Stand Mixer Questions

[Lynnielyn]

Thank you all for always answering my questions.
Because of the economy, my hours have been cut at work. I am looking for ways to earn some extra dough.... I want to purchase a stand mixer and sell baked goods at the farmers market this spring. I am looking at KitchenAid and others. My question is - do I want a tilt stand or one that holds the bowl up off the surface? Of course I want a heavy duty motor to make as many loaves of bread at a time. Can I make them ahead and freeze? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks again.
Lynnielyn

[Disastercat]

I have a wonderful kitchen aid (European version) that a friend moving back to the US gave me. She did warn me however, NOT to make serious bread dough with it because "it was the cheap version" so even though it came with a dough hook it might burn out the machine.

So, be very careful to get a kitchen aid powerful enough to handle the job you want it to do - if you are seriously going to be making bread to sell, you may want to look into supply houses for the food industry and/or simply reviews of higher end kitchen aids on line.

The other, lower-cost but higher labor option is a large, hand-operated kneading pan which I got from Lehmans and other places sell as well. These were used by bakeries up until the 1970's and are still used in the third world today. They make about six loaves of bread at a time and are fantastic if you've got a good arm (or an excited 10 year old) to keep turning the mess round and round until the dough is just about ready to shape. I find it usually needs about 2 minutes of kneading afterwards to firm the dough up but not always.

Finally, there are some heavy-duty bread machines that you can use as a dough mixer (I do this) though most only will make about 2 1/2 pounds of dough at once; though I'm not sure a kitchen aid would do much more than that.

[Lydia Darragh]

Larger, heavier duty KitchenAids may work just fine for what you want to do. The run-of-the-mill KitchenAid from WalMart or Bed Bath and Beyond will burn out quickly.

I use my Bosch to make six loaves of bread at a time without a problem. I'd recommend it over my KitchenAid in a heartbeat.

[Summerthyme]

Unfortunately, KitchenAid has REALLY gone down in quality (especially durability) over the past 20 years or so. My son has gone through THREE "professional" KitchenAid mixers in the past 2 years... the gears are junk. It's VERY frustrating.

You might want to look into a Viking, Bosch or Cuisinart. Many of the mixers out there have copied Hobart's (the original manufacturer of KitchenAid) "planetary action"... I suspect some of them are built quite a bit better than the newer Kitchenaids.

As far as freezing your fresh bread to sell... I wouldn't, personally. We DO freeze homemade bread (I usually make 6-8 loaves at a time, and freeze them, so I don't have to bake bread twice a week), but it CAN cause problems with condensation on the inside of the bag (getting the crust soggy or wrinkled)

The other question is what are your state laws in terms of baking and selling food? Before you invest a single penny in anything, check that out first!! If it's not legal without a commercial kitchen, it probably isn't worth doing, *especially* selling at a Farmers Market, which attracts inspectors and regulators like a dog does ticks..

Summerthyme

[Homesteader]

We have a little Mennonite Bakery Store in town that sells fresh bread and pastries.

They use a Bosch mixer. They make several batch of bread 6 days a week.

I also own a Bosch mixer and love it.

You can also get parts and fix a Bosch if you need to.

[Summerthyme]

If I ever am able to afford to replace my KitchenAid (now 32 years old), I'll probably get a Bosch or Viking.

However, my kids all got together and bought me an incredible, big, Cuisinart food processor, and I can use it for a lot of what I currently use the KitchenAid for- slicing and shredding, etc. Since it's only hubby and I here most of the time now, my Kitchenaid is more than adequate for our needs. (and you CAN fix the KitchenAid mixers... in fact, DS finally replace the nylon gears in his with metal ones, and it will likely now outlast him)

Summerthyme

[Parakeet]

I have a KitchenAid and a Bosch. The KA is dying a slow death and I only use it for making pasta now. My Bosch has the blender and food processor attachments and I use it, pretty much, every day. The Bosch can handle multiple loaves of bread at a time, which my KA could never do. If I had it to do over again, I would skip the KA all together and just go with the Bosch.