Bosch Universal Plus or Electrolux DLX

[carbon]

did any of you get the blender or food processor attachments and take advantage of the bundle discounts?  any thoughts on them? 

I'm curious about this myself.  My wife wants a food processor so this gives me a good excuse to get the bundle and a great opportunity for me to end up with a mixer..:p

[c0mpl3x]

i recently looked at the dlx.

i found out that my 'thrown in the trash because we never cleaned it' oster bread machine, has a better motor/mixing ability than the dlx, with a 12cup capacity of flour before it can't mix it any more, despite the dlx being supposedly able to handle 20.   

well, this is a bread machine.  with safety measures such as over-stress releasing pan, stress-releasing drive contacts between the bowl and mixer, etc.

so i'm going to find a smaller motor drive pulley (from a belt driven rc car) as it's toothed, or maybe even convert it to double slip pulley (like a snowmobile clutch) but one that i can control by hand.  it's already 700w, almost twice that of lower end stand mixers.   it's 100w more than the dlx, and 350 more than the bosch last i looked.

and i can just swap the base from the bowl on the bread machine, to a standard kitchen bowl.  the shaft for the beater blade is a double D shaft, (not boobies  ) it has two flat sides.  i can easily manufacture stainless hooks and such to use this style of shaft as i have before for larger double D shafts.

[Jackie Tran]

Got the blender only b/c I already have a new Cuisinart food processor.  Haven't used it yet, cuz I've been too busy making pizza.  JK.   

Compl3x, all I can say is that YOU GOT SKILLZ and chicks dig dudes with skillz.   Would love to see a home made mixer or a heavily modded bread machine.   

[Pizza Rustica]

Ok, you guys talked me into the Bosch, lol, but now I have a big question. I ordered from FYkitchens. They apparently take the basic Bosch mixer and add a variety of options such as stainless steel mixing bowls, etc. They offer a dough only bowl version that is slightly larger capacity (which is what I ended up ordering).

QUESTION: When it arrived it was missing the tower to attach the dough hook. I called and was told that with the stainless bowl the dough hook mounts to the bottom of the bowl vs. installing the interior tower and attaching to the tower. With the tower attachment the hook is placed in a downward position vs. the bottom mount where the hook faces up. I tried it last night based upon Scott R's formula and it seemed like the dough was just spinning around and very little kneading was occurring.

I called FYkitchens again today and was assured that I did not need the tower and that the mixer works fine with the dough hook on the bottom of the bowl facing up?

Can some of you Bosch users opine on this please? Thanks. Here's the link to their website page showing the version I bought. You can see that there is no tower in the pic: http://www.fykitchen.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=1461

[Jackie Tran]

I don't have the SS bowl with the mixing arms on the bottom.  Mine is the plastic bowl with the arms mounted from top down.

How much dough did you try to knead?  What was the weight or size of the doughball?

Chau

[Jet_deck]

. I tried it last night based upon Scott R's formula and it seemed like the dough was just spinning around and very little kneading was occurring.

Are you talking about the cracker crust recipe? I don't believe it will work in anything but a food processor.

[Pizza Rustica]

Jackie Tran,

It was approx. 2250g flour, 1330g water, 23g oil, 58g salt and 3/4 tsp IDY per Scott R.

[Jackie Tran]

Jackie Tran,

It was approx. 2250g flour, 1330g water, 23g oil, 58g salt and 3/4 tsp IDY per Scott R.

That sounds really strange that it wouldn't mix.  If I had to guess, you put the oil in at the beginning and it coated the dough and made it slippery thus the spinning about in the bowl. 

I would just mix the dough without the oil and then add it in towards the end.  Without the oil, the wet dough can anchor onto the bowl and allow the arms to work properly.  That's my guess though.

Chau

[BrickStoneOven]

I'm pretty sure the one with the arm that hook on from the bottom is the older version and the one that Chau has is the new version. Even with the SS bowl there are two different version. You will see on site when they are selling the SS bowl they will say doesn't work on so ans so version.

