do I really need a stand mixer??
 

my old lady neighbor is bumming this holiday. partly because her family sucks..and also because she said she is too tired and old to stand long enough to make her annual Stollen Batch.

I thought..Stollen? I'll take a swing at it. I picked up all the ingredients. everything I read, seems to have a stand mixer involved. I have a hand mixer...

I want to take her a holiday stollen Wed. so I have to get the dough and filling going tomorrow.

thoughts? I dont want a stand mixer. hell, I can borrow hers!! but that might ruin the surprise.

Like This? Then yes you need a proper mixer.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1766455599.jpg

Tell her you're making bread or you could find one for not a lot of money in a second hand shop.

A nice Kitchenaid with all the attachments is a nice tool to play with...

Maybe she'll let you use her kitchen; she can watch and give you hints...

Yes and every store has Kitchen Aid stand mixers on sale at Christmas. There is never a better time to buy..

Costco has the "bowl lift" mixer, usually $550-600 right now for $319.00

You can get the locking bowl stand mixer for a little less, but don't you deserve the best?

I think you do.

https://www.costco.com/p/-/kitchenaid-6-quart-bowl-lift-stand-mixer-with-attachments-and-pouring-shield/4000142124?langId=-1&krypto=OHFuvH7%2F%2BQptwpa0uTbc3YM%2BAgmF0k7A2ke 8nAyYfruUEmGqgmtyRTB2FIpas5KiS9F5Ws8DiwpSdzW4dvsP6 kh4AeYevMx84P3gHGqWmFBeZ0sS2xVXlUdaRwRz00lY%2FKIRO 9v%2BsVF%2F6dsvy9P8Unqu0EYHHo50zqI4hSBM4uwsK22k1cL isz7jeOWqSdlGglfhh%2Bb6zle2W49E1P5OJhSapwvCKzWLkPO JnF2AwaN7%2FgP56pQGBc01jpSyXhtfcHyrCvckdzFqUDR%2Bn TZWfA%3D%3D

I've been a baker and a candlestick maker...

You could probably rent a stand mixer from a catering supply for $50-$100 or borrow from another neighbor in exchange for some finished product.

Yes

yes.

Some people prefer the classic tilt-back to the bowl-lift. I don't know why.

This is also great

https://www.kitchenaid.com/refurbished.html

I love my Kitchen Aid, looks great tucked back in the corner on the Quartz counter top. I dust it off once or twice a year when I use it. But when I need it there is no substitute.

My wife managed to kill her Kitchenaid tilting mixer so I upgraded her to the bowl lift one, so much better. She does a lot of bread and cookies, worth every penny.

My wife uses her KitchenAid stand mixer all the time. She even complained that she preferred a hand mixer when I bought it for her for Christmas many years ago, but has since seen the way.

Now she wants a Ooni mixer that can handle larger dough batches.

Damn. It’s unanimous?!

Try FBM or CL, they're often cheap.
I have the bowl lift. For large quantities its better, but the advantage of the tilt, although less robust, is its easier to add ingredients as you go.
That said, I bought a used Ankarsrum (also called "Assistant) mixer-the bowl spins, no big head over the bowl, and I greatly prefer it. It also is better for sourdough.

Yes you need one, then you can personalize it...

Though i havent used it for bread in years... the no-knead method works!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1766499582.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1766499582.jpg

my wife's friend may sell us her extra one like Tim's.

dang it. I will customize it for sure. make some of my artist friends a stollen for work. hahah

We've had a Kitchen Aid ever since we got married back in '80.
My wife just informed me that our daughter's husband got her a bowl raise mixer instead of the tilt back. She hates it, says it's a pia as you can't put anything in it (wife's words, not mine).
Our bowl lock tilt back has been on our formica counter top for a long, long time and works like a champ.
Yes, you need one.

Edit: I would have added a picture of it but it's under the cover my wife made for it so you can't see it.

My wife broke 3 KitchenAid stand mixers...I bought some German brand stand mixer (can't think of the brand name off the top of my head); we've had that one for nearly 10 years now.

Kitchen Aids are pretty but not very heavy duty.

And yes, Vash...you need one :)

Apparently, not all Kitchen Aids are the same, even the ones that look the same. KA makes or made versions that are price busters for WalMart, and others with better internals for boutique kitchen suppliers like Sur de Table. (This is what I've read.)

I have a Cuisinart stand mixer, about ten years old, used on average once a week or so and it has started to make a new noise. Still works great, just some gear whine that will most likely need to be addressed in the future.

Getting a stand mixer is like having a hip replacement. You'll wonder why you took so long to pull the trigger.

Kitchen aids will chew up the internal gears, replacements are available. The Pro series are more heavy duty.

