Processed to Death

[Lindacakes]

Is it me?

My food processor is too good. It processes too much, and I'm talking about controlled pulses.

My first food processor was a Cuisinart, a hand-me-down and it worked really well, except getting the bowl off the stand was a p-i-t-a.

I bought a new KitchenAid that seems to be too effective. Case in point: the graham cracker crust for a key lime pie. The graham crackers ended up as sawdust. And this was after a few pulses, just to break down the chunks.

Is it the sharpness of the blade? Can I purposefully dull the blade some? Repeated processing of whole beets?

Is it the brand change?

Is it a foible of food processors in general?

[jgm]

My only thought would be to make sure the pieces are all the same size, and are evenly distributed throughout the bowl before you start pulsing.

I suspect you're using various-sized pieces, and pulsing extra to break down larger pieces, after the smaller pieces are already the right size. Then by the time the larger pieces are broken down, the rest is powdered. If I remember correctly, I think Cuisinart literature used to recommend 1" pieces.

If that doesn't work, you may indeed want to think about buying an extra blade and dulling it somehow. I haven't bought a food processor in a couple of decades. They used to come with a plastic blade, the same size and shape as the steel blade. (And also a dough blade, which had shorter um... arms?) If you have anything like that, you might give it a try.

[Lindacakes]

Good idea, plastic blade. I think all I have is a dough blade, but I'll look.

Thank you for your advice.

[onehsancare]

I was just browsing through the Cooks Illustrated ratings for food processors, and one of the downsides of the KitchenAid, in comparison to the Cuisinart, was the longer time it took for the blades to stop when letting go of the pulse button. I'll be sure to mention your issue and how you've solved it (? have you?) to the friend who is almost certainly going to buy a KitchenAid.

[CaliPoutine]

Wow, I wish I had that problem. My very old cuisinart( with a new blade) never fully proccesses any cookies/crackers for crumbs. I always have chunks.