BOSCH Universal Plus w/shredder/slicer accessory

[barryvabeach]

Jersey,  yes, the Ankrasrum  -  or however it is spelled or pronounced, is the way to go,   It will handle anything from bagels to ciabatta, and it doesn't really care about dough size, no matter how small it still works fine  You can usually pick one up used on ebay for around $250.    It is a slower action than the Bosch - as I recall, the two arms with the Bosch can get in more kneading per revolution than the Ank,  but the Ank still does a great job,  and having a timer is a great feature,  I just set it and come back when it is done.

[Jersey Pie Boy]

Thanks Mike, Barry 


So, Mike..you're saying that your high hydration dough is hand-mixed with S/F's, not using a mixer, is that right?

[Essen1]

Thanks Mike, Barry 


So, Mike..you're saying that your high hydration dough is hand-mixed with S/F's, not using a mixer, is that right?

Bill,

Yes, but it's bread only. I have to get back at making some.

If you haven't done so, look into the book "Tartine Bread" by Chad Robertson. Awesome book with lots of techniques, starters, formulas, etc.

[Essen1]

I made three videos to show how this mixer deals with several stages of pizza dough.

This one shows the whisking of ADY, sugar & water using the wire whips. The water was thoroughly agitated snd the yeast dissolved smoothly without leaving any residue whatsoever. It was a very smooth operation.

[Essen1]

The second video shows the flour being hydrated before being rested for 20 mins. Compared to my KA it was done in a flash. There was no scraping the sides of the bowl or adding drops of water to get the rest of the dry flour off of the bowl’s floor. None of that. Very impressive.

[mitchjg]

I have seen the discussions here about high hydration doughs not faring well with the mixer.  What is meant by high hydration in this context?  And, what is the issue?

Thanks

[Essen1]

What I was most interested in, though, was how the mixer handles the dough when oil is being added to it. With the KA it was always a major PITA, with the dough just being slapped around, the hook just swirling around in the center of the dough creating a crater instead of mixing and then stopping the mixer and turning the dough to give the spiral hook a different point of attack.

The Bosch plowed right through it and the oil was just another ingredient for it. The final mix was 6 mins. More time was not needed at all. Flour temp was 70F, water temp 78F and the dough came out of the bowl at exactly 80F.

I’ll post more info later on.





Edited the link.

[Essen1]

I forgot to mention that the hydration was 65%.

[Jersey Pie Boy]

Thanks Mike, I'm familiar with Chad and have seen some web stuff from him, but I do think the book belongs on my shelf. 


Mitch, I'm wondering the same thing, but since I'm often working at 80HR and up, I'm thinking that qualifies..Wonder where the line is? 70, 75?

[mitchjg]

Mitch, I'm wondering the same thing, but since I'm often working at 80HR and up, I'm thinking that qualifies..Wonder where the line is? 70, 75?

Believe it or not, I have successfully mixed and 80- + % dough (ciabatta) with KA Pro 600.  I followed the recipe (well known on The Fresh Loaf) called , Jason's Quick Coccodrillo Ciabata , http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2984/jasons-quick-coccodrillo-ciabatta-bread

The dough is slapped around in the mixer for as long as 30 minutes.  But, it does come together.  Funny lead in to the recipe "THIS WILL NOT HURT YOUR PRECIOUS KITCHEN AIDS"

So, maybe this mixer is more capable than one may guess?

Not suggesting people make a habit of mixing with 80% doughs.  But, I am curious about the limits of this one, especially compared to more pedestrian ones like the KA.

Mike:  Give it a try while it is under warranty!!!!!   

[Essen1]

Believe it or not, I have successfully mixed and 80- + % dough (ciabatta) with KA Pro 600.  I followed the recipe (well known on The Fresh Loaf) called , Jason's Quick Coccodrillo Ciabata , http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2984/jasons-quick-coccodrillo-ciabatta-bread

The dough is slapped around in the mixer for as long as 30 minutes.  But, it does come together.  Funny lead in to the recipe "THIS WILL NOT HURT YOUR PRECIOUS KITCHEN AIDS"

So, maybe this mixer is more capable than one may guess?

