How Heavy Duty Does The Mixer Need To Be?

[brdbntL]

Hi eveybody,

My daughter was just diagnosed. She has no symptoms so she is fortunate in that case. She loves English Muffins. So to make a long story short, while making them I burnt out my little hand mixer. We are looking at investing in a Kitchen Aide because of the consistency of the doughs. What size motor seems to work?They seem to range from 250 to ????. With the price going up. Any help would be appreciated. I just don't want to buy one that will burn out too quickly, but I also don't want to go overboard and buy one that is the most expensive because it should be the best.

Thanks for the help.

Laura

[Guest ellcrys11]

I bought a Kitchen Aid mixer from Wal-Mart. I have not had any problems with it. Don't think I would have been able to make the things I make without it. A real life saver.

[tarnalberry]

I got one of the 6-quart stand mixers - the one where the bowl moves up and down, not the one where the head lifts back out of the way. That was the deal breaker for me. I just don't like the one where the head hinges back (the Artesian model) as much as the other one (the professional model) - having grown up on the other one. I got the Epicurean model myself, but I'm a self-confessed food snob. (And I had a discount from cooking.com for getting so much stuff on my wedding registry from there.) They make a 5-quart model that's $299 (at cooking.com - I've been happy with their prices so far). Thing is, unless you're Emeril Lagasse, you'll have it for the rest of your life. He goes through about one a year, as I've heard. The one my dad has - still going after 25, including an awful lot of yeast dough and cookie batches.

That said, I have a friend who's happy enough with her Artesian model. While I didn't think it was worth the $50 savings, she did, and is totally fine with the one she went with. (I'll admit... I like the bigger capacity bowl as well... :-).)

Whatever way you go, a stand mixer is so wonderful. I makes cookies a one bowl case, and quick breads and muffins SO easy. Yeast breads are easy too! I love the thing, and would gladly give up precious counter space in a small kitchen for it! :-)

[kejohe]

I agree that the Kitchen-Aid will do the job and do it well, I have one myself. I am a chef and an instructor at a local cooking school, so I have had the opportunity to get to use every kind of mixer from the cheapies to the cadalliacs. And I can tell you this:

Kitchen-Aid - (250$-300$) you get a great value for your money, large capacity, but it takes up a lot of space. I have the hinge top model and like it, my Dad has the one where the bowl moves up and down and says it doesn't fit under his cupboards because it's too tall.

Bosch - best on the market, large capacity, one base unit houses the motor for all kinds of accessories including the ice cream maker, food precessor, blender and mixer, so it's a HUGE space saver. Only drawback is that it's very expensive 550$ - 1500$) My favorite.

Viking - Not to happy with this one myself, it's too big and takes up tons of space, sounds like a jet engine when it's running and has a tendency to leave bits of batter or dough un-mixed in the bottom of the bowl. It's also very expensive (500$-700$)

Any of these mixers will do as far as motor capabilities. If any of them burn out I think they all come with good warranties. For me the question is a toss up between how much can I afford? and how much space will it take up? Which is why I adore the bosch, I just can't afford it.

I hope this helps a little. Have a good one, and enjoy whichever new kitchen toys you get!

[gf4life]

Hi I recently (at Christmas) purchased a Kitchenaid mixer. It has a 5 qt. bowl and a 325 watt motor. The bowl moves up and down, it is not the flip top one. I bought mine from amazon .com for $199.00 and free shipping, plus it came with a free crock pot, which I wanted to replace anyway, now that I'm gluten-free. So I feel like I got a great deal!

I figure that it probably won't fit in the cupboard, but I want to use it frequently anyhow, so why put it away, right! Good luck on finding a good deal. I highly recommend amazon .com for good prices. Happy shopping.

Mariann

[debmidge]

Hi All

Yes the Kitchen Aid would be the best...does anyone have any recommendations on a good hand-held brand I could use? I live in a very, very small apt here in the Northeast and would like to move to something bigger but rents are astronomical! Anyway, the Kitchen Aid is to heavy for me to lift in and out of my kitchen cabinets and I don't have any counter space. I don't even have a space in my kitchen cabinet for the Kitchen Aid as my bread machine now occupies any available space that I have there.

Thanks,

Debmidge

[brdbntL]

I love my Kitchen Aide, but before we purchased it I needed a hand mixer for meringue cookies. I bought a GE 200 Watt at Wal-mart for $11.50. It works great. I don't use it for breads, but I use it for cookies, muffins, etc. It has 6 speeds, nothing special and the price was right.

