Do you have a Kitchenaid 600 pro?
On cyber Monday, Amazon had a one-day sale on the Kitchenaid KL26M1XOB 6 quart stand mixer. I spoke with a KA rep, and she said that the only changes she could see between this model and the Professional 600 model was the wire whisk and the metal band around the head. I've made a couple loaves of bread with it and it works great, but I'm curious if it really *is* virtually the same machine. I saw a youtube video of a Pro 600 kneading dough, and it appeared to be so powerful that it was like there was no dough in the bowl. I don't want to say mine struggles, but while working, you can definitely see the strain that kneading dough has on the machine.
So I was just curious... To those of you who own a KA pro 600, take a look at this short video I just made and tell me if this sounds like your machine. This dough is 65% hydration - 460g flour and 300g water.
Oh, one more thing. There were a couple of reviews on this mixer that said although the mixer itself was great, the bowl that shipped with it was very flimsy. Since I've never seen the pro 600 bowl, I have nothing to compare it to, but this sure seems pretty solid to me. I weighed it, and it's exactly 1100 grams. Would you mind weighing yours and telling me what you're seeing?
Thanks so much for the help.
I don't have that KA. Mine is the smaller 5 1/2 quart. When my motor sounds like that, I stop it and switch to hand mixing.
I don't find the KAs very powerful, I guess. One day, I'll get a mixer with a strong motor!
I've had a KA Pro 600 for about 15 years. It makes less noise than that in your video. The weight of the mixer bowl is 1038g on one of my scales and 1045g on another. It doesn't seem flimsy to me. HTH.
Thanks for the info. I hope this doesn't mean that the motor is underpowered, in spite of it being rated at 575 watts. I'll have to work with it and hopefully it'll do the job ok. The spiral hook wasn't available for my 4.5 qt KA, so this is already a great improvement.
Mine sounds exactly like that :(
Hasn't let me down ever but it is noisy.
Mine sounds like that too. And my bowl is not flimsy at all.
I assume you're talking about your pro 600. They were saying that the pro 600 bowl was sturdy, but the one that came with my mixer was flimsy. I'm just not seeing it. You could take this bowl into battle.
It is the same except for minor trim issues including the lift handle (the pro 600 has a knob). I bet at a higher speed it would not sound like that (not that you need a higher speed), but it would probably rock. It looks like your dough is plenty kneaded, so it is probably pretty strong. If it sounded like that at an earlier stage or with a wetter dough I might be concerned.
You put my mind at ease. It *is* working great so far.
Thinking about the matter some more, my KA Pro 600 may be making the same amount of noise as yours. I forgot that I wear noise-canceling headphones when using it.
My engineer husband trots around with his audiometer whenever I use my KA Pro 600, reminding me that it's about 90 dB. I may have to go with his headphones next time I use it! I had an 25 yr old 5-qt which I gave to my niece, and that one wasn't nearly as loud as the 600. (No worries--she is under strict instructions to return it to me when she no longer needs it.) The old machine was made much sturdier than the new models. The bowl is durable but I do worry about the motor.
i use the KAM for cookies and cakes, and my DLX for bread. At least with the DLX I can hear myself think...
In the beginning the KA Pro 600 and I did not get along that well. They'd burn out and I'd repack them and send them back to the factory while, at the same time, the factory would ship another one. Got really good at the return process so that I didn't miss a home baked bread cycle. I must admit that KA stood buy their product (and also made a few engineering changes along the way as it turned out - but that's another story).
What happened to end this vicious cycle? First I finally learned about hydrolys, allowing the water to soak into the flour for 20-30 minutes after a short 4 minute mix with the spiral hook. This greatly helps gluten development. The second is using a well developed levain to finish the dough with an 4-5 minute spiral dough hook mix before finally adding the fine sea salt wherein the dough goes from slack to a fully developed gluten and becomes "rubbery" (biological chemistry in action, it's fun to watch the transformation). The mixer has long periods of rest between short periods of work keeping it from overheating. Note that adding salt and the development of the gluten is what really puts a "load" on the motor and if run long enough will definitely limit the life of the machine.
