I am selling my two year old Magic Mill (bought in January 2010 from Pleasant Hill Grain) because I have outgrown it.  I purchased it to use for a farmers market, and used it for that purpose until I moved up to a 20qt in July of 2010.  It was used quite a bit for those six months, but has been sitting on my counter since then.  It includes the Electrolux Magic Mill DLX mixer, high capacity stainless steel bowl w/cover, roller, scraper and dough hook, plus poly beater-bowl and whips.  I tested but never used the poly bowl, whips, cover or scraper.  It has a 600W motor.

Please contact me with any questions.  I am asking $500 obo with actual shipping costs added.

Thanks,

John

I know this is a question that has been bouncing around countless times on countless boards (because I've read A LOT of postings), but I'm still stumped -- and have to make a decision fast because of a very sweet thing my husband did.

For a little background, I've been baking our bread for almost a year now, after receiving (and being inspired by) a beautiful whole wheat loaf from a neighbor who owns a Bosch. We've been using a Zojirushi to do the hard work, though I take the dough out for its last rise and finish it in the oven.

I bake around 3 loaves per week with freshly ground flour.

As neat as the Zo is, the bread has never been quite as good as our neighbor's, my hubby has felt. (And it isn't the recipe.) So, for Christmas he totally shocked me with a Bosch mixer (800w). Wow! At the time, we thought it was the best out there for bread, but I've since learned about the Electrolux DLX/Assistent/Vernona, and I'm not sure anymore. (He wouldn't have a problem with exchanging; he just wants what will work the best for us as well.) The cost difference between the two isn't hugely significant (he bought accessories we don't necessarily need), and would be worth it if the DLX would be a better choice.

I have read that the DLX needs to be "babysat" a bit, and with two kids under 5 that might be a problem. The Zojirushi has been a blessing in this regard.

It would mainly be used for bread, but also sweet quick breads (I just made 11 loaves of cranberry orange bread for Christmas gifts) and cookie/biscuit batter. Also, for health's sake (when making bread) I "soak" the flour after initial mixing (minus yeast and salt) with a tiny bit of vinegar added for 12-24 hours before popping in the yeast and "really" making the bread, so it might need to sit in the mixer bowl for a while.

Any thoughts on what would serve us best for long haul?

Many, many thanks, and apologies as well if my asking the question AGAIN is nauseatingly redundant!

-- Marguerite   

Anyone looking to sell their Magic Mill/DLX/Electrolux Assistent???  Maybe you don't use it anymore, or you've upgraded, etc.  My budget is around $250-$300 incl shipping.  Anyone feel like selling theirs....... ???  I'm in Massachusetts.

Thank You!!

Debbie

We just got the Electrolux Assistant Original and I've already started using it for some standard breads and it works great. However I'm having a little trouble with low hydration dough's for bagels.

I'm not using large mases of flour (around 900g only) so using the dough hook doesn't seem to be appropriate. However when trying to add more flour when the dough starts to pull away from the side seems to just cause it to mass up and cause it to not mix/knead properly. Is there a trick to adding more flour to an already dry dough?

I'm looking to get 60% - 65% hydration and I've seen posts here about people doing that but I haven't seen the technique described? I tried adding the flour kinda fast so I'm guessing a slow and low amout of flour introduction is the key. Does the mixer need to be spinning fast or slow?

Thanks for any help

Jeffrey

I took delivery of my new Electrolux Assistent N28 a few weeks ago and have been happily climbing the learning curve associated with it.  One of the things I've been trying to determine is the friction factor of the machine so I can more accurately predict my final dough temperature after the kneading has been completed.

The results I've gotten so far are only in the 2º to 4ºF range.  It seems to me that this is rather low so maybe I'm doing something wrong?  I note the beginning temperature, the dough type, the approximate speed, the tool being used (roller or hook) and then the dough temperature after 10 minutes.  My kitchen is generally in the 70º to 74ºF range.

Are these friction factors similar to what others who own the DLX are getting?  I'd like to find out so I can gauge the relative validity of my results.  Thanks!

