Which Kitchen Aid should I get?

[Crusty]

I recently purchased the Viking 7qt 1000 watt mixer.  It struggles with a double batch of 65% hydration pizza dough....total weight of 50 oz.  I could not mix a triple batch of 20oz pies in the Viking.  It bogged down repeatedly.  If I were to purchase again I would find a mixer that had more guts , a built-in timer and a safety feature as this thing will run in tilt mode and does not have a safety screen . 

I have adjusted my batch size to fit the performance level of the machine .  I think the machine would really struggle making bagel dough.

Regards,

Crusty

[varasano]

don't get a kitchen aid. Get a DLX 2000. search my posts or click on my website for more. I researched this a LOT

[onkaluna]

Peter Rinehart's American Pie might be just the answer for people that don't have a mixer that kneads.  He believes in hand kneading and gives easy hand kneading instructions for each pizza.  Not a Hobart but it is under $20.

Yeah! Hand mixing/kneading is (to me) so much more satisfying and controllable than a machine. I bought a Kitchen Aid several years ago thinking it would be a laborsaver....but I found it very easy to overknead the dough and more difficult to control water content. I gave up the machine about a year ago and haven't regretted it a minute.

My basic technique these days is to whip up too-wet dough with a good ol' wooden spoon, then transfer to a silicone mat and knead by hand, adding flour as necessary to prevent absurd gloppiness.  My hand doughs are always better than anything I made with a machine over the 4 years I owned it - probably due to poor machine technique 

[pizzamagic]

I looked at Kitchen Aid, then Viking, and wound up buying the Electrolux DLX 2000. I am glad I did! I did a 25 oz batch of 60% hydration this morning in under 10 minutes, and ate 1/2 this afternoon. Great machine. Thanks Varsano. Nice video clip on your web page.