The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

New to the forum

amylearnstocook's picture
amylearnstocook

New to the forum

Hi everyone! I am Amy. I am a long time reader of The Fresh Loaf but I haven't posted. I am sort of new to bread baking. I started years ago making bread using a bread machine and moved on to using a KA. I've mainly made basic sandwich bread, dinner rolls, as well as boule in a dutch oven. I don't really make bread by hand due to limitations in one of my hands as well as I just love stand mixers. 

I want to learn more and start making different kinds of bread. I am a kitchen equipment freak! I have 14 stand mixers. I have a room in my house that I call "The Pan Room" that is filled with everything imaginable for cooking. I also host a cooking show as a hobby in my free time. Below is a list of my mixers. Yes...I am insane! But...I do have a lot of fun with all these mixers! I included the colors just because I am weird!

My mixers:

Ankarsrum (New) - White

Bosch Universal Plus with the plastic and the stainless bowls

Bosch Universal (The previous model without the suction cups)

Viking 7 quart (I currently have two of these) - Silver

KitchenAid Classic Plus 4.5 quart - Silver Metallic

KitchenAid Artisan Design Series 5 quart - Raspberry Ice

Kitchenaid Professional 5 quart - White

KitchenAid Epicurean 6 quart - Seacrest Green

KitchenAid Pro 600 - Silver Metallic

KitchenAid Commercial 8 quart - Red

Breville Scraper Mixer Pro - Silver

Kenwood Chef Titanium - Silver

Cuisinart 5 1/2 quart - White

drogon's picture
drogon

... how do you find the Kenwood Chef Titanium? I have the "Major Premier" which is the (much) cheaper version but am sometimes tempted to upgrade. Maybe when/if it finally breaks I will, but any comments on it would be welcome..

then again, for less than the price of one, I could buy a copy of the Modernist Cuisine Bread Books...

Cheers,

-Gordon

amylearnstocook's picture
amylearnstocook

Yours probably has much more power than mine. I am in the US and we are on 110 so all our mixers have dumbed down power. My US version has only 750 watts while the same UK model has 1,400. Other than that I really like it. I wouldn't do heavy bread doughs in it or any bread batch after batch but it is ok for occasional use. I really like the attachments...the paddle, dough hook, and whip. It is really nice stainless steel. I wish KA would pull its head out of the "you know what" and get rid of the burnished metal.

I did a video on the Chef Titanium recently. I tested it doing whipped cream, cookie dough, and bread dough. It did a good job.

Karen's picture
Karen

Amy, the reason our appliances here in the U.S. have less wattage than their European counterparts is because they're wired for 110 - 120 W/60 Hz. as opposed to European appliances' 220 - 240 W/50 Hz; The European appliances don't perform differently in any appreciable way to those wired for North American use--do you really think there'd be a market for them here if they did? I recently gifted my cousin's daughter my fairly new Ankarsrum because I want a different color. Noting that the European model got yet another wattage boost recently, I asked Ashley McCord if a wattage upgrade could be expected for the North American model. She said no, and that she'd been in Sweden where she'd seen the upgraded model perform. No difference to our machines.

Karen's picture
Karen

I meant volts, not watts. SMH

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Just kidding of course.  Seriously...... that is quite a few mixers for a home baker to have!  You must have a spare kitchen to put them in.  I only use mine for really wet enriched dough, like panettone or brioche but am even getting away from that now a days.  Don't even use it for cakes or cookies anymore.  Just one more thing to wash.  I'm not making mass quantities of anything either so it really isn't a necessary piece of equipment for me.  All you really need is a large SS mixing bowl that doubles as a cloche for steaming, a large spoon, a couple of jelly roll pans to nest in place of a stone, a dough scraper, a colander, a non terry cloth towel, a home made cardboard peel and some parchment paper if you are only making one loaf at a time like me.  But, like most here, I have lots of different sizes and shapes of baskets, DO's, stones (top and bottom). and a baking Apprentice 2nd Class.  13 mixers still has my head spinning though.  I think I would trade 12 of them in for a small WFO pizza oven!  But we all have different wants and needs for what ever floats our boats when it comes to cooking and baking.

I think it is time to open a bread baking / cooking school!  You are all set mixer wise.  I would personally get rid of one or buy another one so you don't have 13 of them!  Bad Karma when stuck on 13......

Welcome and  happy baking 

Happy baking 

amylearnstocook's picture
amylearnstocook

I have a room in my house that we call "The Pan Room." It is pretty much supposed to be a first floor office. I have stainless steel racks in there for all my kitchen stuff. I actually have 14 because I have two Vikings.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

No sense tempting fate.  Love the idea of a pan room.  Now to convince the wife that Lucy needs an equipment room to go with her very large pantry:-)  I'm down to 5 pair of shoes.  Sandals for the winter, glides for the summer, one brown, one black and one tennis .....all are at least 10 years old excpet or the sandals and glides.  Don't seem to have much use for shoes either now a days when you live in the desert and it is 70 F in the winter - feet all by themselves seem to work just fione most of the time:-)

Now you will need another room form the bread pantry.......perhaps a new house if you get an apprentice!

amylearnstocook's picture
amylearnstocook

Well the Pan Room is starting to fill up and is spilling over into the basement. Crazy huh? But I love it!!!

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

Oulala! That is a lot of mixers! Please direct your attention to the formula dough that killed my K.A. 600 Pro. Pumpkin brioche raisin bread. Adapted from a Juila Childs formula.