Hi everyone,

This forum has been very helpful seeing all the posts about the DLX vs Bosch.  I'm pretty made up on getting the DLX; however, I have a couple questions:

1. I can't find the manufacturer website for the DLX Assistent.  I can find the Electrolux site which has their stoves, vacuum cleaners, etc. on it, but I can't find a site with their mixers anywhere.  Does anyone know the what the manufacturer website is?

2. The cost of the DLX seems to be $599 for the matte white everywhere I look.  Is the price set?  Is there so little profit margin no one sells it for cheaper?  Has anyone ever seen these go on sale?  I see KA's on sale all the time but the DLX and Bosch obviously aren't as prevalent.  Is there any sense in waiting for a sale or will the price always be the same?

Thanks for the help/input!

Chris

After visiting my brother, who makes a 1-2 loaves of delicious sourdough daily, I decided to expand my fresh pasta and pizza dough making to include breads. Hand kneading a 6-cup pizza dough and pasta for 10-13 minutes, gets tiring (although I'm sure the exercise is good for me!). So in deciding to expand into breads, I also decided a machine was 'kneaded'.

My requirements were 1-2 loaves of dough per day, and, as noted above, the ability to do ~6 cup flour pizza, and 2-4 cup flour pasta doughs. Of course the odd cake cookie dough, and other mixing tasks would be a bonus.

So - what machine to buy? My brother's heavy duty KA (not sure the exact model) has done the job for him over several years, and looks stylish, but not sure I wanted to 'risk' it with regular large pizza doughs. I'm a fan of having over rated commercial gear at home as a 'buy once' type purchase. So I was considering 5-8L commercial planetary mixers, such as the Hobart N50, or Robot Coupe SPA500 or SP800S. I also considered a small spiral mixer (although know they're only good for dough).

I also saw good reviews for the Bosch Universal Mixer Plus, but it's not available in NZ (so much for globalisation!). A similar model people compare the Bosch to is the Electrolux DLX2000 (otherwise known variously as the 'Magic Mill', N24 and Assistent). This also doesn't seem to be readily available here in NZ- but then I found this on our version of e-bay:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=320410931

Turns out to be an 'N22 Royal Assistent' - which is an older 400W, 240V version of the DLX2000 as far as I can make out. Looks in good condition (used by a church group), and the price is most definitely right (about $100USD).

It seems to check all of the boxes for my required usage, so now I just hope it's as good as people make out !!

Looking for a gently used, well taken care of Electrolux Magic Mill DLX Assistent very reasonably priced. Any attachments that come along are appreciated.   Pics are tremendously appreciated as well.  Please email reply to susanblatt(AT)msn.com   Thanks! 

I'm really excited for my new Magic Mill Assistent to arrive next week!  I've been researching mixers for a few months now, trying to make the right decision for my kitchen.  I looked at so many mixers, but for some reason I just kept coming back to this one.

I can't wait to finally start branching out and making some other doughs that are currently impossible to do in my KA Pro.  I made a French Baguette dough a couple of weeks ago and my machine just overheated and shut itself off.  I knew I needed to upgrade.

My big concern is the common theme I hear about these machines - figuring out how to get the dough to incorporate properly.  I see there is some confusion about how to get the dough started.  Electrolux posts a rather long video on YouTube which shows the many uses for the mixer (plus all their attachments), but there are several videos that show people using the machine.  It doesn't look difficult to me but I wonder if anyone here has had similar issues??

Thanks!

OK, so I stumbled upon a neglected DLX in a kitchen supply store and was able to spirit it away for something other than my firstborn. I'm starting to get the hang of it now (emphasis on "starting"). Maybe this is a silly question, but is it actually possible to allow my bread to rise in the electrolux just by pulling out the kneading gear, dropping the lid on it and forgetting about it? I heard somewhere that this would tear up the bread when I pull it out - which seems to make sense to me - but it would be pretty convenient if I could get away with this. Would it work for some breads and not others?

THANKS!