I have been a fan of Oxo products for years. They make quality tools that are affordable and work well. I was even more pleased recently when I finally got around to dealing with the cracked lid to my flour sifter.  The Oxo flour sifter comes with two lids, one for the top of the sifter and one for the bottom. The bottom one comes in handy because I can place the sifter on the scale (also an Oxo) and weigh my flour before sifting. The top one didn’t seem as useful, so I didn’t worry about it.

The last time I used the sifter when making cookies, I noticed the cracked lid again. I decided to check Oxo’s warranty to see if it was covered or barring that if I could buy a new lid. They have a Satisfaction Guarantee, which basically states if you are not satisfied with any of their products to contact them for a refund or replacement.

I used their contact form and asked them about the lid. I quickly received a courteous reply asking for my mailing address so they could send me a new lid! I had the new lid a few weeks later and am a very satisfied customer. I wish they made re-usable water bottles, because I didn’t get the same response from a well-known bottle company.

Taking the Plunge

Most of my research took place in early January. While I was tempted to take the money I had saved and make the purchase, I decided to wait until after my birthday. Although, unlikely to get it as a gift, I didn’t want to spoil anyone’s surprise. I was doubtful that this would be the case since this was such a specific gift and quite expensive. I also wanted the black model and I wanted to purchase it from a specific vendor, Pleasant Hill Grain,  who include the whisk beater bowl and shipping at no extra cost.

My birthday came and went and no mixer, but no matter! I ordered the mixer online and tracked it daily until it arrived safely at my door last Friday. I was very impressed with Pleasant Hill Grain’s packaging and FedEx Ground’s care in delivery. The mixer was triple boxed and arrived in perfect shape. The last KitchenAid I ordered arrived from UPS with a kick hole in the side.

First Dough

I decided to try out the mixer that evening and make some pizza dough for the next day. Some of the advice I found online suggested mixing the liquids first and then adding the flour. This was how my old bread  machine worked as well, so that made sense.

The mixer was actually very easy to use and the dough was amazing. The gluten developed quickly and for the first time I was able to achieve the “window pane” test with just a mixer. The dough even smelled wonderful. I have still have a lot to learn about this amazing machine, but so far I am very pleased.

Oh, and did I tell you her name? It’s Freyja, the Norse Goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, war and death. She is a lovely beast, but one who deserves respect. She’s powerful, so it’s important to follow safety precautions when using her. I look forward to many baking adventures with my Freyja. My lovely KitchenAid Stella, is set aside for now. I don’t have room for both on the counter, but when we remodel I may. I’ll have to put Freyja to the test and see how she fares for cookies, cakes and other mixing needs. For bread dough, she’s a champ.

As I searched for reviews of stand mixers for making bread dough, both the Bosch Universal and the Magic Mill/Electrolux mixers rose to the top of the list. The Bosch was less expensive (approximately $360), but also not as attractive. I hate to admit that this was part of my buying decision, but it was. I have little doubt based on user reviews that it works just as well, but I wanted something that would look good on the counter-top.  Say what you will about KitchenAid, but they do make a nice looking mixer. I also had some misgivings about the overall plastic construction of the Bosch. They do sell a stainless steel bowl, but it is extra.

Electrolux Assistent

The Electrolux also gets rave reviews and in my opinion is a very attractive mixer. I was also intrigued by the unique mixing method. Unlike the KitchenAid and most other stand mixers, which use planetary action, the Electrolux rotates the bowl and the attachments stay stationary.

It is more expensive ($599 for white and $640 for black) than the Bosch, but unlike the Hobart N50′s $2000+ price tag, it was within reach. The bowl capacity was huge, a whopping 8 quarts capable of mixing large volumes of doughy goodness. The bowl is heavy stainless steel, instead of plastic. Electrolux mixers have a great reputation for longevity. They’ve been popular in Europe since the 1940′s and little in the mechanical design has changed. The name has changed at least in North America. This mixer was previously known as the Magic Mill.

Learning Curve

The one thing that gave me pause was the purported learning curve. Most reviews talked about it being difficult to use at first, but that once you mastered the mixer you would love it.

I have faith in my ability to follow instructions. Part of my job is to write technical documents. I did worry about the seemingly few resources of how the mixer worked. A copy of the user guide was hard to find. What little I could find didn’t seem to make much sense. However, I did find a YouTube video made by Electrolux in Sweden that while odd to American eyes, was helpful in seeing the mixer in action.