Dunno why I didn't say this before.... but for goodness sake you have a chance at learning how a LOL (little old lady) bakes something? Buy yer Kitchenaid later in a post-holiday sale, for now give her a comfy chair to sit in, a cup of team to sip, and have her direct you thru the process in her kitchen.

I didnt want to have to say it. her Stollen blows. ;)

I found out it is supposed to have an almond paste filling..."it is???" or marzipan.

hers is more biscotti. a stollen is supposed to be somewhat moist from the fruit.

my German friends walked me thru what is for them.

Ah... never mind then :D

I was lucky enough to learn the secrets of gravies and biscuits (but not as biscuits-n-gravy) from a little old black lady... missed out on the fried chicken secrets....

My wife had a kitchen aid mixer for years. I don’t think she used it a dozen times. Heavy, no room on the kitchen counter, hard to clean. She baked all the time and used the hand mixer for most. stuff. She really didn’t like it. Was in storage until I put it on f’book marketplace and sold it for a hundred bucks last year.

Many have plastic gears.
AI blurb:
Models with All-Metal Gears (Best for Doughs/Heavy Loads):
Pro Line & Commercial Series: Known for all-steel gear systems for serious baking.
Bowl-Lift Models (Pro 600, 5 Plus, etc.): Generally feature all-metal gears for strength, though some older ones might have had plastic housing.
Newer Models (2023+): Many recent bowl-lift and Pro Line updates feature fully integrated metal gearboxes.
Models with Mixed Gears (Metal & Plastic/Nylon):
Artisan & Classic Series (Tilt-Head): Typically use metal gears for most functions but incorporate a plastic (nylon/Kevlar) worm gear as a safety fuse, designed to break under extreme strain to save the motor.

We have one that is at least 40 years old (lift bowl, and it is a PITA). We have the old Cuisinart too. Hard to find parts for but it does yeoman's duty.

This is exactly why I bought my wife a bowl lift. Her tilting one stripped out the gears because she does a lot of heavy stuff like home made bread and big batches of cookies. Everything we read was that the bowl lift was much more heavy duty.

I was literally thinking this past weekend that our Kitchenaid stand mixer hasn't been out of the closet since we moved into this house 2 years ago. And beyond that, I don't remember the last time it was used.

Nice to have but pain to store and get out. If I was getting one, I would look into the pre-owned market. Estate sale, Ebay, garage sale, and so on. Not worth the money if you use it as little as we do.

My MIL had a lower cabinet in her kitchen that stored the Kitchenaid. The shelf in there was on a lift and raised up to counter height so you never had to store it or lift it out. I'd say that is the best solution.

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Our Architect model KA rarely if ever leaves the counter top.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1766526695.JPG

It does have a custom cover too.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1766526803.jpg

you are wise beyond your years.

I had a senior Korean lady teach me Kalbi. haha...and she taught me how to iron a dress shirt.

@matthewb0051, I worked on a house doing repairs and mods to the gourmet kitchen that had a mixer lift. They are a huge space hog but this kitchen had an island about 5' x 8', so there was plenty of room. Still, they open up and out into the walking space.

That's the irony, but I guess they liked the nothing-on-the-counters look.

My wife got a Kitchenaid mixer when she got her first house back in the late 70s. It still works great. We used it at Thanksgiving to make mashed taters.

Way more power than a hand mixer. We keep it on a sliding shelf, under the stove.

Why more power than a hand mixer?
Probably because it's electric.

flack...

my hands arms are sore. I just mixed my dough by hand. not a problem. but mixing the almond paste was exhausting.

done. assemble and bake tomorrow!!

a Stollen is hundreds of years old. I went old school!! :D.

my dough tastes heavenly. off to a good start.

I repaired a KitchenAid mixer for a lady at work years ago. I think it had spit its gear grease out. Found a YouTube video, ordered the repair kit and some food grade grease and got it back in shape- sort of a fun project and the lady was always bringing in baked goods, so it was in all of our best interest to get it back working!

To answer the question: "do I really need a stand mixer?" without the benefit of reading about Stollen, the answer is, if you've survived without one for 20 years, then no. Unless you plan to take on these types of recipes on a more regular basis.

We bought one from Costco when it was on sale maybe 10 years ago. It was only used once and now it takes up precious kitchen space, collecting dust.

yea. they are not light either. I'll sleep a few weeks on it.

I found a burly one on Facebook that interests me.

Yes, you need a stand mixer. I use mine for grinding meat and stuffing sausage, shredding cheese, and also mixing stuff. I've beaten the hell out of this old warhorse over the past 20 years. It's a little worse for the wear (the cover for the accessory drive fell out a couple of years ago), but it still keeps going.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1766539814.jpg

Ours was doing yeoman's duty to create all this:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1766541595.JPG
I've had a hard time getting used to working in such a 'dirty' environment, as shown in Patrick's photo, after having worked for such a long time in a 'clean as you go' clean room.

And yes, the cookies are good.