Marcel wanted to know about the Bosch Universal or Concept 7 mixers. I
have a Universal and highly recommend it. I bought it a year and a half
ago after my KitchenAid started getting really loud, smelling smoky, and
in general driving me nuts. Yes, I had read the manual, Mike, but my
KitchenAid couldn't handle regular bread dough any more. Forget artisan or
bagel dough. So I researched different mixers and settled on the Bosch. I
got mine from Pleasant Hill Grain www.pleasanthillgrain.com) and just love
it. A friend of mine also sells them at www.bosch-colorado.com
My mixer has both low and high speed drives. The mixer bowl goes on the
big one, and I got the optional blender for the little one. I use the
mixer almost every day and have never looked back. The design is different
from stand mixers in that the dough hook fits in a cylinder in the center
of the bowl itself, resulting in a much lower center of gravity. No longer
do I have to contend with the lemming death march off the counter when I am
mixing dough, and slack dough doesn't climb the dough hook like on stand
mixers. The capacity is also much greater. I can easily mix six loaves of
dough at a time, whereas two loaves strained the capacity of my
KitchenAid. Now I'm just limited by my oven size.
Some of the recent posts have been on grinding grain at home, and I was a
die-hard white flour girl myself until I tried bread baked with freshly
ground wheat. The taste really is so much better than what you can produce
using off-the-shelf whole wheat flour. I have a Nutrimill grain mill, also
made by Bosch, and I am enjoying that too. It's one of the quieter grain
mill, only sounding as loud as a vacuum cleaner rather than some of the
other brands that will drive you from the house when they're on. I use
mine for corn, wheat, and rye, and I'm thinking of trying buckwheat
too. The bulk bins at natural food or health food stores are good sources
for trying out different grains.
You can also grind wheat in the blender attachment for the Bosch
Universal. There's a great recipe for blender pancakes where you just
whirl the wheat into flour as you're mixing the ingredients. If you're
doing very much grinding I would recommend just spending the cash and
getting a dedicated machine for it. I use mine more than my slow cooker,
rice cooker, waffle maker, and even toaster.
If you just want to try the flour first, check at your local health food
store. Many have grinders on site and can grind some up for you, or at
least can put you in touch with a good source. There are also still grain
mills scattered around, maybe you'll be lucky and there will be one by you.
Happy baking. I love this list. It's so nice to chat with other people
who get excited about baking.
Erin Nesmith