First Sacrifice on the Altar of Bread

If you're handy you can probably fix it yourself; I've seen a good number of tutorials (complete with photos) on the Internet showing the steps to replace the gears.  You can also purchase the parts on the 'Net.

Out of curiosity, at what speed were you mixing and for how long?

Edited to add link:  http://www.foodonthefood.com/food_on_the_food/2009/04/how-to-repair-a-kitchenaid-mixer-yourself.html

That is not good, and it will cost a bundle, I don't care how good the mixer claims to be, its not good enough to mix dough that isn't slack.

I am in the midst of starting to bake bread, and having started with Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day with no kneading (and yes they have a bagle recipe) I appreciate the non work of their method.

I use my Kitchen Aid mixer which is much more skookum than my first Sunbeam (I tried mixing dough in that years ago, it balled up and wound up going into the motor area, cost me 30$ then to have it cleaned out) and mix the dough up, proof it once, and put it in the fridge, it makes about 4 one pound loaves per dough recipe, and it mixes fine in the mixer, but my flour is a bit dry, so I do have to add a bit more water, maybe your dough needed a bit more water, and it wouldn't have gotten so stiff.

Hope you find someplace to fix it, and it doesn't cost the price of replacing it.

I had a KitchenAid Professional 625 limited edition die on me after 18 months of light use. I did research on the Internet and discovered that the gearbox cover is made from plastic and that these crack, allowing the gears to move and stop meshing. This may have happened to your KitchenAid. BTW, KitchenAid is now owned by Whirlpool and they do not stand behind their products the way KitchenAid once did.

Since KitchenAid wanted $150+ to repair this design defect, I ended up opening my KitchenAid and sure enough, the gearbox cover was made of plastic and had cracked, allowing the gear to move and stop meshing. I purchased a metal gearbox cover from Mendingshed

http://www.mendingshed.com/k6map.htm

for $39. It took me 10 minutes to install and the mixer works again. At least until something else breaks. The KitchenAid mixers of today are definitley not your mother mixers! You may want to open your mixer and check the gearbox cover. If it is broken you will see a crack around the base of the cover.

l

Just tried making bagels (by hand) and the kneading process was SO tiring that I was thinking of using my KA to mix the dough next time.  But after reading your post, I have a second thought...maybe I'll stick with my hands...

Michelle