24 replies to this topic

[Darienne]

My DH, the most generous and wonderful of men, bought me the largest stand mixer he could find, a honking 7 quart Cuisinart. It's just too big and I don't like to use it for most things. The bowl is huge and a pain to get on and off the base. It scarcely fits into my sink. It's got more gizmos than I want. You have to press buttons and levers to do everything. Yes, I am looking a gift horse in the mouth, ingrate that I am.

What I really want is the smallest real stand mixer...not one of those convertible hand mixers than can be mounted on a stand...like my ancient Sunbeam Mix-master which I stupidly disposed of in my long non-cooking years. Something which will make one batch of muffins or cookies.

I can't seem to zero in on what I am looking for and I'm drowning in a sea of useless information. Can someone just point me in the correct direction please?

Thank you.

[janeer]

Ha, I totally understand the "ingrate"; my father used to call me that all the time. Actually, I think you are...

But: you can still buy pretty much the old Sunbeam.

I still have the KitchenAid I bought in 1975 when you had to go searching for one in a restaurant supply store, I think they call it the "classic" now. It is still going strong, and though I sometime wish I had a larger one (like yours), it really does serve for everyday home use. I do have two bowls, which is great.

BTW, don't know how I ended up with Walmart links. Don't buy from them!

[Mjx]

Hm... does it have to be a stand mixer? Bear with me, since I know what the stand mixer is standard kitchen equipment, and plenty recipes specify it.
However, even when a stand mixer is specified, I've found that a handheld works fine (the models of stand mixers I have my eye on are way beyond my means, so i don't have one); to be perfectly honest, I can't think of anything that I do with the handheld that a stand mixer would do [significantly] better, from meringue to bread (I bake bread 3-4 times a week, and do quite a bit of other baking, too). Plus, because of its size, it is easily tucked into a cabinet, and doesn't take up counter space.

[tikidoc]

Bosch Compact mixer. I love this little guy. If looks are important, skip it, it looks like it was made by Fisher-Price. If not, this is the mixer you want. The motor outperforms KA by a mile. The outside housing is plastic but this machine has a serious motor inside. I killed my KA Pro600 (just out of warranty) making a very soft, wet bread dough. My Bosch makes easy work of big batches of bagel dough, a very stiff dough, without even getting warm. My only criticism other than looking cheap is that it is so light that it has a tendency to hop around on the counter so I have to hold it still a lot. But it is also so light that it is very easy to carry around, or to lift out of a cabinet. And small enough to fit into an upper cabinet easily.

I got this mixer after my KA died, when I was waiting for my Electrolux (waiting on the new model, which was delayed and delayed). I got a good deal on the Bosch, and I figured it would be sufficient until I got my Electrolux, then would be handy for small jobs. Honestly, this little mixer can handle anything a KA can do, and without overheating. Love, love, love this mixer.

A few good places to research mixers - yahoo group on mixers (they generally like Bosch, full sized and compact, and Electrolux, which is full sized but an awesome mixer), thefreshloaf.com, pizzamaking.com. You will see close to universal hatred for KA (except the old Hobart ones), and virtually no complaints about the Compact.

ETA I got mine on overstock.com. For a little while, they were hard to find in North America, and ovestock had them. I got my Electrolux from Pleasant Hill Grain (http://www.pleasanth...act_mixers.aspx is the link to the Bosch), and they have great customer service and have the Bosch in stock. Not sure about costs to ship to Canada though, you may find a better price locally, due to shipping.

Jess

Edited by tikidoc, 17 May 2012 - 03:47 AM.

[tikidoc]

I weighed the base of the Compact, and it is 5#14 oz. The base without the bowl has a footprint about the size of a standard drip coffee maker.

[Darienne]

Morning comes early...

Thanks for all the replies.

* The Sunbeam is 350 watts (the important spec) with no bowl size given (frustrating)
* The Kitchen Aid is 4.5 quart bowl with a meager 250 watts...nope not powerful enough.
* The Bosch Compact is 400 watts (much better) with 4 quarts (good)...but we have never seen one where we live.
* I already have a hand mixer which is adequate. I have hand and wrist issues...that's the other part of the equation.

I'm still looking. Thanks all.

