I find I only have time to fully hand-make bread on weekends, and only
some weekends at that .. so during the week I'm resorting now to
using a bread machine for the dough-mixing part only, then hand-shaping
and baking.
It's my daughter's machine and I'll be parting with it soon.
So I'd like recommendations of the best brands of dough mixers -- my
wife and I use about three loaves a week, and I use generally about 3.5
cups of flour for a loaf (mixed hard bread flour and multi-grain).
I'm in Australia, but I guess common brands will be available just
about everywhere. And I'd like something reasonably cost-effective ...
our usage is only moderate, as cited above, so I guess we're hardly
commercial users!
Many thanks

Quick addition:
I've seen often on Ebay Australia this item:
HELLER DELUXE ULTIMATE-SERIES
HEAVY-DUTY BENCH MIXER
Heavy Duty Motor - 6 Power Levels + Pulse
5L Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl
RRP - $399.00

It seems to go for around $80. Distributed by GAF (whoever they are).
Would this be a suspect shoddy product? I've never heard of Heller
before .. anyone know this brand? Some small appliances I've seen on
Ebay have turned out to be very poor.......

Why not get another bread machine? It sounds as though the borrowed one
met your kneads. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Zojirushi makes highly regarded bread machines that I would expect to be
available pretty much everywhere. The nice thing about the machines, as
you already know, is that they can not only do the dough mixing, but
also provide a controlled environment for proofing/rising, and if need
be, can bake a decent loaf of bread to completion.

I never thought I'd do so, but last year we actually used the jam-making
capabilities of our bread machine when we got a bargain deal on a LOT of
blueberries. The bread machine did an excellent job with little fuss.
That's certainly a capability the big stand mixers can't claim.

Bob
====================
In article . com>,
says...
> I find I only have time to fully hand-make bread on weekends, and only
> some weekends at that .. so during the week I'm resorting now to
> using a bread machine for the dough-mixing part only, then hand-shaping
> and baking.
> It's my daughter's machine and I'll be parting with it soon.
> So I'd like recommendations of the best brands of dough mixers -- my
> wife and I use about three loaves a week, and I use generally about 3.5
> cups of flour for a loaf (mixed hard bread flour and multi-grain).
> I'm in Australia, but I guess common brands will be available just
> about everywhere. And I'd like something reasonably cost-effective ...
> our usage is only moderate, as cited above, so I guess we're hardly
> commercial users!
> Many thanks
>

yetanotherBob wrote:
> Why not get another bread machine? It sounds as though the borrowed one
> met your kneads. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
>
> Zojirushi makes highly regarded bread machines that I would expect to be
> available pretty much everywhere. The nice thing about the machines, as
> you already know, is that they can not only do the dough mixing, but
> also provide a controlled environment for proofing/rising, and if need
> be, can bake a decent loaf of bread to completion.
>
> I never thought I'd do so, but last year we actually used the jam-making
> capabilities of our bread machine when we got a bargain deal on a LOT of
> blueberries. The bread machine did an excellent job with little fuss.
> That's certainly a capability the big stand mixers can't claim.
>

Thanks for the recommendation .. I'll check that brand out.

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:33:28 -0800, anthony wrote:

> my wife and I use about three loaves a week,

A Magic Mill, not only are they the best for what you want they are so
much fun to watch (well, fun for a baker, others may think you're in great
need of a long walk-about).

http://magicmill.125west.com/

It has a small motor because the design is so simple and brilliant. You
will have to tolerate others flaunting their 700-1000 watt mixers. I have
a 700 watt Bosh which I use everyday and the Magic Mill, which I also use
daily, would be faster by far in developing a good dough in the amounts
you want. I mix 10 lbs of dough with it, no sweat (the 15 lbs capacity in
the advert is IMO, bullcrap unless you want headachs, this holds for the
Bosh adverts also).

Most machines lag when the motor is being overworked, lag to a Magic Mill
means things are going along just fine. The motor is built to lag every
revolution because it does not try to bull it's way through the dough. It
sort of massages the dough. This is close to a hand kneed which makes
over-mixing nearly impossible. It also means that the mixer makes no
intrusion into the gluten structure since there is no tearing of the dough
with a hook.

The downsides a it may walk some. EZ solution being a damp towel
underneath. In the first 6 months I had mine it fell off the countertop
twice onto the floor. Did I mention they are well built? Did I
mention that I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer? That was 5 years
ago. The other (maybe) downside is it's uniqueness. It has a stationary
paddle and a roller - the bowel turns. The roller, which is under a
healthy spring tension, is adjusted away from the bowel to fit the amount
of dough that's going to pass between it and the side of the bowel. To do
this you have to crack down on a fairly large adjustment knob. This isn't
a big deal unless you have hand/joint pain then this may be a problem.