As you commented, many people are less than happy with KitchenAid
mixers. In a number of bread forums, people are more than upset with
their KitchenAids. However, many of the people who were upset with
their mixers seriously overloaded them, and ran them far too
long. The three key considerations on load limits are 1) Their flour
power rating - the number of cups of flour the machines can mix, 2)
The 50% de-rating if you use anything but white flour (or, if your
machine is rated at 14 cups and you make whole wheat bread, now it's
rated at 7 cups), and 3 The batch to batch limit - they warn you may
not make more than a certain number of batches back to back (usually 2).
These limits mean that you can't go into a massive baking frenzy with
a KitchenAid. Still, they are suitable for most people and most
reasonable kitchen workloads. I have an ancient K45SS and wouldn't
want to part with it. Having owned all the mixers I'll discuss
below I have to say I think the KitchenAid is the best general
purpose mixer if you can work within it's
limitations. Limitations? Let's imagine that you want to make 10
1.5 lb loaves of whole wheat bread for a church dinner. A look at my
formula spreadsheet suggests it would take about 28 cups of
flour. If you have a big new shiny KitchenAid with a 14 cup flour
power rating, you start by cutting the 14 in half for the whole wheat
flour, giving you a rating of 7 cup. 28/7 is 4, so you need to make
your 10 loaves as 4 batches of 2.5 loaves each. Ooops.... that
doesn't make a lot of sense - what do you do with 1/2 a loaf? So
let's make it as 5 batches of 2 loaves each. After each 2 batches of
2 loaves, you need to let the mixer rest for 45 minutes. So, you
need to make 2 batches, let the mixer rest 45 minutes, make 2 more
batches, let the mixer rest 45 minutes and make the last batch. (If
it was white bread, you could make it as 2 batches, and do them back to back.
It is worth noting that the mixer may not be the bottleneck in your
kitchen. How many loaves can you bake at a time? It makes sense to
fill your oven as far as you practically can to keep your energy
bills under control, and you don't want to have the dough over rising
while it waits for its trip to ovenville.. I can do about 6 loaves
at a time in my oven. So, simplifying my work flow, I don't want to
make more than about 6 loaves every 45 minutes.
If you can live within the KitchenAid limitations, it will be a workhorse.
If you need to make more bread on a regular basis, it's time to look
at larger mixers. Hobart has larger mixers, starting at 10
quarts. While pricey, they are the gold plated standard. You can
often find them used on eBay at reasonable prices.
More reasonable alternatives are the Bosch and Electrolux
mixers. I've owned both. The Bosch is reasonably priced, and it is
good for around 7 pounds of any dough you can put into it in a batch,
and can do back to back batches. However, I feel it overworks dough
and that it's a pain to use and clean. We had one in our bakery and
used it for small batches and test bakes. The staff begged me to get
rid of it. I did, and replaced it with an Electrolux. The last time
I looked, Bosch Mixers ran between $250 and 300. Despite my lack of
enthusiasm for them, they have a loyal, and vocal, fan base.
The Electrolux is, as are all Electrolux appliances, pricey. About
twice as much as the Bosch. I find it much easier to use, and
reports from Europe where it has been sold for a long time talk about
people using their mixers for 40 and 50 years. It is a much better
bread mixer than the Bosch. I can make about 10 pounds of dough at a
time without any problems, and make back to back batches without
problems. It is easy to use and clean. However, the manual is a
total disaster and should be re-written for the American
market. While it is easy to use, expect about a 2 week learning
curve to feel comfortable with it - it is different from other
mixers. Personally, I don't use the roller, just the dough
hook. Sometimes I use the scraper. The dough tells me when to use
the scraper. I have used it as a general purpose mixer and feel that
the KitchenAid is better as a general purpose mixer than either the
Bosch or KitchenAid. Cooks Illustrated didn't care for the
Electrolux, but I have to disagree with them. It is a good general
purpose mixer, and unrivaled for bread.
I haven't used the Kenwood/Delonghi, but notice that the people on
the Food Network have trouble with them on an ongoing basis. Things
like Mario and Bobby Flay not being able to get the bowl out of the
base, and picking up the whole mixer to pour out a topping onto a
cake (if my pre-coffee memory is still working).
Hope that helps,
Mike
*Bake With Mike <http://www.mikesbread.com>*
Mike Avery
A Randomly Selected Bread Saying Of The Day:
?If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all
the heavens.?
-Robert Browning