Electric Stand Mixer Kneading:

A stand mixer is the easiest way to knead whole grain bread dough. Models vary but the process is mostly the same: the mixer usually comes with a dough hook that will knead the dough in a matter of minutes. The advantage is that you can spend your time dreaming up creative ways to use your bread dough and the dough hook allows for minimal flour to be added, thusly, creating a lighter dough! Many European bread recipes call for a high water to flour ratio (commonly referred to as hydration) and this is the ideal way to keep from adding too much flour. Using a mixer such as the German Engineered Bosch Universal Plus is one of the easiest ways to knead up to 15 pounds of wholegrain bread dough in just minutes! You may already own a KitchenAid Mixer. If you have one that was made by Hobart (prior to the mid 1980s) then you have a sturdy mixer, but once Hobart sold out to Whirlpool, Whirlpool started putting in less expensive parts, hence a machine that does a poor job of kneading whole grain dough on a regular basis. Let‘s compare:

• The standard Kitchen Aid mixer with the 4 ½ quart bowl only mixes up to 2 standard 8 inch sized whole grain loaves of bread in about 10-12 minutes of kneading time while the Bosch mixers will handle up to eight loaves in 5-7 minutes of kneading time. The professional series Kitchen Aid Mixer comes with a 6 quart bowl and is a 575 watt machine. It will knead 4-5 loaves. There is a 1 year warranty on the KitchenAid mixers.



• The 800 watt German Bosch Universal Plus mixer is based on a design that has been around for over 50 years! It comes with a 3 year warranty on the motor and 1 year on the parts. It also comes with a 2 year Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval Warranty.



• Bosch has the absolutely best customer service in world hands down! Call 1.800.MY BOSCH (MST) or us: 877.WE KNEAD (EST) if you have a question or problem.



• The Bosch Universal Plus mixer will handle as little as 1 batch of cookies or up to 4. It will knead as little as 1 loaf of bread or up to 8. It will even whip 1 egg white into a cup of fluffy meringue or whip cream into butter!



• You will most likely buy your KitchenAid from a ‘big box store’ where you probably will not get any advice or help on how to use it. The Bosch mixers are usually sold by people that know and love these machines, hence they will come with good advice and great customer service if you purchase from an ‘Authorized Bosch Dealer’-just look for the authorized Bosch Dealer logo on the website!

I am not advocating that you throw out your Kitchen Aid if that is what you already have. Go ahead and use it, perhaps you won‘t have any problemsand many people don‘t. However, please note that if you are looking for a heavy-duty mixer to knead and mix up whole grain bread and cookie dough then you should seriously consider a Bosch Mixer.

There are other stand mixers on the market such as the Electrolux DLX and there are many happy users of this mixer. It is a 450 watt mixer with a 15 pound bowl capacity. It comes standard with a stainless steel bowl that uses a ‘roller scraper’ method of kneading the dough. There is an optional dough hook to purchase as well. If you want to ‘whip something’ you must use the smaller plastic bowl. The Bosch Universal Plus Mixer comes standard with a heavy-duty plastic bowl with a rim that I find especially handy to hold with one hand while scraping out with the other. For those that like stainless steel, The Bosch Universal Plus Mixer has two different optional stainless steel bowls to choose from-One that you can knead and whip in known as the New Style Bosch Stainless Steel Bowl and one that you can only knead in which is known as the Traditional Stainless Steel Bosch Bowl. Being that I lived in Germany, I am partial to the Bosch, particularly, for its ease of use in teaching others how to use it without having to be right alongside them. Besides, the Bosch Universal Plus Mixer is affordable and user friendly and it makes my job easier when I am instructing people over the phone or through the internet! Whichever mixer you choose, do your research carefully.

Some mixers come and go on the market and many have tried to imitate the Bosch only to find out that they can‘t match the quality and have gone out of business very soon after they have started leaving unhappy bakers with machines that can no longer be serviced. For the best quality and service buy only from a trusted company: BOSCH!

Bosch Mixer Kneading: The basic principles of using a Bosch Mixer(or other brand with a dough hook) are simple: You want to add all of the liquids-oil, honey and water and about half of the flour. Dump the yeast, dough enhancer, vital gluten, salt and any other additions on top. Mix this on low just until the mixture comes together in a smooth mixture that looks like pancake batter. At this point you can let it sponge-which is covering the batter and letting it double which takes 20-30 minutes or you can continue on by adding the rest of the flour until it starts to clean the sides of the bowl. At this point, continue adding more flour slowly until the dough feels damp and silky but not sticky. I grind 12 cups of grain in the Nutrimill which is approximately 5 pounds of flour. I usually don‘t use all of this flour on a colder day but in the humid weather I use almost all of it. This is a good guide to follow unless you live in extremely humid weather in which case you will use all or most of the flour.