The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Bosch Universal Plus - size does matter

Porkbutter's picture
Porkbutter

Bosch Universal Plus - size does matter

 

After the umpteenth time of promising myself that I would take my spasmodic KA mixer out back and put it out of it's misery...excuse me, out of MY misery, I've decided to bite the bullet and spend some coin on a better mixer. The Bosch seems to be well liked by a lot of people, and is looking good to me. While there is plenty of talk about how much dough it can handle, I can't find anything on how little it will handle. Is it good for just one loaf? Maybe one small loaf? How about 1 pizza dough? That last one is probably unlikely, but what the heck, I’ll take what info I can gather.

 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I have both a KitchenAid Accolade - a higher powered version of the Artisan model - and a Bosch Universal Plus. I use the Bosch for larger batches and heavier doughs, but I still use the KitchenAid for less than 4 lbs of dough.

I've never tried the Bosch for less than 3 1/2 lbs of dough, and I'm skeptical about how it would perform.

BTW, although I like the Bosch a lot, I find that the mixing times they claim are far shorter than what most doughs truly require. So, if you do get one, remember to go by how the dough develops, not by the timer.

Happy baking!

David

flourgirl51's picture
flourgirl51

the bosch will whip as little as one egg white very efficiently so it will handle small amounts of dough with no problem.

LindyD's picture
LindyD

...so it will handle small amounts of dough with no problem.

I've been looking into the Bosch Universal mixer and would like to know the smallest amount of flour you have actually used it for, and the type of bread made with that flour.

I'm curious because like some others here, I was told by the Pleasant Valley folks that the Bosch Universal doesn't handle small batches of dough well.  

Thanks.

flourgirl51's picture
flourgirl51

just sent you a message regarding this.

 

Porkbutter's picture
Porkbutter

flourgirl, 

I just sent you a reply.

Thanks,

Bob.

flourgirl51's picture
flourgirl51

I have made a garlic focaccia using just 2 cups of flour, biscuits using 2 cups of flour, brioche using 3 cups. It will also whip one egg white very well.  I guess if you are going to do really small batches then you could do them by hand.

Last week I made 47 2 lb loaves of wheat bread and had the Bosch running a good part of the day and for other things as well. It is a real workhorse.

LindyD's picture
LindyD

While I do mix most of my breads by hand, I was curious how the Bosch Universal would handle just a pound of high gluten flour.

My KA is going to croak if I continue to push it into mixing two pounds of HG flour for bagels, and I want to keep it alive because I have the grain mill and food grinder attachments. 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

rhomp2002's picture
rhomp2002

I just today made the overnight hoagie rolls as adapted from Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day by Celeste.  This takes 5-1/2 cups flour which at 4-1/2 oz per cup would be about 1 pound and a half of flour.  I made 2 batards with this recipe and just took them out of the oven.   I mixed them and kneaded them in my Bosch Universal Plus with no problem and they came out beautifully.   I don't have a camera so I can't show a photo but they look like a model of what batards should look like.  I have also made the small recipe from the Pleasant Hill set for whole wheat sandwich bread which uses 4 cups of flour and it also worked perfectly.

In my experience with the Bosch, I have had no problems with any size of bread recipe I made.  Could not be happier with it.  One of my best purchases.  A real workhorse that does just what I want it to do with no problems at all.

My experience with the dealers is also very positive.  Got a Compact from Pleasant Hill and a Universal Plus from Breadtopia.  In both cases the dealer was very open and straight forward during the transaction and also shipped the mixers well wrapped.  I got exactly what I expected and my questions were all answered with no lying.  Painless transactions with ethical dealers.  My dealings with flourgirl for flour have also been painless and ethical.   Can recommend all 3 from personal experience.   From what I have read most of the rest are equally ethical and straight forward.