical energy *consumed*, NOT power produced...
wattage is the basis for how your electric utility company computes
your bill, has no bearing whatsoever on how efficiently you used that
electrical energy. Think of a 100w light bulb, if you place an opaque
shade over it then the lighting benefit is substantially reduced even
though it still consumes and you pay for 100 watts. The KA mixers have
no transmission, they have fixed gearing, therefore depending on the
gearing of the particular unit the greater the load applied the greater
the heat produced... what an inefficient method for heating your home,
with a KA mixer.

Often the KA mixers with the lowest wattage ratings also have the
lowest gearing to wattage ratios, therefore produce the greatest shaft
horsepower... they just aren't capable of running at the highest rpm.
The KA mixers with the highest wattage ratings generally will be geared
at higher ratios so as to
be capable of running at the highest speeds but produce the least shaft
horsepower.... under load they slow way down and produce tremendous
heat, until the heat sensitive overlaod cuts electrical power, before
the motor becomes damaged from overheating.

What you really need to concern yourself with is that your KA bowl is
large enough to contain all the ingredients you want to mix.... odds
are your 250w mixer runs best at lower rpm, and has a smaller diameter
dough hook, therefore is capable of greater torque over longer periods
without overheating, and is more energy efficient. Your machine is
more energy efficient for dough kneading than the higher wattage
machines, which are more energy efficient for producing whipped cream.

I think it's a sin that the gubermint permits small appliance companies
to advertize wattage ratings as though that meant power produced when
what it really means is power consumed... it's absolutely false
advertising. KA gets away with it because theirs is not a commercial
machine. Commercial machines must list Horsepower. KA definitely does
not produce a commercial mixer, in fact if you read their warranty it
specifically states that using their mixer for commercial purposes
voids their warranty. Essentially KA produces toys r us stand mixers.

However many restaurants and other smaller commercial establishments,
and even large commercial culinary installations use KA mixers because
they are relatively inexpensive compared to true commercial machines.
(do you have any idea how many KA mixers one can buy before spending
more than for one Hobart... the service contract alone on a Hobart
costs more each year than the price of a KA mixer)... and they are
small so they occupy very little space, perfect for small jobs. A
restaurant can afford to have one KA mixer per cook, so no one needs to
wait their turn, and if a KA mixer burns out it's really no biggie,
it's written off as a capital expence and replaced with a new one, same
as folks replace low end TVs.

Sheldon