My old Mixmaster finally bit the bucket. It has made a lot of bread and cookies over the years but it was never what I would consider "Heavy Duty"

So I am looking on ebay for something to replace it. There are several vintage kitchen aid mixers listed. I have read about the problems with the newer kitchen aid mixers not being what the old Hobart built ones were so I am limiting my search to "Hobart Kitchen Aid" 

Then I came across a listing for the Kenwood Chef A702 w/450watt motor. I did some research and it looks like a solid built machine.

I usually bake 2 loaves at a time, as well as double batches of cookies.

Anyone with experience with either of these please comment.

I was just wondering if anyone has used this new mixer. If it's bowl lift, 6 Qt, all metal construction and metal gears, I'm thinking it may be a move in the right direction for Kitchenaid and I'd be interested in one. Any info out there? TIA. Dave

I've just acquired a John Boos Knead Board (which can be flipped over and used as an enormous cutting board).  I think I like it, but I'm not sure.  One thing I noticed immediately was that the dough seems to stick to it, and it's a bit of a pain to clean the dough and flour off.  The grain seems to hold flour.  I thought this wasn't supposed to be an issue with end-grain maple.  Did I get a defective board, or do I just need to adjust to it?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Yeah!! My mixer finally works!  HA!  Really, I think I'm just the one who works now!  Thanks everyone for all the helpful tips for using my DLX.  Just making my second batch of sourdough, I dumped everything in with the dough hook and let it rest at first like Eric suggested.  Then continued mixing, it worked TOTALLY GREAT!!!!

Thank you for all the helpful tips on everything!  I'm going to try that Rosemary Olive loaf next Floyd!  That looks awesome!!  I'm still trying to get this bakers math stuff down!  I love baking!  This is so fun!!

 Faith

I have a 10 year old DLX Assistent mixer.   I would like a blender that will puree greens so that there aren't leaves floating in my smoothies.  I would also like it to handle frozen fruit.  I'm thinking of buying the blender attachment for my DLX.  Will it do what I want?

Thanks

Is spraying hot water on the sides of the oven bad?  Will it break your oven down the line?

Hi

I just received the Electrolux Mixer Assistant in the mail yesterday from the Pleasant Hill Grain company.  Wonder if anyone could provide some tips on how to position the arm and to use the unit in general.  Pointing me in the direction of useful videos would also be appreciated.

Thanks!

Maria

Which baking stone is the best? My pizza stone broke after a couple of months. Thanks! Jean-Paul

Does anybody have any bannetons to sell? Thanks, Jean-Paul

I just bought 2 bannetons from Brotform.com. Besides the instruction they will send me, are there any other Pearls of Wisdom others can pass on in in using the willow bannetons? Thanks! Jean-Paul