The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

New owner of Verona Assistent

bdatxmama's picture
bdatxmama

New owner of Verona Assistent

HELP!!!! Just purchased the Assistent last wk of course everything I read about their manual is true. The DVD is just as bad. Bread Beckers has been a great help w the roller/scraper but they don't have any videos using the new cookie/cake beaters which came with mine. If anybody has used these, could you tell me if you have used it for chocolate chip cookie dough or any other cookie or cake recipes. I would appreciate detailed instructions for speed for
creaming and then mixing all other ingred in. Thanks.

bread lover's picture
bread lover

groups.yahoo.com/group/Mixer-Owners/

 

they helped me get used to my dlx

shastaflour's picture
shastaflour

Hi Bdatxmama,

I recognize you from the mixer-owners group as well as TFL. So sorry you haven't had many more replies here, or too many there either. Hopefully this post will "bump" your inquiry back into play.

I know you bought your Assistent just a few weeks ago. Did the manual look like this one:  http://www.assistent.nu/Get/Document.aspx?ID=2591&file_name=maual_n30.pdf ? Was a CD with it? Apparently they recently updated the manual, so I'm curious to know if the new one is as cryptic as most people find the old one, if it's the new one you received.

If you don't mind me asking, is it the photo-only approach that makes the manual so little help? Would it be more helpful if there was some explanatory description of how to actually USE the mixer? :)

I do hope you are coming along nicely with the learning curve, and have managed to find a bit more help along the way.

:)

Marguerite

bdatxmama's picture
bdatxmama

Hi Marguerite, that is okay on the helping, everyone is busy as am I, hopefully, I will get some comments here soon.  I will probably be calling the company here in the next few days.  I have gotten a # to talk to someone in the company that can help with the speeds on their machine.  The manual does look like the one you showed in the pdf document.  It did come with the cd.  It only has a photo-only approach in the manual so it did not help at all.  I think if it there was more explanation with it, with regards to when to use what speed and for how long, I think that would be great.  I think I have figured out their little picture of the dial for the speed with the green on one side.  Still it doesn't give me enough info. as to when to use what speed and for how long. 

I made cookies in it using the bread becker videos and that helped me on the speed.  I made bread today but had several interruptions by my children and my 3 loaves turned out terrible.  They taste good but look like little bricks.  I was watching the video as I was making it and had to stop it several times and at one point Ashley says that once you add the flour you have to move pretty quickly, which I think I let it run too long on the first 4 cups of flour. 

Let's see the other two things that went wrong was I forgot to add my sour dough starter.  The recipe I have, if you add a cup of sour dough you have to take out a cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water, so my dough was 1/2 cup short of water plus no sour dough.  Then I ended up moving too quickly with throwing in my flour and added way too much at the end of my mixing and even though I added a couple of tbsp. of water, it still was not enough to fix the fact that my dough was already in a ball instead of in a donut shape.  Oh well, I am going to try tomorrow, but my children are not allowed in the kitchen, to ask me questions (isn't it funny, you come it the kitchen to cook, they have 50 million questions, when your on the phone they have 50 million questions, when your taking a shower, they have 50 million questions, the moment you do need them - no one is around).  I also took lots of notes, so that hopefully along with the video, wl. help me.

Take care.

Peggy

shastaflour's picture
shastaflour

...to the little people in the kitchen! I must have giggled as I read your reply, because what you said is so true! They are so dear and such a blessing, but they can challenge your socks off. :) I hope you have been able to get some quiet space to figure things out, and that the call to the manufacturer was also helpful. I'm sure others would love to hear what they had to say!

Blessings to you!

