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Bookswithtea
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I have a magic mill type machine that is 12 yrs old and is about to bite the dust. I have been wondering if I should get another machine meant mainly to mix dough, or if I should get a Kitchenaid? I am looking for a workhorse that can handle enough dough to make 5 whole wheat loaves in 4x8 pans, every week.  I love the idea of Kitchenaid's versatility, but if its not going to stand up to what my other machine has been through, then I'd rather have another magic mill.
What do you have and do you love it or hate it?
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KC in TX
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It sounds like you whip up a big batch of dough. I know my Kitchenaid would not be able to withstand that. I don't know about the bigger sizes (mine's a bit bigger than the basic).
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Bookswithtea
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I would get the commercial 6 qut size kitchenaid if I was going to do this.
http://www.kitchenaid.com/catalog/product.jsp?src=Stand+Mixe rs&cat=310&prod=488
The thing is, it doesn't take any longer to make 5-6 loaves of bread than it does 2-3, or any more oven time, either. But the machine engine and the bowl needs to be able to handle the larger quantity.
The Bosch has come down in price a lot since the last time I looked at machines...cheaper than the Kitchenaid.
http://www.urbanhomemaker.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idc ategory=225&idproduct=2176
The other machine I was looking at is this:
http://www.urbanhomemaker.com/productcart/pc/viewCategories. asp?idCategory=232
This one is probably the most similar to the one I have now (but it was before the days of auto knead  ).
Turns out they all have more attachments than I thought, too. Sigh...I don't know which one is truly going to do what it says its going to do, kwim?
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cvbmom
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Books,
I have a Kitchen Aid. It works well, but a gear in it is plastic and I've already worn it down once. Dh fixed it - the part was $35. It wasn't the hardest thing to fix, but it did take a lot of taking apart of the mixer to get to it. Kitchen Aid wanted quite a bit to repair it...just shipping it to them was about $35.
Also with the Kitchen Aid, I had to make only 2 loaves at a time for kneading because it just doesn't hold much - and I have a larger machine (5 quart, maybe?). I probably make 4-6 loaves per week.
A friend of mine just gave me her old Magic Mill. It can make so much more dough at once. It has quite a few attachments, too. I do wish I had her owner's manual, though (I'm just winging it right now). You don't happen to still have your manual and be willing to copy it for me or let me borrow it, would you?
Anyway, for primarily making bread, I'd go for the Magic Mill. Just my opinion.
God bless,
Christine
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JodieLyn
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my KA is the 6qt and it can only handle 2 loaves at a time.. and honestly, I've sent it back to them 3 timesin the 5 yrs now?? I've had it. They send me a refurbished machine and I send them mine.. and I will admit that the customer service has been outstanding and I never even paid for shipping.
I do like the fact that I can do multiple things with my KA.. I often use the shredder and the grinder attachments.
I've heard good things about the bosch and it makes more loaves at a time than the KA will. And it has the same sorts of attachments as the KA (will do the same type of things).. I would really consider that over the KA. But as long as my KA is working and they're "fixing" it.. I can't justify the cost myself. But if it comes down to me replacing the KA at cost.. I doubt I'd get another.
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Milehimama
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I have a Kitchen Aid, and can make 2 loaves at a time.
I can't imagine how big a machine would be to handle 6 loaves!
I love my KA, though. I never would have bought it for myself, but dh did. He opened it and used it when it first came - even though it was a birthday present - because he was so excited, too.
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stefoodie
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Another Magic Mill fan here. Here's my blog post about it from 3 years ago. It's still going strong, though we don't use it as much for bread dough as we found out about hubby's allergies shortly after this post was written. I'm sharing the post because there are a couple of links there that might help you, towards th bottom of the post.
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Bookswithtea
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Stef, this is an awesome blog post and just the info. I was looking for! I haven't heard or read one good thing about the KA yet for making bread dough, so its off my list. I hadn't considered a DLX, but I will poke around now and see what I can find out!
