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VEGAN FEAST SUBSCRIBERS' COOKING AND RECIPE FORUM>
Unbelievable!!
JulieH
336 posts
Jul 04, 2006
3:32 PM
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I have discovered why Bryanna and everyone else on this site raves about the Bosch mixer. It's amazing!! I think I may be in love : )
I have to ask though, is the bowl supposed to wobble around a bit when kneading bread dough? And, I made my usual recipe for pizza dough, but I found that it came out differently with the Bosch (actually more delicious, but the dough seemed denser and wasn't as elastic as it usually is). So does anyone find that you have to use bread flour instead of all-purpose in the Bosch, or add a little wheat gluten to the recipe?
Another question for all of you Bosch users. Which beater attachment do you use when making a cake batter? Mine came with the thin wire whisks, dough hook and I have cookie paddles. Am I supposed to order the batter/cookie whips to use for cake batters?
Thanks!
Julie
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Brenda W.
106 posts
Jul 05, 2006
10:20 AM
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Hi Julie,
Yes ... isn't the bosch just wonderful??? Worth every penny. In fact, besides using it for the kneading function, I love it for the blender. SOOOOO powerful. Makes smoothies, super perfectly blended sauces, you name it.
About the bread texture, I found there was a bit of a learning curve using the bosch (I came from hand kneading bread dough to the bosch) .... and it took a few tries until the bread came out perfect.
Mainly, I found I had to knead alot longer than all the references said ... bosch's manual, and other web sites all said "Oh the bosch is wonderful ... you knead a much shorter length of time with it than you would a conventional mixer".
Well, I found that my breads (all using 100% whole wheat flour ... no white flour) had to be kneaded just as long w/ the bosch as other mixers ... a good 10 minutes minimum ... more if you are making alot of loaves (like 4 or more).
As I'm adding my ingredients, I make sure the dough is really wet .... I purposely stop adding flour long before I think I need to. Once the dough has enough body to feel firm ... offering resistance if you squeeze the dough with your fist, even though it will still be really, really goopy wet, I just start the kneading, and as the minutes go by, the dough will change from this lumpy, un-homogenous wet goopy dough, to something that is very smooth and uniform thru out. Once this happens, I start checking the dough manually .... the ending consistency should be very smooth, shiny, having almost a whitish shiny hue to the whole wheat dough.
If you take a small piece of dough in your wet fingers, you should be able to stretch it out to a very thin, thin film that you can almost see thru.
When it gets to this point is when I stop kneading. Using this method (which btw, is from Laurel's Kitchen bread book) will give you 100% whole wheat bread with the most soft texture you've ever had.
Can't help you with the beaters question ... I never make cakes, and so have never used mine, and in fact, have no idea where they are!!
Last Edited Brenda W. on 5-Jul-2006 10:23 AM
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Debbie
1180 posts
Jul 05, 2006
10:32 AM
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Oh, you guys makes me jealous! I don't have one and I have Kitchen Aid mixer. Julie, what do you do with your Kitchen Aid mixer, sold it?
Brenda, sounds good, your method. Hhmmm, the joy of baking breads. I love it. I guess I have to wait until I get a Bosch. BTW, is the blender noisy? My husband thinks that I need ears protection (ear muff) when I run things in the blender for a long time (my blender is Oster). It is very noisy and loud. He said that my hearing could be ruined if I do this often.
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Debbie
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~ Harriet Van Horne
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JulieH
338 posts
Jul 05, 2006
10:50 AM
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Thank you so much for your input Brenda. I will have to spend some time playing with the different bread recipes. It's really so different then making bread in the Kitchen Aid or Cuisinart. Do you mill your own flour too Brenda? I have to ask because it seems like many Bosch owners also have a grain mill to grind their own whole grains.
Debbie, my husband told me yesterday that he is going to get me ear protection for the kitchen. I thought he was joking, but he's right that all of my appliances are very loud. I guess our husbands think alike. The Bosch is pretty loud (as well as all of my other kitchen "toys").
As far as my Kitchen Aid mixer goes, no I'm not going to sell it. One, it's too pretty. Also, we use it to make homemade pasta (about once a week with the pasta roller attachment), and sometimes when I develop recipes, I will need to use that machine (as that is what most people have).
Debbie, you have to check out the Bosch. It is really an amazing machine!
Julie
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Brenda W.
107 posts
Jul 05, 2006
12:44 PM
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Debbie, about the noise ... I've never thought about the noise issue to tell you the truth. One definitely cannot talk over it or anything. But you also don't run it that long either.
Julie, no, I don't mill my own flour. I used to, but when I returned to work full time, I decided it was important to me to keep baking my own bread, but to help with the time issue, I decided to use already ground flour. Ironically, I sold my mill on eBay and a woman who was quitting work to stay at home with a new child bought it!!
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