[tikidoc]

Input wattage is not a measure of the strength of a mixer. It is a measure of the amount of power used, not the torque provided by the mixer. An efficient motor that uses 400 watts may do a better job mixing than an inefficient mixer that uses 600 watts. For example, my old KA was 575 watts, yet was essentially useless for making bread. It overheated in less than 3 minutes, even with very soft dough. My smaller, more efficient Bosch uses 400 watts, yet can handle kneading even a very stiff dough with no problem at all.

When I was looking to buy a new mixer, I did a bunch of research (I get a little obsessive about this kind of thing), and I spent a lot of time reading the archives of the Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo....p/Mixer-Owners/). I had never seen the Compact in person before buying it but after tons of reading, I saw nothing but positive feedback on the mixer from people who owned it. And from what I have read, they pretty much last forever. I also did searches on pizzamaking.com and thefreshloaf.com, and saw more positive reviews.

One other thing, the 4 quart bowl size is slightly misleading, because you can run this mixer with a fuller bowl than you can with a Kitchen Aid, so the "effective size" of the bowl is greater.

I would very highly recommend this mixer to anyone who wants to replace a home KA mixer, who is not looking to upgrade to a larger capacity. It can do anything that a Kitchen Aid can do, and many things that it can't.

A couple places in Canada that sell this mixer:

http://healthykitche...&ca_id=1089
http://www.kitchenhe...rt&Itemid=1
http://www.boschmixe...pact-mixer.html

The last one has free shipping.

I also found this: http://kitchener.kij...QAdIdZ366932777, it's an individual near Toronto selling it, and it comes with a ton of attachments. Looks like a great deal.

Jess

Edited by tikidoc, 17 May 2012 - 06:30 AM.

[Darienne]

Thank you Tikidoc for your great answer. Especially thanks for the kijiji entry.

[andiesenji]

The Bosch compact is very popular with folks on the Bread-Bakers digest. They like it because it is smaller than the regular Bosch and still has the "oomph" to handle many bread doughs as well as any other thing that needs a mixer.

Here is a review on The Fresh Loaf

My friend in Niagara got one from the Kitchen Help store when they had it on sale two or three years ago for 180.00 She has the larger Bosch but wanted a smaller one they could take to their lake cottage for the summer.

[tikidoc]

Thank you Tikidoc for your great answer. Especially thanks for the kijiji entry.

You're welcome. That one listed in kijiji is quite a deal, you essentially get all the attachments for free. I have the blender and the slicer/shredder (picked them up cheap on eBay), and they both work well. The blender is a bit of a PITA to take apart to clean, and I use my VitaMix now for most anything requiring a blender. If I was really worried about space and only did light duty blending, I would say it does as well as most blenders you could buy for under $100 in a big box store (although capacity is small).

The slicer/shredder is handy because it does lots of things a food processor can do, but cleanup is easier. The obvious disadvantage to this deal is that since it's not from a store, you can't return it if you don't like it. That said, I have never seen anyone say they don't like their Compact, and you could easily get your money back on eBay. As long as the capacity is adequate, I'm sure you will like it.

When I got mine, my initial response when I pulled the very light machine out of the box was "SERIOUSLY? Are you kidding?" It really looks like a toy. But it came with the warranty, so I gave it a try, making my go-to fast and easy bread recipe (http://www.thefreshl...-ciabatta-bread), which is a very wet, goopy dough, almost like a batter. It did fine, so a few days later I made a batch of bagels using Ciril Hitz' recipe, which uses a little over 800 grams of bread/high gluten flour and is 59% hydrated. The one time I tried this in my KA, I stopped it after about 2 minutes of struggling because of the alarming smell coming from the motor, and I finished kneading by hand. The Bosch had no problem, although it did want to bounce around the counter. I'd rather hold the mixer still than knead by hand.

So if you do get it, don't let it's wimpy appearance fool you. This thing is a little workhorse.

Jess

[missjulia]

One last question about the Bosch: Being that it's a 4 quart bowl, how well does it beat just two or three eggs? I make a lot of genoise cakes, and it requires a whole egg meringue before folding it into the cream. Also, how would it do whipping a single cup or 3/4 cups of cream? With a large stand mixer, the machine is too big for these jobs, which is why I have hung on to my Sunbeam for the smaller jobs. It would be great to use the hand held mixer, however, I often need my hands free. This becomes a problem again when I make my tortoni. The egg mixture needs to whip while I add a stream of hot syrup, once again, needing a third arm if I use a hand held mixer. All these issues would be okay if I wanted to make double or triple batches. But just for a single batch for a small catering job presents a problem to me. Let me know if you've tried small amounts and thank you for all the suppoted information.