[GEF]

I'm so glad this topic was here! I'm getting married soon (Nov) and have a Kitchen Aid on the registry. I was a little concerned with the need for power with the heavier doughs. I also requested the pasta cutting attachments

I'm eager to try this thing out with some homemade pasta and I saw a few suggestions for that in the cooking section.

Good thing about being gluten-free is that we have an excuse to make homemade breads, etc from scratch!

Gretchen

[celiac3270]

ENGLISH MUFFINS!!!!!!!!!!!! Foods by George makes amazing Eng. Muffins...........amazing everything, but english muffins are what they are known for. You have to try them..... the only negative is the price............

[catfish]

I use my Kitchen Aide for making pasta dough, and so far it's had no problems. There is no way that a hand-held mixer would be able to kneed that heavy dough, and it is so messy and time-consuming to do by hand. The irony is that my wife bought the mixer for herself for Mother's Day but I use it 5 times more than she does!

Oh, and congrats on your upcoming wedding!

Also, I agree about the excuse for home baking- I would have probably never made my own pasta if I weren't gluten-free- and here this morning I just won a bid on Ebay for a ravioli mould!

[GEF]

Oh, and congrats on your upcoming wedding!

[celiac3270]

If you think they're good.. they've got to be good! I'll look into getting these.

LOL........ .......Foods By George products can be hard to find, though......in the city, with 4 healthfood stores within 1/4 mile, a Fairways, and a Whole Foods, there's still only one healthfood store I can find them in. It doesn't really matter what you try, though I think the brownies and english muffins are the best. If you like corn muffins, Foods By George makes one that tastes exactly the same. Blueberry muffins........good by normal gluten-free standards, but not by Foods by George standards........ I know that they used to make a ravioli........one that was so popular and sold so well that they couldn't keep up with the demand. They would've had to expand their facilities to keep up and they didn't want to do that so they dropped it from their product line........how dumb is that? As I learned of celiac disease 6+ months ago, I never got to try that. If you can find anything by them somewhere let me know what you think!

[GEF]

Here's a website that offers Foods by George.. but no ravioli :

Open Original Shared Link

and this is neat, if you click on the products, they list the nutritional info:

Open Original Shared Link

Gretchen

[celiac3270]

Oh, wow.......thanks for the link.......I couldn't find them on the internet. The only stuff I've tried by them are the things I listed: brownies, eng. muffins, corn muffins, blueberry muffins........it'd be interesting to try their other products, such as pound cake. Like I said, they're expensive, but I guess nearly all specially made gluten-free food is..............

[j9n]

I have a Kitchenaide with the pasta attachments but I used to always make my own pasta (wheat) so I am afraid to use it since it is contaminated. Does anyone know the best way to clean it?

[catfish]

j9n;

Soak the apparatus (not the electrical parts of course...) in water with bleach in it. The bleach will destroy the gluten protiens. I'd say a half cup of bleach per gallon of water should be plenty, and soak it for 4 hours or so. Be sure to rinse it completely afterwards though, because bleach cause metal to rust.

GEF;

If you like I can PM or email you the pasta recipe I use, I would post it but since it is only modified somewhat from one in a book I would be worried about copyrights.

For making the ravioli, I had been making it one square at a time; cutting the pasta into squares, placing a small scoop of filling in the middle, brushing the edges with egg, putting on another pasta square, pressing the edges together with the tines of a fork. Took all morning to make lunch that way. The ravioli mould will let me make 2 dozen at a time (yay)! I've tried filling them with riccotta, egg, and parsley (very good) and I also made a filling with bacon, onion, mushroom, basil and romano cheese- yum! I am going to go on a ravioli making spree when I get my mould so I'll experiment with other fillings and I'll let you know what works best for me.

[Kim]

Janine: I think it would be pretty hard to clean since it can't be immersed in water. I guess I would brush it really well and then run a batch of gluten-free pasta dough through it several times to pick up the gluten that's left, and then throw out that batch. Then, use it. That's the best I can come up with -- but I know the attachments are expensive.

I have the Kitchenaid Professional and love it. I use the pasta attachments to make my own ravioli and it's well worth the time savings. Even so, it still takes a lot of time to make ravioli so they are like "gold" in our house.

I believe I purchased the mixer and the attachments from William Sonoma when the mixer was on sale (the attachments were not and they alone were $99). I like purchasing from them because if anything ever goes wrong, they stand by the product and replace it with no questions asked.

Kim, Atlanta, GA

[Kim]

Catfish: the Kitchenaid pasta attachments cannot be immersed in water.