Planning on getting a DLX mixer

I "upgraded" from a kitchenaid Pro 600 to a DLX and am not particularly happy with it, though it seems to depend on how big of batches you are making. Haven't used it for anything but dough.That said, almost everyone here that has one seems to love it.

I needed more capacity than the KA, which makes horrible noises if you go much over about 2 loaves worth of dough. We started baking at the farmer's market  and needed to be able to do much more than 2 loaf batches. We bake up to 80 loaves a week, some no knead (but still use the mixer to combine ingredients), some needing a full knead. The good with the Electrolux is that it has more capacity than the KA, and based on the design, I don't think you could hurt the motor regardless of what you put in it.

That said, I'm not particularly happy with ours.

1. The capacity is nowhere near the up to 15 lbs of dough that the specs claim. Like I said, I don't think you would hurt the mixer, but much over about 9 lbs, it throughs flour and dough, and doesn't mix all that well.

2. While it does a pretty good job at kneading, I don't feel like it is as good at combining ingredients as the KA did. If you aren't really careful about technique, some doughs just never get smooth. The biggest problem I've had though is with sourdoughs, where even a starter cut into small chunks often won't really combine with the other ingredients (My starter is half rye, so it is pretty clear when it hasn't mixed in fully).With the KA, I never had any trouble like this.Granted, this is more of an issue with bigger batches.

3. The instructions are useless, and the machine isn't very intuitive. Fortunately, the folks here are really helpful, and there are a couple good links for various settings.

4. It seems unnecessarily hard to clean. Crud gets under the lip of the bowl and is hard to get out .

I'm really the odd man out here, but think it is worth sharing my experiences. Some is going to depend on how big of batches you want to make, as I think it does better with smaller ones (but still bigger than the KA can handle without ripping itself apart). If we bake again next year, I'm probably going to be in the market for a mixer again, but not really sure what to do, since the next step up price wise is pretty nasty

Sylvia,

I had a bit of a learning curve using with my DLX, but stuck with it. I watched a few videos of people using it, and read all the threads I could find. I use it for mixing all my bread doughs (I have a Hobart mixer that now sits idle). Most of my batches are 6-8 pounds at a time, though I have done as much as 12. I think a 15 pound batch is advertising hype and might get a bit messy!

One of my favorite recipes calls for adding a significant amount of water to a stiff dough that has been refridgerated; a real mess by hand, but I can do it with the DLX (I have not ever needed have to cut my dough into little pieces to get it to mix). My wife uses the DLX for meranges, cakes, whip cream, cookie dough, etc. It works very well and is VERY fast and efficient.

I'm finally at a point in my bread baking that I'm not surprised when my breads actually turn out like I hoped they would. I'm sure that is the sole result of the mixing action of the DLX, but it seems to help. 

The DLX is an odd-duck & makes no logical sence to me as to how it works, but it certainly does work. If you can find someone in your area that has one, have them show you how it works. I agree that the instructions included with the mixer are not a big help.

Some love 'em, some don't. Good luck with your decision!

Phxdog (Scott)

I've had my DLX for a few months now and I love it. I've burned out three KA mixers, but the DLX has no problems with anything I throw at it (although honestly, I usually am just making a single loaf).