Like many, I had not learned enough to be "efficient" and one with my tools and have since repented saying untoward utterances about KA, their founders and their parentage. I am now a satisfied customer and recommend it with the above caveats for home bread making (~ 2 Kg of dough max.).
Yes, it is noisy but so is someone slapping dough on a baker's bench in the French style of kneading....,
I'm glad to hear that my unit is working and sounding like it should. I think we'll probably keep both of them - this new 6 quart model and the other 4.5 classic. The old one is still relatively powerful, and it's quiet. It's still what I'll use for mixing softer batters and shredding cheese with the attachment.
First, the good. KA stands behind their products. They are located in Ohio in the U.S. Their mixers are attractive and sturdy. The bad, they don't last. They lose torque, the gears strip, the motors get hot and they are noisy. I have two KA mixers so I always have a back-up when I send one back for repair or replacement. Right now both of them are down and I've resorted to hand mixing and my 20 quart Hobart, a beast of a mixer. I don't think a Hobart can be broken, mine is very old and runs like a champ. But you need to make bread for an army, it doesn't do one or two loaves. I've been through so many KA mixers that I have their phone number on speed dial. 9 repairs or replacements in the last 8 years. My original KA lasted over 20 years, so I'm not sure what they've changed, but they don't last anymore. The last two broke while making cookies, not bread. If you get any KA, baby it as Wild-Yeast suggests. Short mixing times, speed at 2, feel for heat, noise or laboring and shut it off to rest. I can get a year sometimes out of my KA 600 Pro if I do that.
You obviously have a need to make a LOT more bread than I ever will. I'm currently making quite a bit while I'm learning the ropes - about 2 loaves every 3 days. But ultimately, I'll probably make a 2-loaf batch of sandwich bread and one or two loaves of something interesting every week. So hopefully, mine will last longer that you're seeing.
enchant, I only bake on weekends, 2 loaves every weekend and maybe some cookies or other dessert that uses the mixer. I'm baking a bit less than you. I use the Hobart for bagels about once a month. Bagel dough is too stiff for the KA and that's probably how I killed the first couple of them. I am feeding two adults and sometimes my neighbors or friends get a loaf. I'm not a commercial enterprise, just an obsessed bread head. --
When an electric motor is laboring, it's a sure sign that it's overloaded. Either reduce your batch size or get a bigger mixer. When the motor labors, heat builds up and it's a slow death for any electric motor whether in a mixer or anything else.
So your KA doesn't survive 100 loaves of bread? That's a little frightening.
I also got one of these on Amazon. I am extremely disappointed because I had a 13 year old one that was great. I just had a baby so I haven't used it much. Last night I got my husband to watch me make a batch of cookies that I had made hundreds of times in the old one and he told me to send it back to amazon. It skips constantly on everything, but it even skipped while creaming softened butter and sugar. That's insane. I did make a few batches of rolls in it and I thought it did a really poor job on those.
I'm going to send it back and I'm thinking I will invest in the Bosch Universal Plus.
ok, so the one you got was the 600 pro and not the model KL26M1XO, right?
What do you mean by "skips"?
Skips?
Wild-Yeast
I have had it for the last 11 years, and it has never let me down. Prior to that, I had a KSM-5 that would labor while making wheat bread, which my Pro 5 Plus doesn't. Here's the key to using a KitchenAid for making bread: Start with the liquid ingredients, and then add your flour until it just cleans the bowl, including the very bottom of it. Then you know you have a stiff dough. For something softer and more hydrated, add just enough to clear the SIDES of the bowl, but not the bottom. Then if you want a near batter-bread super-hydrated dough, add just enough to where it holds together and can be shaped, but is still sticky.
So essentially: If you respect the limits of a KitchenAid, and know enough that the dry ingredients follow the liquid ingredients, then the mixer should last a lifetime. But if your work load is tough enough to burn out KitchenAids, then maybe it's time to consider something like the Thunderbird ARM-01: http://pleasanthillgrain.com/thunderbird-commercial-kitchen-mixer-arm-01 . The Thunderbird ARM-01 is similar in design and power to the Hobart C-100. And like the Hobart, it will take KitchenAid attachments.
Best of luck. :D