Thank you so so much!
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10 Bright Stars
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While we are on the breadmaking thread, does anyone know if there is a bread machine that will do more than one loaf at a time?
I have a kitchenaid mixer. It is one of the smaller versions. I was thinking about making enough loaves for the week. We eat one loaf from the bread machine each day and we only get one slice each with every family member eating one slice. I would like to have 2 loaves a day, but we only really get time to put the bread machine ingedients in once a day during the school year. Two at a time would be perfect.
Also, this time could just be used to mix it up in the mixer and I could do one in the machine and one in the mixer to bake, and freeze the rest.
Can someone share a good bread recipe with me to use for my large and hungry family that uses the kitchen aid mixer??? I would really appreciate it.  
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Milehimama
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Here's the recipe I use - a very basic whole wheat/mix loaf. I've doubled it and tweaked it, and that's why some of the measurements seem weird!
For the flour, I use 3 c. whole wheat flour, 1 c. oat bran or wheat bran, and 2 c. AP flour, instead of 3c WW and 3 c. AP.
2 c. warm water (110 degrees)
2 T. milk (I've subbed water for milk a few time with no probs.)
4 Tbs. oil (I use canola)
8 Tbs. brown sugar
2 tsp. salt
Dump in mixing bowl, stir together.
Add:
3 c. Whole wheat flour
3 c. AP flour
4 tsp. quick rising yeast
Knead on 1 for 3-4 minutes, then move it up to 2 for 6 minutes, with dough hook. (Nice thing about this is, you can set the timer and walk away!)
Put in greased bowl, let rise 60 minutes until doubled.
Punch down and divide. Form two loaves, put in greased loaf pans seam side down, let rise about 30 minutes, until doubled again.
Bake 30 min at 350 degrees.
Recipe works at sea level.
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JodieLyn
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BEST WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
2 loaf version for the KitchenAid
2 cups water (110 degrees)
1 Tbsp. yeast (SAF instant)
2 c ww flour
Stir to mix well, then cover and let sponge 30 minutes. Turn machine on to stir to "punch it down;"
add:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
3 c ww flour
Mix to blend. If needed add more flour by 1/4-1/2 cupfuls until dough cleans the sides of the bowl and is no longer sticky. Knead on #2 for 6-8 minutes. The flour amount is approximate; use only enough flour the cause the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixer bowl. Do not add more flour.
Cover with damp towel. Let dough rise in covered bowl 30 minutes until doubled. Turn machine on to punch down, remove from bowl to oiled counter, divide into two pieces. Form into loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Let rise in warm oven (turned off) until 1 1/2" above the rim of the pans. With loaves still in oven, turn oven on and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with clean damp towel to soften crust.
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Milehimama
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I rub my bread with a stick of butter to soften the crust, but a damp towel is probably healthier! 
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Bookswithtea
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I believe there is a machine that will bake 2 loaves at once, but if you are going to make that investment, I'd get a mixer instead. Even my slightly smaller mixer makes 4 loaves at once, which is really nice because you can make 2 loaves sandwich bread, a pan of rolls for dinner that night and a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread with an extra 5 minutes.
BTW, with today's yeasts and a mixer, it is not necessary to do 2 risings. I use either SAF yeast or Red Star in the bulk package (yeast is a rip off in the little pkgs). You can knead the dough, put it in the pans, let it rise once in the pans in an oven that is just warm, and then bake. No one will ever be the wiser. 
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Bookswithtea
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Christine, if you follow up on Stef's blog, there is a link for a yahoo group that is all for mixer owners (of all varieties). I joined this afternoon and briefly checked out their files. They have PDf files for both the Bosch and Magic Mill DLX owners manuals. There are probably some differences if your friends is an older model, but it might help???
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Martha in VA
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I have a professional 6qt model Kitchenaide which I LOVE. I use it to make 5-6 loaves at a time. That said, when it dies, I will probably get something different. As has been said, the parts are plastic and not made to hold up over the longterm. It gets hot and smells funny when I make bread.