Not suggesting people make a habit of mixing with 80% doughs.  But, I am curious about the limits of this one, especially compared to more pedestrian ones like the KA.

Mike:  Give it a try while it is under warranty!!!!! 

Mitch,

I’ll give it a shot. I’m curious myself and I need some good bread rolls anyway. 

[mitchjg]

Mitch,

I’ll give it a shot. I’m curious myself and I need some good bread rolls anyway. 

The bread comes out pretty good - the salt in the recipe is pretty high.  I think it is at 3% if I remember correctly  When I've made it, I've backed it down to 2.5%.  It may need high salt to compensate for the short ferment and/or to help the dough bind since it is so wet.  I don't know.

[Essen1]

The bread comes out pretty good - the salt in the recipe is pretty high.  I think it is at 3% if I remember correctly  When I've made it, I've backed it down to 2.5%.  It may need high salt to compensate for the short ferment and/or to help the dough bind since it is so wet.  I don't know.

We'll see what happens, I guess.

The 65% dough from today felt like Play-do compared to what came out of my KA. It did not feel like a 65% dough.

[Essen1]

Few more from today’s dough.

[yarbrough462]

Mine is sitting in the post office right now.  Can't wait to try it tomorrow night!  When everyone is talking about the minimum load of this mixer being 1000 grams, do they mean 1000 grams of flour or 1000 gram total weight of dough?

[Essen1]

Mine is sitting in the post office right now.  Can't wait to try it tomorrow night!  When everyone is talking about the minimum load of this mixer being 1000 grams, do they mean 1000 grams of flour or 1000 gram total weight of dough?

The batch you see above is around 800 gr total give or take a few. No problems whatsoever.

[norcoscia]

I don't have one so not sure this is correct but on the web site it says it can handle up to 14, 1 pound loaves - that would be over 6000 grams

[Essen1]

I don't have one so not sure this is correct but on the web site it says it can handle up to 14, 1 pound loaves - that would be over 6000 grams

It's actually 15lbs (6800gr) max capacity. If I throw a pizza party or make bread in larger amounts, I will test that claim. 

[Essen1]

Well, I conducted the higher hydration experiment with the Bosch Universal Plus mixer today.

The hydration I used was 80%, since it was mentioned here in this thread a couple of times. The flour used was a high-gluten flour. ADY, sea salt and a tiny bit of sugar rounded the dough out.

I took three vids...excuse the quality, to show the first mixing stage followed by a 20 minute rest, then mixed for another 5 minutes until the salt was completely incorporated then followed by a 10 minute mix to complete the dough.

The impression I got was that it does handle a wetter dough very well. My KA returned a soupy kind of dough most of the time, so this was a nice improvement, imo. Was it perfect? No, but which household mixer delivers a perfectly mixed high-hydration dough? Some mixers are better than other and the Bosch is clearly on the better side of things.

Like with most wet doughs, it still needed some amount of bench flour to get it shaped but the amount itself wasn't excessive. I shaped the dough into a round, covered it and let it rest for 30 mins on the bench where it almost doubled. The feel of the dough was strong, yet soft and very silky. I degassed it, shaped it again and placed it into a bowl for an overnight ferment.

Overall, I was very happy with the outcome although I had to reach into the bowl to scrape the sides once and it was a bit tedious to get it out of the bowl after mixing due to the bowl's design. But those are two things I can live with.

So, to answer the question here...is the mixer capable of handling a higher hydration formula? Yes. Does it return a decent to good and properly mixed dough? Absolutely. However, I'm also a believer of mixing by hand when it comes to dough with a 75% or higher water content since you'll get your hand wet and dirty anyway.

Another thing is that I believe a mixer cannot be judged by its performance, in regards to wetter doughs, alone. The ingredients play a huge role, mostly the flour's absorption rate, protein content, salt content, etc. With that said, results may vary for others with this mixer just as they would with any other brand mixers.

The Bosch Uni Plus is a superior mixer, imo. And I'm sure it will get even better once I have it figured out and learn about its intricacies. It took me awhile with my KA as well.

I hope this little test answered some questions...

[Essen1]

Some pics...