Marguerite

bdatxmama's picture
bdatxmama

I have 5 of them and they are a blessing, some are not quite so little though.  My oldest is almost 16 and my youngest is 4.  I was able to make a second batch the next day and still had issues w. that one too.  I made sure that I did not leave my sour dough out like I did the day before and I followed bread becker's instructions that when the donut follows the arm into the center your dough is ready - no more flour is needed.  I kneaded it for 6 mins. and it was not like bread beckers, it was very sticky and not smooth.  So I decided that because of the sour dough that I did not have enough flour, so I tried adding more, kneaded it again for 4 mins. more, it was still sticky (their video show it being smooth and when you touch it, it was not sticky).  At this point, I was not sure if I should do more flour or not, so I took a chance, what could happen, sure they could end up like my last batch which looked like bricks, but were soft and tasted great.  So I added more flour and kneaded for 4 mins. more, still not looking like theres so I just put in a lot more and next thing I know it was in a ball so I only kneaded it for 2 mins. since they said the ball is to be formed in the last 1 to 2 mins. (even though w. this amount of flour there should not have been a ball, as she stated in one of her videos).  It was really beating my arm and I didn't want to break my arm off, so I moved it in further and that seemed to help.  Once the 2 mins. was up, I took the roller and scraper out and placed it in my oven to rise for an hour.  It doubled nicely but when I went to punch down, it was so sticky my hands was covered in dough, I put some flour on my pad and on my hands and got them into my bread pans, I let them rise for another 30 mins. then 10 mins. on top of the stove while it preheated.  One loaf had risen more than the other two.  I baked on 350 for 30 mins. one had risen just past the edge of the pan and the other two rose only to the edge of the pan.  The bread cracked around the top edge on the two sides and around one end.  I had some yesterday from the taller loaf for a sandwich and it tasted good, it was soft and not too crumbly.  So practice will definitely make perfect.  I think the problem was that I changed my recipe to add in eggs and sour dough, I figured how much water and flour I would need since it says that you have to cut your water down for every egg you add and you have to cut your water and flour dough for how much sour dough.  I did that but forgot my sour dough so I did not have enough liquid, and since the bread beckers video says that you have to move pretty quickly when adding your flour I just started dumping it in too fast and had one to many cups in.  On Wed. I made sure I already had my sour dough measured out, but now I did not take into account that now my dough would be more wet so the amount of flour that I used on Tues. probably would have been perfect for my dough on Wed.  But because I was afraid that I would add too much I just added a little at a time and just lost count as to how much I was actually putting in, which obviously was a lot less than what I thought it was.  Sorry such a long reply, if you have any tips, I would appreciate them!!!!!

Peggy

Doc.Dough's picture
Doc.Dough

I have an Assistent that took a while to master as I was coming from a KA600. I found that the mix times were longer and that I needed to run at as high a speed as possible to get the result I wanted.  For a 1400g, 75% hydration batch using high gluten flour and no autolyse, I mix with the roller and scraper for 8:30 to 9:00 min at speed 6 (the highest speed mark that has an open symbol). Typical dough temperatures are 80-84°F at completion.  A batch takes about 6:30 to finally pull the scraper blade in so that it becomes a significant part of the kneading process and not just a scraper.  When done, the dough is still sticky but the gluten is well developed.  I generally do one stretch and fold at 90 min just to see how it is developing. Sometimes I do a second one at around 2:30.

When I was just getting started with the new mixer I was mixing at lower speeds (typically speed 3) and it was taking 35 to 40 min to get full gluten development.  So increasing the speed is a big deal in terms of mixing time.

When calculating hydration levels, I find that anything liquid counts as water, starter counts in proportion to the water and flour, and anything dry counts as flour.

For an example of mixing a lower hydration dough (55% bagel dough) with the roller and scraper, look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNHRiHcPgMU

That takes a long time to fully develop as well.

shastaflour's picture
shastaflour

Peggy, I hope things are coming along beautifully with the Assistent by this point! You've had such wonderful input from the folks here. :)

I just ran across this posting on a pizza making board, I thought it might also be helpful regarding mixing speeds, time frames, etc.: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7605.0.html. Though it begins in the "pizza" context, it also covers bread a bit later. It's quite detailed, and also very interesting, with contributions from an Assistent pro.

 

joyfulbaker's picture
joyfulbaker

Thanks for helping me decide on whether to buy an Assistent or "some other brand."  Jalyns, I'm looking forward to following your blog and seeing the videos.  My purpose is mainly bread, challah in large batches, "Vienna" style dough, mixed-grain sourdoughs with "white" and rye starters, and those tough guys--bagels.  I've got the attachments I want for my K/A Pro 6, so I'd probably just get the basics, and I bake very little in the way of pastry and cookies.  I've been lucky enough to have a friend who loaned me her trusty old Assistent, and I've found it so easy to mix up both challah and sourdough (bagels are next).  I watched the Bread Beckers video and also the Assistent manufacturer's videos (Swedish name beginning with "A") a few times, and they really helped me get the hang of it.  The challah dough actually took a little less flour than I would normally use in my recipe using my K/A, and the dough and subsequent baked loaves were slightly less dense than usual--beautiful crumb and great flavor.  I didn't find the need to mix longer than I usually do.  I do have a concern with price, and the "other brand" is several hundred dollars less, also has a 7-qt capacity and is highly rated and prized by its owners.  And it's more like the K/A in its operation, so much less of a learning curve.  So I shouldn't be complaining, really (two good options), but it's difficult to decide.