On Mon, 19 Jul 2004, Jane Lumley wrote:

> 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 handkneading 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 =A32k+.
> So the options seem to be
>
> 1. Struggle on with the Kitchen Aid, doing a lot of hand-kneading every
> few months.
> 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.

Are there other models of the KitchenAid that would be better? I checked
the USA web site for the model I purchased and it is not there. It is a
525 Watt motor and a 6 quart bowl. It is a lot like the Professional 6
series of bowl-life mixers. The major differences are that 1) mine was not
made in the USA and 2) the beater and dough hook are coated.

I have seen people in this newsgroup complaining that the models made in
the USA are lacking in quality and that they come with burnished beater
and dough hook. The burnished equipment tends to rust.

I've found in my country, if you want something better than a KitchenAid
you have to go for the really expensive models like the Hobart. Then
again, if you are going through mixers every six months it might be worth
investing in a Hobart. Maybe look into getting a used Hobart.

--=20
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