A friend of mine bought an Electrolux DLX and loves it. All the parts are supposedly metal.
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cvbmom
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Bookswithtea wrote:
Christine, if you follow up on Stef's blog, there is a link for a yahoo group that is all for mixer owners (of all varieties). I joined this afternoon and briefly checked out their files. They have PDf files for both the Bosch and Magic Mill DLX owners manuals. There are probably some differences if your friends is an older model, but it might help???
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This is JUST what I need! It's not the same machine - mine's older, but it is WAY better than no instructions. I can figure it out from with these instructions than winging it on my own. THANKS!!!
God bless,
Christine
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Bookswithtea
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I noticed that the DLX capacity is *huge*...even bigger than the Bosch. I am having a hard time deciding between the two. Stef, would you mind sharing your thought process for buying the DLX instead of the Bosch? I know that both machines are excellent...
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stefoodie
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Yes, it is huge. When we bought it I was making about 6-8 loaves a week, so we really loved the big capacity -- I could do about 3-4 loaves at a time. If we had been needing less I probably would have gotten the Bosch.
I'll tell you what/who convinced me to get the DLX over the Bosch but I have to say I also have a very biased hubby who likes all-metal parts so that makes me biased too :)
Beth Holland's recommendation
Jeff Varasano who was my "pizza idol" chose a DLX (he took ~6 years to perfect his Neapolitan pizza recipe, rigging his oven to do 800 degrees in the process -- at the time I got the DLX we were doing pizza at least once a week -- yes, I was a bit obsessed
a couple of folks from Forno Bravo who were posting at the Gardenweb forum and at egullet -- I asked one of the main guys (sorry, don't remember the name now) and he chose DLX as well
There's one other gal at the mixer-owners group who also became a dealer after using both machines -- we e-mailed back and forth for a bit while making the decision. Sorry can't remember her name now, Lisa I think but really not sure.
My main thoughts were capacity, metal parts, engineering, the way the dough is kneaded (bread dough is usually perfectly done on the DLX in about 8 minutes), the timer, and okay, I'll admit, the lighted controls also got me .
I need to edit that old blog post but I also got the blender attachment after considering a Vita-Mix last year -- I still wish for a Vita-Mix every now and then, but for now the DLX blender is doing a very good job at a fraction of the price so I'm very happy with it.
After we discovered the allergies, I considered selling it and going back to KA since we wouldn't be doing many whole grain breads anymore -- but dd and dh convinced me not to. I'm glad now I didn't, because we do get good use out of it even without making bread doughs as much.
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Bookswithtea
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Oh man...the idea of being able to make 8 loaves of bread at once is sooooooooooo tempting! What else are you using it for? The one attachment I am particularly interested in is the meat grinder. Does it work well for you? And do you use that sausage stuffer???
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My frustration with the meat grinder is the same frustration I had with the KA meat grinder -- if you happen to get meat that's gristly the work can get slow.
Yes, we use the sausage stuffer (though haven't in several months now) -- it works great -- but it IS fast, even at the slowest setting. If you don't check your casing for tears, etc., then suddenly something pops out and it gets annoying because you don't have much time to react.
Books, just wanted to clarify. The most I've used it for is 4 loaves at a time -- just because I get tired of the same bread over and over -- so I use 2 recipes a week. Plus my oven can only accommodate 4 loaves nicely at one time.
ETA: There *is* quite a learning curve with the DLX -- so it can be an annoyance at first (Jeff Varasano was one of those who was very vocal about it at the mixer-owners group). Also, I've seen some complaints from people and bad reviews (Cook's Illustrated and Consumer Reports) -- but it's mostly because they were using it for a really small batch of something (see this egullet review, down at the bottom tenth of the page. The DLX *is* designed for larger batches of dough, although with experience it can be made to work with smaller batches -- dd and I have our own little tricks that we've discovered through the years.
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Topic: I need a new bread mixer
