A question for all bakers out there?

[GianniFocaccia]

I have a Kitchen Aide that is not that old and is dying, so much for getting a so called good brand.

I have the KA (575 Watts I think) mixer that I bought 20 years ago. Its been a few years since I made dough in it and even though the bowl wasn't over-filled, once the dough started to get tight the motor seemed to labor a bit so I quit using it for fear of damaging it. I understand that at one point KA went to cheaper, plastic gears that failed so miserably that they went back to the original gears.

Any chance you may have gotten one with the inferior gears?

John

[brickie in oz]

Originally Posted by GianniFocaccia

Any chance you may have gotten one with the inferior gears?

John

Is there a place I can check the serial number to find out which batch I have?

[SCChris]

Al, John is right about the plastic gear thing and it occurs to me that the going back to metal and moving away from the old flat dough hook to a spiral hook may have happened about the same time. The Sprial shouldn't work the motor and gears as much. Does anyone know when the Spiral hook became a KA mixer item? I should also add that KA does not have this hook available for my 30 year old K5 stand mixer so I know it is only ok for some newer models.
:-(


Chris

PS Whirlpool aquired KitchenAid in 1986, I'm not certain when the changes from metal to plastic and back took place.

[brickie in oz]

I bought this off ebay its a Chinese model obviously, but its a beast for dough.

Edit:- It cost all of $600 which was cheaper than the KA.

[GianniFocaccia]

Al,
That's a good-looking mixer! I went right to Ebay and found a number of $800-$1000 mixers that I will think seriously about purchasing. Thanks for sharing. I would like to know more about your mixer's performance and your general thoughts (good and bad) once you've had the opportunity to put it through its paces.
John

[brickie in oz]

Hi John.
Ive given the mixer a but of a go, yesterday with 1.5Kgs of flour and today with 1Kg, its supposed to be good for 2.5 Kgs and I have no doubt it would handle it with ease.
The bowl is bucket sized at 10 litres and locks into place with 2 clamps, the guard slides out of the way and stops the machine in doing so.

This thing is a beast and it very gently kneads the dough, Im thinking it kneads better and at a slower speed than the KA.

When I was using the KA for pizza party dough I would have to make 4 or 5 batches, now Ill just have to make 2.

[GianniFocaccia]

Nice, Al. Sounds like a 10L size would work out nicely (instead of the 20L). Gonna start saving my pennies...!

[TropicalCoasting]

me two looks good

I ve just got my kenwood a bit hot today
2 pizzas, 2 ciabattas and a sour dough loaf.

I just got some bannetons in the mail and got excited

[Bigfoot21075]

This works really well

http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Universa.../dp/B001V5XZGO

[Pdiff]

SCChris :" I should also add that KA does not have this hook available for my 30 year old K5 stand mixer so I know it is only ok for some newer models. "

I use a spiral on my 30 yr old KA5 with no problems (the K6 spiral will fit just fine). I do keep the speed down with most doughs and monitor the units temp by hand. It gets warm occasionally, but still keeps rolling. It doesn't let the dough climb like the C hook. That said, I've been trying my hands, literally, at hand mixing too after reading Tartine. Not quite the 20 lbs Jay is talking about , but 6-8.