laurie wrote:
>
> between a KitchenAid Mixer and a nice food processor, which would you choose
> and why?
>
> A major use for either item will be for pizza dough.
>
> Thanks for your recommendations.
>
> laurie

You couldn't pay me to take a KA mixer. I hate the
things. Sure they have powerful motors but you can't
get at the stuff in the bowl to scrape the sides or
add ingredients. I've never seen such poor design.

Many years ago my aunt had a Hamilton Beach stand mixer
which was perfect. The disc on which the bowls sat was
connected to a lever. You could move the bowl in and
out so that, when using the large bowl, the beaters would
move from the center to the outer edge of the bowl. The
movable disc was really meant to be moved to accommodate
both the small bowl and the large bowl, but it had the
unintended (I think) advantage that you had more coverage
in the big bowl by moving it in and out. Also, the
motor housing did not stick out over the entire workbowl
area so you could easily stick your rubber scraper into
the bowl to scrape down the sides. And you had plenty
of space to add ingredients without the motor housing
in the way.

Alas, they no longer make mixers like that. I bought
a newer Ham. Beach after hers died and they had changed
the design of the disk. Instead of it being movable by a
lever it now had 2 holes for placement depending on which
bowl you wanted to use and it was fixed in that position
the whole time you were using it. What were they thinking?
Also, the mixer itself was more cheaply made with a plastic
instead of a metal housing and it was not as powerful.

Now, the original one my aunt had was not as powerful
as a KA but if someone had taken the design of that mixer
and ramped it up powerwise and added dough hooks and such
we would have a really awesome mixer.

As to the original question there is no way to choose between
a mixer and a food processor. They are 2 totally different
beasts. You have to have both!! There are very few things
you can do equally well in both.

And I would use neither for pizza dough. But I suppose if
you were doing it commercially, i.e. making lots of dough
every day I'd say you'd have to go with the mixer. I don't
see how you could make pizza dough in a food processor.

Kate
--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?