[tikidoc]

I have been told it does fine with one egg but I have not tried it. If the hens lay a couple extras this weekend, I'll give it a try and let you know.

Jess

[Anna N]

I have been told it does fine with one egg but I have not tried it. If the hens lay a couple extras this weekend, I'll give it a try and let you know.

Jess

Have been following this discussion as I too am interested in something that doesn't challenge my biceps quite as much as the K/A. Will be watching for an answer to its ability to handle smaller quantities of ingredients. I need another kitchen toy like I need another hole in my head but.............................the princess of kitchen toys, Kerry Beal is my best friend, (Andie is the QUEEN!).

[CaliPoutine]

I'm watching too. I have the big cuisinart that Darienne has. Its works great, but its big and heavy. I blew out my KA with bagel dough so that is always my first concern when buying a mixer.

[andiesenji]

Here is a You Tube demo of the Bosch Compact in '09.

And another in 2010

There are many more...

At one time I had the bigger Bosch "Universal" but gave it to a friend who needed a mixer on short notice and as I didn't really need it, told her to keep it.
I already had a KA and a DLX 2000 (Electrolux, AEG, Magic Mill, etc.) as well as bread machines so was really overstocked with mixers.

Edited by andiesenji, 18 May 2012 - 01:44 PM.

[tikidoc]

So, as to the question "Can this mixer whip one egg white?", the answer is yes, no problem.

One egg white in the Compact:


Compact with bowl, mixer up:


Compact with bowl, mixer down:


Compact ready for storage, bowl removed and mixer all the way down.


As for hot syrup, this is my marshmallow making machine (the DLX is too big) and it does fine, even with the plastic bowl. They do sell a stainless bowl separately but it ain't cheap (I am stalking eBay for one but no luck yet), and the plastic bowl has, so far, been fine for everything.

Edited by tikidoc, 21 May 2012 - 07:36 AM.

[tikidoc]

So, Darienne, did you call about the kijiji listing? :)

[Darienne]

So, Darienne, did you call about the kijiji listing? :)

I didn't. But thank you so much for finding it for me.

The reality is that a few days ago our dishwasher decided that it was time to exit the working world and somethings simply have to come first. I have a big machine. I have a hand mixer. I'll just do with that for now.

Thanks again for all your help.

[Anna N]

So, Darienne, did you call about the kijiji listing? :)

I didn't. But thank you so much for finding it for me.

The reality is that a few days ago our dishwasher decided that it was time to exit the working world and somethings simply have to come first. I have a big machine. I have a hand mixer. I'll just do with that for now.

Thanks again for all your help.

Since Darienne has opted to give this one a miss I find myself almost compelled to check it out. tikidoc: You appear to have become my new enabler!

[Anna N]

Look what showed up at my house this evening:



This is the one that tikidoc found on kijiji. Kerry Beal and I were up in Manitoulin Island when this topic came up and I had expressed a slight interest in getting a look at it when we returned to the mainland. (Truth is, I was desperately wanting it.) So Kerry and I discussed possibly finding out if we could see it in Kitchener one day next week. It seemed a bit unlikely as work and travel would make it difficult to find the time and coordinate with the seller so I was not optimistic at all. Little did I know that Kerry had been scheming while we were still on the Island. She learned that the seller had moved much closer to Burlington so today she tracked it down and tonight she showed up with it at my house. It does not appear to have been used much if at all. The seller bought it and then realized that she didn't actually cook and so it would be rather useless to her. I am going to RTFM and will try to post pictures of it in action if not tonight then surely tomorrow. Thanks tikidoc and Kerry - I am very excited about this machine.

[Anna N]

It is quite the little workhorse and whole lot easier to manage weight-wise than the K/A.





First up - a couple of loaves of white sandwich bread for my carb-loving granddaughter.

[Darienne]

Yes, I am green with jealousy. But, good for you, Anna.

[andiesenji]

Gorgeous, Anna.

[Smithy]

Look what showed up at my house this evening:



...It does not appear to have been used much if at all. The seller bought it and then realized that she didn't actually cook ...

Oh, this made me laugh. Way to go, Kerry and Anna, and thanks for the topic, Darienne! Now I want a Bosch compact mixer too, but I'll enjoy it vicariously for the moment.

[flourgirl]

Very cool Anna N! Enjoy! It looks great! I would love to get one too. Hmmm, Christmas isn't that far away ;)