Kitchen Mixer Help

Disappointed - DeLonghi 800 Watts Cucina DSM800 Stand Mixer My wife and I make lots of bread every week and our Kitchen Aid was struggling with a recipe that calls for 5 1/2 ...

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My wife and I decided we wanted to start making focaccia, bread, and pizza on a regular basis. Although we’re both in our mid 30s we didn’t enjoy the time and effort it took to knead the dough. The thinking was: if it takes too long and it tires us out, we won’t do it very often.

The search for a stand mixer began. I wanted a mixer that worked well for dough. That was the main purpose for us. We considered the Kitchen-Aid, but three things bothered us. One, the reports on Epinions about burnt motors by those who attempted to work large amounts of dough. Two, the unbelievably short warranty of one year. Three, the low power of 300 watts (325 and 525 are also available).

I searched for an alternative and came up with the Magic Mill DLX and the Delonghi DSM800 which was previously made and sold by Kenwood. Apparently the same company that makes audio electronics.

I decided to purchase the Delonghi after reading some of the reviews on Epinions. I read both the Kenwood models reviewed and the Delonghi ones. I initially thought the 5 quart Kitchen-Aid was expensive and then went ahead and spent even more when I bought the Delonghi. However, the 6 quart Kitchen-Aid with the 525 motor and the Delonghi are closer in price.

I cannot say enough good things about this mixer so far. It was well worth the money and expect to use it for the next 20 or 30 years. The motor has a 10 year warranty. The entire mixer is warrantied for 1 year. It has an 800 watt motor with a large 7 quart bowl. It has three mixing tools: whisk (stainless steel), dough hook, and flat beater which are made of cast aluminum with a non stick coating. It is easy to use, easy to clean and has a modern look, feel and sound. Simple yet efficient and capable.

It also has three different attachment points, one at the back: for fast spinning attachments, one at the front top for slower spinning attachments and one for the front edge (same place as Kitchen-Aid). There are numerous attachments for all sorts of purposes. I received the blender free with the one I bought and it works great. In fact, we already gave away our stand alone blender.

Update on Dec 23, 03:

We have been using our mixer for about two months now. We have made dough for focaccia, pizza and bread. Our standard recipe for dough is 9 cups and uses a mixture of white, whole wheat and semolina flour. It is much tougher to knead than standard white flour dough. So far the mixer has breezed through it all! It takes about 2 minutes to mix the ingredients, I usually let the dough rest about 2 minutes and then knead for a final 2 minutes. Place in a bowl, cover and let rise. It use to take me at least 30 minutes and a lot of elbow grease to do the same by hand. Even with all the extra effort by hand the dough comes better in the mixer. When cooked the dough is noticeably softer, more tender, and more refined.

Although we didn’t buy it for other mixing duties it has also done a wonderful job on omelets, cakes, muffins, and cookies.

Bottom line: Once you have access to a kitchen tool like this and you experience the results, you will not have a kitchen without a mixer. You will wonder how you made due without one.

BTW, in my previous review I didn’t mention that the speeds are infinitely variable and it has a pulse mode to release the mixer if it gets stuck.

Update Nov 2007:

My wife and I are still using the mixer at least once a week. I have read some of the other reviews that complain about hitting the pulse mode inadvertently. I agree, did this a few times myself.

As for the mixer getting stuck or slowing down I have only experienced this with 8 or 9 cups of flour. Therefore I limit my doses to 7 cups max. One of my favorite bread recipes uses 6 cups of flour, 5 of which are whole wheat which is tougher to mix. No problems at all.

I will remind readers that kneading should be done on slow setting, I use 1 to 1.5 out of 10. It takes less than 10 minutes for the dough to knead and fully wrap itself around the dough hook (do not use flat mixer attachment). Remember, you are trying to mimic how you knead dough by hand, not reproduce store bought mass produced bread that is beaten into submission by giant mixer machines in seconds.

In four years of weekly use we have had zero problems with the mixer while making dough. We also use the blender and it does a fine job. Cakes, frostings, meringue and other light duty mixing is no problem as well.

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