[Pizza Rustica]

Jackie Tran, actually I added the oil at the end. I'll try another batch this weekend

BSO,
Apparently Fykitchens takes the basic Bosch mixer and adds and subtracts pieces to create different packages. The dough mixing version is the one that I bought. Its not really a question of new vs old, but what they do in the way of repackaging the mixer to their various packages. They said I could return it and get the version that uses the tower, but they consider the dough mixing version with the bottom mounted arms to be a great unit??

Just trying to understand if you Bosch pro's think I should change?

[Jackie Tran]

PR, so even without oil, it just pushed the dough around without mixing it?  Here's a test to see if it really is mixing or not.  Add a drop of food color to the dough and watch it mix or not.

[BrickStoneOven]

http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/bosch_universal.aspx. If you scroll down you will see that that mixing bowl has actually been discontinued and was the original mixing bowl design before they changed it to the "New Style" which is the one that other members are using. I'm guessing Bosch changed the design because of the reason you stated about the dough not really doing anything. I don't think they could just send you the middle tower piece and you attach it.

[Jackie Tran]

PR I really don't know why it's not mixing but there has to be a reason other than the design itself.  If that is the reason, you would think they would have caught it during their R&D testing before production.  Also their would be a recall on the product if it was truely not mixing at all.  This seems very strange.  I hope you try the food color and do let us know.

[scott r]

Did you use a scale to measure out the flour/water?  Unfortunately volumetric measurements are rarely accurate, and you may have been using a much lower hydration than you thought.  Either way,  Its really important that you give the dough a 20 minute rest (or longer if you want) after a quick 20 second (or so) spin of the machine.  Once you have done this rest the dough will come together fine in an 8-10 minute mix.   If you don't do this rest all the ingredients will just spin without combining unless you are doing higher hydration doughs.

Also, it is possible that you are using a flour that needs a little bit wetter formula.  This can happen if the flour was sitting in a very dry space before use, or just because the flour type/brand likes a higher hydration.    Before you try upping the percentage of water try the 20 minute rest and you should be fine.



Good luck Peter!

[Pizza Rustica]

Scott,

I did measure the ingredients with a digital scale. Do you think having the arms at the bottom of the bowl as opposed to the top will affect its mixing ability?

I'll try to film a batch today and post it.

BSO,

Thanks for the link. I read it and it appears that they are again offering the dough bowl option "This bowl was discontinued by Bosch for some time, but it's back by popular demand... AND at a price $20 lower than before!" The pic shows it with the arms at the bottom of the bowl http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/Bosch_Universal_Plus_Mixer_MUM6N10UC.aspx

Thanks for your help



 

[Toperro]

I want to buy the mixer, what model you suggest I use?
"MUM6N11 or MUM6N21? the differences are the metallic bowl and engine power, 200 watts more, but maybe those 200 watts do that on speed 1 turn too fast and be counterproductive, the difference in price is 35 €.

http://www.bosch-home.com/de/produkte/kneten-rühren-mixen/küchenmaschinen/mum6-küchenmaschinen/list.html

[Jackie Tran]

Toperro, for what it's worth, I bought the Bosch Universal Plus 800w.   For mixing bread or pizza dough I only use speed 1 of 4 speeds.   I'm not sure the extra watts is of any benefit for pizza or bread dough.

The only time I would be using the higher speeds is to whip cream or egg whites.   I'm sure the lower watts will whip cream and eggs just fine.   But IF there is a benefit to the higher watts it would be for whipping cream, egg whites, and such. 

Chau

[Toperro]

Jackie Tran
thanks for your quick response, what you say about metal bowl? Has any difference with the plastic?

[Jackie Tran]

Jackie Tran
thanks for your quick response, what you say about metal bowl? Has any difference with the plastic?

I don't have the metal bowl.  Sorry.  I think member widespreadpizza does though.  Hopefully he can chime in. 

Chau

[Pizza Rustica]

Here's some pics of the latest process.
Bottom style dough hook and dough bowl w/water/oil
All ingredients
after 20 min. autolyse
end of 8 min mix
20 min. wait
Doesn't quite look like Scott's.