For those researching Ankarsrum

Thanks for the link,  it was a nice review.  I do think the Ank is a tank and the KA is more like a car  ( that was in one of the viewer comments ).  One thing that she should have mentioned is that if you are interested in attachments, you should price them.  IIRC, they are pretty pricey.  

I’ve only had my Ankarsrum Assistent since early this last winter.  After a bit of a learning curve, which I am still on, I have to say that it is far superior to the KA mixer I had before.  I don’t regret my decision to get this mixer, not just for bread but other baking as well.  The whip attachment makes quick work of meringues and whipped cream.  The one big thing I had to learn is not to look for the signs that the dough was ready based on my experience with the KA because they don’t exist in the same manner.  So the dough becoming smooth and cleaning the bowl don’t happen.  The roller has ridges so the dough will always look a bit rough while mixing.  The roller presses the dough against the bowl so the sides of the bowl don’t always become clean.  Instead it is important to periodically stop the machine and feel your dough and do a windowpane.  It surprised me at first because the dough seemed to take a long time to develop, but that was my mistake in not checking it earlier.  Once I started to check earlier, I found that the Ankarsrum Assistent actually develops dough faster than I expected.  Using the roller it is also quite gentle on the dough, gentle enough to make high hydration pan de cristal with a beautiful open crumb.  Also, once the rough looking dough is developed, a fold on the counter shows how smooth it actually is.

Benny

This was a nice review, thank you for posting it. I agree with Barry's comment on the price of the attachments. I don't own any of them because I personally would't use them enough to justify their cost. I also agree with Benny's comments on using the Ank. I'm always surprised to hear people comment how much longer it takes to develop dough in this machine, but they seldom reference their speed settings. When I see people say they routinely mix their doughs for 20+ minutes, I wonder if they routinely mix at lower speeds. I think the Ankarsrum has a bit of an undeserved reputation for developing dough slowly. That really hasn't been my experience. Like Benny, I will give the dough a little tug or see how far it is along the path to windowpane. You just have to know what dough consistency you are going for.