Continued in Part 4: Taking the Plunge

Researching Stand Mixers

As I mentioned in my earlier post, after almost killing my beloved KitchenAid twice, I started looking for a mixer that could more easily handle bread dough. I started doing some Google searches on stand mixers folks recommended for this task. My first thought was to look at Hobart 5 quart mixers. As you may know, Hobart used to make KitchenAid mixers as a counter-top alternative to their commercial mixers. KitchenAid was sold to Whirlpool in 1986, and some people swear that they went downhill after that.

Hobart N50

Hobart N50

Hobart still makes a counter-top mixer, called the Hobart N50. It sells for approximately $2,000 and comes in a few colors. It resembles the consumer KitchenAid, but is a professional mixer underneath. I started scheming about how I could save up and sell things to buy this beast. However, even I couldn’t quite justify spending $2,000 on a machine to make cookies and bread for home use. My husband wasn’t thrilled by the price tag either. When my KitchenAid died on Christmas Eve, however, even he was wondering if we could get one locally. Fortunately or unfortunately, we could not. There are a few restaurant supply places in our area, but none of them carried the N50. One downside to this mixer, beyond the price, was that the capacity was even smaller than my current KitchenAid 6 quart model.

Cook’s Illustrated Review

I’ve been a subscriber to Cook’s Illustrated, both online and the magazine, for years. I find their product reviews to be helpful, though I don’t always agree with their assessment. They reviewed stand mixers back in 2008 and did a thorough job reviewing many mixers including the Hobart N50 and the KitchenAid Pro 600 that I own. However, when I looked at their top mixers on sites with actual user reviews, the results did not match up. The Cuisinart and Viking models, while available in many local stores, did not review well with actual users, at least when it came to bread making, which was my primary focus.

Further Research

As I combed through forums on bread making sites, I kept seeing both the Magic Mill/Electrolux and the Bosch mixers come up again and again. Both mixers had their share of rabid fans who swore by the efficiency of both models. There is even a Yahoo! group devoted to these mixers. I pored through reviews on Amazon and other sites to see what people thought. Both had done poorly according to Cook’s Illustrated, but I did not let that alone dissuade me. Unfortunately, neither model was available locally. If I was going to try one of these, I would have to buy it online and take the chance that it would be the answer I sought.

Continued in Part 3: Electrolux or Bosch?

A few years ago, I went through a bread baking phase. For over a year, I baked bread every weekend. Eventually, it became a chore and not a pleasure and I went back to buying my bread at the store. I would still bake bread on occasion, but it wasn’t a weekly occurrence. My bread obsession even prompted me to buy a new mixer, replacing my trusty KitchenAid Pro 6 with the KitchenAid Pro 600 (aka Stella) to take advantage of the new spiral dough hook.

At the end of 2010, I got the itch to start making bread again. We have been buying a lovely raisin and walnut bread for breakfast toast at Mother’s Market.  Unfortunately, we got a few bad loaves with rancid walnuts. (Note: They were very gracious about taking the bread back and apologizing. I have since had the same thing happen to me in my own baking. It’s hard to test every nut.) It inspired me to try my hand at making our bread again. I found a recipe for oatmeal bread with raisins on the King Arthur Flour Recipe web site that sounded promising. The first loaf was wonderful. I did opt to use cranberries and pecans, because I had them in the house.

The following week, I doubled the recipe. Stella struggled with the double batch and I had to stop before she overheated. I tried again the following week only to break her. Her speed control sensor went awry and she only had one speed – fast! This had happened once before and my husband was able to take her apart, clean the contacts and she was fine. This time however, she was DOA. This of course happened on Christmas Eve so any hopes of having her repaired quickly were unlikely. We called around to many local repair places hoping to find a new speed sensor to no avail. I ended up buying one online but would not get the part until after Christmas.

The new speed sensor worked! I was back to making bread dough. However, I was afraid she would continue to have problems with stiff dough. The next time I made the bread she struggled and got very hot after 5 minutes. The gluten had not developed completely, but I had to stop for fear of stripping the gears. Thus began my research into a replacement mixer.

To be continued in Part 2: Researching Stand Mixers