Once Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Hi ladies I am thinking about buying a Bosch bread machine/mixer. What do I need to know when buying? I have a machine that kneads and bakes a single loaf. It sometimes over cooks the outside and it is getting to be 20 yrs old. My family is hitting the hungry teen yrs and I have athletes in my house with big appeties. They love whole wheat bread and my single loaf machine just cannot keep up anymore. Because it is such a big purchase.....I wanted to see what other people know about purchasing....best sites....things to consider.....differences between classic and universal.....etc. I was going to buy through Pleasant Hill but I have never bought from them. Even recipes would be helpful. Ideas on mass kneading while still baking fresh each day. Links? I am all ears! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OK Family Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 I ordered my grain mill from pleasanthill. Great experience with them. I did not order their big mixer (universal) although I wish I did. My husband talked me into buying their portable mixer, which works fine, but doesn't do more than 3 loaves. It is well worth it to get their big mixer, I know alot of people that have it and love it. As far as recipes I know of a few recipes www.cookingwithgrains.com and www.thefamilyhomestead.com If those web addresses aren't right I'll edit them. Im doing it while helping my daughter, sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraciebytheBay Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 I ordered from Mountaintopsmilling.com about six years ago and was very happy with their service. I have had to call twice about different things, and the owner is very friendly and helpful. I have the Universal and am happy I did. I can make five loaves worth of dough at a time. This thing was made to work! The motor is very strong and can handle 15 pounds of dough. The blender is fantastic, btw. We don't use it more than once a week, but it is also very powerful. Recipes: My current favorite recipe right now is from the King Arthur website. I go through phases of using different recipes, but this is a great one for making everyday sandwich bread. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/100-whole-wheat-nut-and-seed-bread-recipe (I do not use the bread improver, btw.) I either triple or quintuple this recipe to make three or five loaves at a time, and it comes out great every time. We go through about 3/4 loaf per day. I freeze the rest of the loaves for the week by cooling them completely. (Be sure you let them sit for a while. The inside of the bread is often warm while the outside feels cool.) Wrap them in plastic wrap, then put in a freezer bag (I buy 2-gallon Ziplocks for this purpose) and freeze. This is a relatively new method for me. I was freezing the dough, but someone on the board encouraged me to try freezing the bread again after some bad experiences. It works great! Explore the King Arthur site. They have tons of whole wheat bread recipes. Let us know if you get your mixer, okay? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pink&bluemommy Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 I have one and love it! If you wait till mothers day there will be some kind of incentive. Last year you could get the food processor for $35. If you use your breadmaker for kneading and bake in the oven, I think bread turns out better that way. This is my best recipe: http://dealstomeals.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-new-favorite-whole-wheat-bread.html?m=1 So soft and stays that way for 4-5 days so you don't have to bake everyday! And fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Love, love, love my Bosch. It is a mixer, though, not a bread machine. IOW, it's a mixer that also does bread. :-) I have the blender (which came with it) and the food processor attachment. They're close to 25 years old and going strong. This is the bread recipe that I use, which is sort of the unofficial Bosch bread recipe (back in the day, everyone I knew who had a Bosch--and that was a boatload of people--used this same recipe): 100% Whole Wheat Bread (Directions for Bosch Mixer, but can be made by hand) (makes about 4 loaves) 5-6 cups hot tap water (hot to the touch;not hot enough to burn finger) 2/3 c. oil 2/3 c. honey 2 tbsp. Kitchen Specialties dough enhancer 2 tbsp instant yeast 2 tbsp salt 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten 12-16 cups freshly milled whole wheat flour (fill hopper [of WhisperMill grain mill, which is what I have] with wheat berries, plus about 3 more cups) Pour warm water into Bosch mixing bowl. Add approximately 6 cups flour on top of liquid. Then add dough enhancer, oil, honey, yeast, and gluten. Use the (M) momentary switch to mix well. Add approx. 5 additional cups flour, and salt. Turn to speed 2. Continue ading flour 1/4 cup at a time until the dough pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl. Continue kneading on speed 2 for another 5 minutes. Oil or grease hands and counter. Divide dough into equal portions and shape into loaves. Put into well-greased pans. Let rise till double in size. Bake 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from pans and cool on wire rack. Top of loaves can be rubbed with water or butter for shiny appearance. Dough can be used for pizza crust or cinnamon rolls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momee Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 The food processor is not the same thing as the slicer shredder. And my blender was not able to handle frozen fruit smoothies with kale. Died once I started added anything green. I personally think it was expensive to replace. Because we don't eat much bread anymore, it sits in the closet but I totally love it in spit of the above. There is nothing like it for making 6 loaves of big fat bread dough. It is a counter hog and it is heavy. If you're storing it, know you'll be lugging that thing in and out of its place. If it stays on the counter, be sure you have plenty of room for it. Not quite as big as a microwave but definitely bigger than a toaster! HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pink&bluemommy Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 The food processor does come with some slicing and shredding discs though. The container I believe is not as big as the stand alone slicer shredder though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose in BC Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 I love my Bosch. It works hard in my kitchen. I did buy a nutri mill grain mill too and the cookie paddles for Bosch. Recently my friend bought me the bowl scraper attachment which I also love. My machine is now over ten years old. It was a big initial investment but worth every penny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charcat13 Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 I love my Bosch mixer but the blender did not work well for us. It would randomly stop working. I've never had a problem with the mixer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 The food processor does come with some slicing and shredding discs though. The container I believe is not as big as the stand alone slicer shredder though. This is true. I use my food processor to grate cheese all the time. I haven't sliced anything with it, but the discs will do both shredding and slicing. I also haven't minded that the container is not as large as some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 I love my Bosch mixer but the blender did not work well for us. It would randomly stop working. I've never had a problem with the mixer. Bummer. I've never had any problems with my blender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I love my Bosch. I purchased mine with my Nutrimill at a special package price. If you can wait until Mother's Day as pink&bluemommy mentioned, you will probably see some specials. I use my cookie paddles a lot, but rarely use the blender because I have a Vitamix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Once Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 Thank you for all your replies. I thought I had subscribed to my post but I guess I didn't. Sorry I missed this. I am going to have fun with all this info. My machine arrived last week and I couldn't be happier but Mothers Day will be fun!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delighted3 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Congrats on your new machine. I just wanted to mention this book really helped me with my whole wheat bread baking. It really explains the process and has recipes to make really great bread. It has ideas for all kinds of variations on a basic bread recipe. http://www.amazon.com/Bricks-Successful-Whole-Grain-Bread/dp/061525330X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361341867&sr=8-1&keywords=no+more+bricks+by+lori+viets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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