The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

mixer speeds DLX

caviar's picture
caviar

mixer speeds DLX

Does anyone know what kind of mixer The DLX is i.e. Spiral ; planetary; Oblique or stand . I've assumed it is a stand mixer ( you know what they say about assuming)Also I would like to know what speed range is represented by the lines on the speed indicator.

Does anyone know this info or where to get it? I have not been able to find it so far.

Herb

qahtan's picture
qahtan

Is this what you want.:-)  qahtan

 

The Magic Mill DLX 2000 by Electrolux
Outstanding Capacity, Performance & Value

The Electrolux Magic Mill DLX Assistent has been a Swedish secret for over 50 years. An exceptionally strong dough mixer, the Electrolux DLX has an impeccable reputation for long term reliability and quality results whether you're mixing a cake, whipping a meringue, or baking ten loaves of fresh, light, scrumptious bread.

The Magic Mill DLX Assistent mixer creates smooth, silky, elastic dough quickly and easily with its unique roller and scraper design. This method effectively mimics kneading by hand, minus the time and effort. As the stainless bowl revolves, the deeply fluted roller of the Magic Mill DLX acts as your fingers, with the scraper mimicking the palm of your hand. The Magic Mill scraper folds the dough with a rhythmic motion while the roller provides a powerful massaging action. Dough comes out smooth and elastic, in large or small batches. Any speed from 40 to 140 RPM can be selected, and an electronic speed sensor automatically adjusts motor torque to the load. A timer is standard equipment, so the Magic Mill DLX will do its work while you do other tasks, stopping when you want it to. The control panel is angled for comfortable use, and the large timer and speed controls are attractive and easy to read.

The large 8 quart stainless steel bowl of the Magic Mill holds up to 28 cups of flour (7 lbs.), to make approximately 15 lbs. of bread dough (7-10 loaves). The efficient, high-torque 600 watt motor runs smoothly and quietly; coupled with an advanced transmission design, it providing ample power to mix and knead even the largest batch of heavy bread dough without straining. The Magic Mill was given its nickname, "The Workhorse Mixer" not by its manufacturer Electrolux, but by users who praise this powerful kitchen helper that's so enjoyable to use.

The Magic Mill's whisk beater bowl (the white bowl in illustration above) will create beautiful meringues, beating up to 18 egg whites (or as few as one) with excellent results. You can also cream butter, margarine and shortening with sugar to the creamiest texture for all your cookie needs. When white bowl is used, it is stationary (unlike the stainless bowl, which turns during use), and the whisks drive from below via a center column in the bowl (the white bowl is shaped something like a bunt cake.) This arrangement provides total access to the top of the Magic Mill bowl, with no overhead motor drive in the way. The beater bowl is sold separately by Magic Mill, but we include it with your mixer at no additional charge. When mixing with either this bowl or the stainless bowl, the only metal in contact with your food is food-grade stainless steel.

The Magic Mill DLX mixer measures 13.5"H x 10.5"W x 15.7"D, weighs only 19 lbs. with stainless bowl. It sits firmly on solid rubber feet, and will not walk on the countertop during use. The entire motor enclosure is made of metal, and is available in your choice of four attractive finishes. The Electrolux Magic Mill DLX mixer has a 3 year manufacturer's warranty on the power unit, 1 year on other parts.

The biggest difference between dense, heavy baked goods and the delightfully textured products you want to enjoy is proper development of the gluten in the dough. The Magic Mill kitchen mixer is unexcelled in its ability to turn out fantastic dough. With the array of available accessories displayed below, it offers to add a myriad of exciting dimensions to your cooking experience. The Magic Mill DLX is a lifetime investment.

caviar's picture
caviar

Thanks for replying to my query. Unforunately the type of mixer and revolutions for the various speed indicators are not here.This is the kind of info I've been getting.

Jeffrey Hamelman in his book "Bread" gives the names of the mixers without an explanation of each then gives length of mix time on each to achieve what he says is moderate development and then states find out the rpm's of your mixer. An attemt to contact  the maker was unsuccessful.

But thanks again for showing me that.   

Herb

  

thebreadfairy's picture
thebreadfairy

I had wondered about that myself, liking Hamelman's formulas, and being somewhat obsessive-compulsive. From my experience so far, I have found that setting the DLX knob at "12 o'clock" for first speed and "1 o'clock" for second speed, has worked well. This has produced excellent bread for me in roughly the same time frame that Hamelman describes. YMMV. Hope this helps.

Jessica

sphealey's picture
sphealey

Well, you could try asking Jeffrey Hamelman ;-)   Send a letter to King Arthur customer service asking that the question be forwarded to Hamelman or one of his trainees.  In my experience KA customer service is incredibly helpful.

sPh

caviar's picture
caviar

Thanks sPh, I tried to find a web site for Jeffery but didn't think about a letter to King A. I will try that.

 

Herb

caviar's picture
caviar

Thanks so much Jessica, I'll use this on the next batch. I heard, from the DLX help site that Rose Levy B says it is a spiral mixer. Thanks again.

 

Herb

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Caviar,

I don't usually make negative statements about people who don't understand what they are talking about. That said you should ignore the statements about the DLX not being able to develop gluten. While taking a course at sfbi may inform a person about professional equipment and very high end versions made for small commercial operations and home owners, it does not qualify one to comment on a device he has not mastered ad doesn't understand.

