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

Jane Lumley wrote:

> I'd be grateful for thoughts and appliance recommendations.

I had a Kitchen Aid that lasted over 25 years, kneading many loaves of
bread effortlessly. By the time it started to die the quality of KA
appeared to have gone way down. I've heard many other complaints similar
to yours. I got a hold of the new manual and compared it to mine. For
what was supposed to be the same mixer, the recommended knead time had
decreased *significantly*, from 10+ minutes to 2 minutes! And people
were burning out their mixers on that limited time.

So I replaced my workhorse with a Kenwood 7 quart capacity 3 years ago,
and haven't looked back. I can easily knead enough dough for 4 loaves of
bread (probably more, but I haven't needed to do that much yet). I can
also do large batches of cookie dough -- including the full recipe for
the (not) Neiman Marcus Cookie hoax that has been floating around for
years. Great recipe, but I had to halve it for my 5 quart KA. Kenwood
now appears to to be marketed under Delonghi in the US.

Karen R, with a batch of just mixed starter, flour and water ripening in
the mixer now.

Jane Lumley wrote:

> I'd be grateful for thoughts and appliance recommendations.

I had a Kitchen Aid that lasted over 25 years, kneading many loaves of
bread effortlessly. By the time it started to die the quality of KA
appeared to have gone way down. I've heard many other complaints similar
to yours. I got a hold of the new manual and compared it to mine. For
what was supposed to be the same mixer, the recommended knead time had
decreased *significantly*, from 10+ minutes to 2 minutes! And people
were burning out their mixers on that limited time.

So I replaced my workhorse with a Kenwood 7 quart capacity 3 years ago,
and haven't looked back. I can easily knead enough dough for 4 loaves of
bread (probably more, but I haven't needed to do that much yet). I can
also do large batches of cookie dough -- including the full recipe for
the (not) Neiman Marcus Cookie hoax that has been floating around for
years. Great recipe, but I had to halve it for my 5 quart KA. Kenwood
now appears to to be marketed under Delonghi in the US.

Karen R, with a batch of just mixed starter, flour and water ripening in
the mixer now.

"Jane Lumley" > wrote in message
...
> 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

Sadly, the home models just aren't strong enough to handle daily bread
mixing. I know. I have two Kitchen Aids. One mixes while the other one is
getting repaired. That's one solution. The better one is to bite the
bullet and find a small commercial mixer such as a 10 quart.

Fred
Foodie Forums
http://www.foodieforums.com

>
>Sadly, the home models just aren't strong enough to handle daily bread
>mixing. I know. I have two Kitchen Aids. One mixes while the other one is
>getting repaired. That's one solution. The better one is to bite the
>bullet and find a small commercial mixer such as a 10 quart.


Thanks so much for all the replies. I did eventually find a new Hobart
for 1990 GBP, and a second-hard one for 600, but decided in the end to
go for a Kenwood Major, on the principle that I could alternate it with
the KitchenAid so that only one was being repaired at one time (as you
say, Fred!) I made some brioche with it yesterday and it worked well,
even on high speeds. If I'm still frustrated after 12 months, I'll have
to bite the bullet and get a Hobart.

I don't use a food processor for anything but very wet foccaccia dough
(and piecrust) but was interested that people recommended it. I always
think it over-kneads.
--
Jane Lumley

>
>Sadly, the home models just aren't strong enough to handle daily bread
>mixing. I know. I have two Kitchen Aids. One mixes while the other one is
>getting repaired. That's one solution. The better one is to bite the
>bullet and find a small commercial mixer such as a 10 quart.


Thanks so much for all the replies. I did eventually find a new Hobart
for 1990 GBP, and a second-hard one for 600, but decided in the end to
go for a Kenwood Major, on the principle that I could alternate it with
the KitchenAid so that only one was being repaired at one time (as you
say, Fred!) I made some brioche with it yesterday and it worked well,
even on high speeds. If I'm still frustrated after 12 months, I'll have
to bite the bullet and get a Hobart.

I don't use a food processor for anything but very wet foccaccia dough
(and piecrust) but was interested that people recommended it. I always
think it over-kneads.
--
Jane Lumley