Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone could recommend a sensible, durable,
dependable stand mixer that can actually mix bread dough on a regular
basis without breaking down.
I've owned a KitchenAid 525-Watt bowl-lift stand mixer for a little
over a year now, and what a lot of hassle I've had. In fact, I
originally purchased a 300-Watt tilt-head mixer, but after about
three minutes mixing a small batch of bread dough for the very first
time, its dough hook snapped broken. Customer service wasn't very
good, so a few months and several complaints later, I received the
525-Watt unit (that's right, 525, not 575) as a replacement.
Unfortunately, this larger, supposedly sturdier unit hasn't held its
own either. The dough hook is still in one piece, but the mixer
itself (the motor) has broken down three times already, despite my
best care. I never mix for more than five or six minutes at a time,
and only use speed 1 to mix bread dough. Moreover, I never exceed the
maximum load of approximately 14 cups; in fact, all the bread recipes
I make total no more than about 8 cups of wet mixture -- less than 12
cups of ingredients, wet and dry. (My recipes come from either The
Bread Baker's Apprentice, by Peter Reinhart, or Bread - A Baker's
Book of Techniques and Recipes, by Jeffrey Hamelman, both well-known
books with very carefully tested recipes.
The first time I took the mixer to the repair centre, it took them a
month to return it to me. The second time, it was returned after 10
days, but worked for all of 40 seconds before breaking down again.
And the third time I only got it back after 41 days. Mind you, those
repairs were all covered by the warranty, performed at an authorized
repair centre. I got a six-month warranty extension, but imagine what
it'll be like when the warranty has expired...
My point is: can anyone recommend a mixer that will do its job
without all this hassle? (Please don't say the word "KitchenAid".)
Thanks in advance,
Erik
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