As with most mixers, the DLX is intended to be used at the slowest speed for incorporating ingredients. Once that is accomplished, a 10-15 minute autolyse period will allow the water to be absorbed. A short session at a higher speed will develop gluten regardless of your choice of dough hook or roller. I prefer the hook but both work well.

The Kitchen Aid products being sold today are small under powered copies of a formally great mixer. When Hobart made them they were built to stand up to the needs of a home baker. Today a full bowl of Bagel dough will burn it out in a few minutes. Yes the manual says not to overload the mixer or you can ruin it. For my money they are junk waiting to break. The internet is loaded with stories of people having bad experiences with KA customer service. It's to bad the KA line has proven to be so weak. The decision to use plastic gears might be part of the problem.

Bosch and DLX both make powerful, well engineered mixers. If you think you need a stand mixer I suggest you consider it an investment and purchase one of those.

Eric

bassopotamus's picture
bassopotamus

I bought a DLX for farmer's market baking, have been using it for about 3 months, and I actually prefer my KA but for the fact that it doesn't have adequate capacity for what I need it to do. My gripe with the DLX is there is that it really doesn't mix big batches very evenly. In particular, there is little vertical agitation. It seems like more of a kneader than a mixer for bigger quantities, and this is after trying pretty much every combination of speed, roller placement, dough hook, and order of adding ingredients.I can get decent results out of it, but it needs almost constant attention to provide it some vertical agitation.

I find it ineresting that neither the KA nor the DLX can handle anywhere near their stated capacities. AT least the DLX doesn't start eating itself when you overload it. From my experience though, 15 lbs of dough won't even fit in the DLX bowl, let alone mix. It is a decent enough mixer I guess, but If we do the market again next year, I'll probably be mixer shopping again.

toyman's picture
toyman

Nova - this is the statement that got the juices flowing "The DLX, given the "fingerknob" and its rotary motion (like a doughnut hole), can't develop gluten...but a great device for mixing rye doughs." 

The DLX definitely develops gluten, just not the same way as other mixers. 

Everything has it's tradeoffs.  I know that I need about 45 minutes to put together a batch of dough, of which 20 minutes is an autolyze.  I find it easier to add ingredients to my DLX than my KA, and my DLX can mix much larger batches.  On the other hand my DLX won't do so well with a 1 or 2 loaf batch, which I rarely make. 

I normally start with 2500 grams of flour which ends up being just under 10# of finished dough.  It handles that without issue.  I agree that if you need a professional mixer that's what you should get, but that doesn't mean that other mixers don't work.  The speeds you reference, 300 & 600 rpm would concern me about getting the dough above 80*.  (The DLX ranges from 40 to 140 rpm) 

This is my procedure:

Add all water & oil to mixing bowl set up with roller & scraper

add 75% of flour until it comes together 

20 min autolyze

Change out roller for dough hook

Add balance of dry ingredients, (flour last)

Run mixer until dough is smooth and incorporated, and temps <80*.  This is usually the full timer of 14 minutes, give or take. 

 

Russ's picture
Russ

Not sure why you don't think the DLX doesn't do well with small batches. I've made 1 and 2 loaf batches in my DLX, it does just fine. The only reason i don't do it more often is that it is just as easy to make a larger batch, so I usually do.

toyman's picture
toyman

Russ, I stand corrected and guilty of the same issue that I posted about.  I should have said, "I've read that the DLX doesn't do well with small batches, 1-2 loaves, but I have no first hand experience with small of a batch"

My future plans will now include a 500g and 1000g batch and I will post my thoughts and results.

I did mix up my largest batch to date, last nite.  I'm making bread and buns to take to the beach in a week.  The mixer performed flawlessly, but I will say that I did have to manage the dough to keep it from climbing into the spring loaded arm.  Here are my quantities:

3000g flour (1/2 AP, 1/2 Caputo)

1920g water (64%)

18g IDY (.06%)

40g Salt (1.33%)

30g Brown Sugar (1%)

5008 g total or 11.041 pounds.  I think I could get to 15#, just to do it, but this was pushing the limits of the bowl/dough hook.  (Not the motor)

Russ's picture
Russ

Hey Toyman, Just wanted to let you know, I'm not offended by what you said, I just wanted to point out that small loaves are not outside the DLX's capabilities. I hope that when you do try out a smaller load that you find, as I have, that the DLX does just fine with those amounts. (for small loads I recommend the roller/scraper, though I have a feeling there are others here who prefer the dough hook even for small batches)

 

Your big batch sounds great. I've never made one quite so large - it's more than my oven could handle.

toyman's picture
toyman

Russ, thanks!  The big batch turned out great.  I ended up with 6-500g loaves and 18 100-g buns.  I'm getting more patient and letting my shaped loaves & buns rise a little longer and its working out with a more open crumb and great oven spring.  When I bake in my wood fired oven I can comfortably get 6-500g loaves in at a time and approximately 2 dozen buns.  If I really need to do large loads, I've done 10 loaves at a time.  When I cook in my indoor oven, I can do 3 loaves or a dozen buns. 

That being said, for me, a home baker, I don't have an issue spending an hour from start to finish 'processing' my dough, then letting it rise in the fridge for 24 (or so) hours, and then spending another 4-5 hours, rise time included, shaping & baking.