New here / mixer recommendation
Hello! Over the past few months I've started baking sandwich bread every weekend for my growing 8 year old. We've discovered that 2 pullman-size loaves is the perfect amount for a week for his consumption. We did the math, and figured that we can save in the neighborhood of $400 a year by continuing to do this, so that's the plan! I've been making a very simple 50/50 bread / whole wheat flour dough, and am trying to dial into making 4 pounds at once, diving it into two, and coming up with two, 2 pound pullman loaves.
The reason I joined this forum is because now I'm trying to determine what kind of mixer I should get that would allow me to accomplish this plan, consistently, for the next decade or more. I would prefer not to have to mix multiple batches; I tried a time or two with my smallish kitchenaid and quickly decided that I was going to destroy it if I kept doing that. In doing some reading, though, I've gotten confused as to what size I need: 8 quart? 10 quart? I could possibly see upping production to 3 or 4 loaves at a time, so perhaps a 12 quart machine? I'm trying to limit my price to no more than $1000, and preferably less, so that it would pay for itself in two years. It also needs to last another 8 years after that.
Grateful for any recommendations! Not going to post this in the equipment section of the forum so that I don't have two threads going at once.
Is the mixer I own and it has a large capacity. It kneads bread very well and has a reputation for being durable. You should check our Pleasant Hill Grain for more info. They sell a lot of the popular brands and have very knowledgeable people working the phones.
My first variation was a used model when it was branded as DLX acquired on eBay in October 2014 for about $300 to replace the use of my wife's Kitchen Aid. When the motor started acting up I bought a new Ankarsrum in July 2018 for $700. The features I like best about this mixer are capacity (7 liters) and performance. It effortlessly handles the 2.5 kg of dough in the largest batch of the recipes I make.
Terry
While I make it no secret that I adore my Famag spiral mixer, it is big and expensive. Frankly, there is no need for a mixer at all to make exceptionally good bread. With the magic of autolyse and time, you could churn out some of the best loaves ever without more than your own hands and a counter-top.
Zuri