I’m not sure you will find a better stand mixer than the kitchenaid outside of commercial brands ($$$). I’ve used kitchenaid standmixers for years and I’m surprised you’ve had such a bad experience. Sorry to hear that. We have a vintage Hobart and it is a beast.
Edit: may I ask what you didn’t like about the kitchenaid?
I have heard the vintage ones are better quality! Maybe I will search the internet for one. So the first one we had would bounce up and down and unlock itself then one day we found little pieces of metal in our dough. We got a replacement one and the same thing happened but big sharp pieces of metal. KA agreed to give us the professional one and we just got it today and it’s making a loud squeaking noise so KA said we will need to send it back also because it’s broken. They don’t have any other professional ones in stock so if we were to get a 3rd replacement it could take up to 6 months. I think we have just had bad luck.
The vintage ones aren't necessarily better. A lot of people are salty that KA replaced one metal gear with a plastic one. The plastic one is a sacrificial gear so if it breaks it can easily be replaced.
The bouncing is actually a common and very fixable issue.
Honestly though I just don't use my KA for bread at all, or sometimes even really thick doughs. Granted I only have an Artisan which is really below the tier I need for my purposes, but it was a gift. A bowl lift model is probably more along the lines of what you're looking for.
Of you want to knead dough, you need the top of the line Kitchenaid or something similar. The big “pro” bowl lift models will do as good a job as anything available for home use.
That being said, nothing is going to knead heavy, stiff dough like for noodles well. For this there’s really no substitute for hand kneading, but a food processor can get you most of the way there if you’re really not into kneading.
Yep, check out Kenjis pizza recipes on Serious Eats, you can knead pizza dough really well in like 90 seconds in a good food processor. Works great on stiffer doughs like bagels too that will kill stand mixers.
If dough is your priority and you don't really care about the delicate baking tasks, you might try a Bosch. They are fantastic with bread dough but complete crap at cake and cookies.
Second the recommendation of the Bosch Universal Plus. Handles large volumes of dough, including bagel dough that the Kitchenaid doesn't handle well. I respectfully disagree about it being crap at cookies and cake, I have had good success.
I used to use a KitchenAid for pizza dough, but found I could knead the dough by hand, do a better job and not have to clean it, in less time it took me to use it.
A powerful food processor would work for all three to at least some extent, although I really think pasta dough benefits from being hand kneaded since it’s too stiff for any machine to really do a great job with.
Bosches and Ankarsrums use a completely different platform and do much better with heavy doughs than KAs and other planetary mixers. Those are definitely the best bread specialists
Yeah that is what I heard. So we got one today. Unfortunately it’s making a loud squeaking noise and the last two shed metal into our food. I think I am ready to give another brand a try now.
If you want to go commercial quality, you can get a Hobart N50, but they're like $3K. I believe KitchenAid was a Hobart brand until the 80's when it was sold to Whirpool. Hobart focuses on the commercial side.
If you don't want to go quite that high, the Ankarsrum is supposed to be a good mixer for heavy or large amounts of dough. This mixers spins the bowl and the kneading attachments stays in place. They're about $700.
Have you tried this model: [https://www.centralrestaurant.com/8-Qt-Commercial-Mixer-c82375p30162.html?st-t=google\_search\_dsa\_catch\_all&vt-k=&vt-c=504654805331&gclid=CjwKCAjwo4mIBhBsEiwAKgzXOOqN0TY\_BCu0PXkfi7DTtRQS7gBuRDLXoeTlMcmMRXBgQMaPHdS3nhoC1I0QAvD\_BwE](https://www.centralrestaurant.com/8-Qt-Commercial-Mixer-c82375p30162.html?st-t=google_search_dsa_catch_all&vt-k=&vt-c=504654805331&gclid=CjwKCAjwo4mIBhBsEiwAKgzXOOqN0TY_BCu0PXkfi7DTtRQS7gBuRDLXoeTlMcmMRXBgQMaPHdS3nhoC1I0QAvD_BwE)
It's pretty powerful, but I've never tried to make noodle dough.
Either a straight up Hobart (try looking for a used one, very expensive upfront), Ankarsum (if you can get used to the setup) or Kenwood Chef (fairly common for bread in Germany)
I’m not sure you will find a better stand mixer than the kitchenaid outside of commercial brands ($$$). I’ve used kitchenaid standmixers for years and I’m surprised you’ve had such a bad experience. Sorry to hear that. We have a vintage Hobart and it is a beast. Edit: may I ask what you didn’t like about the kitchenaid?
I have heard the vintage ones are better quality! Maybe I will search the internet for one. So the first one we had would bounce up and down and unlock itself then one day we found little pieces of metal in our dough. We got a replacement one and the same thing happened but big sharp pieces of metal. KA agreed to give us the professional one and we just got it today and it’s making a loud squeaking noise so KA said we will need to send it back also because it’s broken. They don’t have any other professional ones in stock so if we were to get a 3rd replacement it could take up to 6 months. I think we have just had bad luck.
I would classify that as apocalyptic bad luck.
I agree!
The vintage ones aren't necessarily better. A lot of people are salty that KA replaced one metal gear with a plastic one. The plastic one is a sacrificial gear so if it breaks it can easily be replaced. The bouncing is actually a common and very fixable issue. Honestly though I just don't use my KA for bread at all, or sometimes even really thick doughs. Granted I only have an Artisan which is really below the tier I need for my purposes, but it was a gift. A bowl lift model is probably more along the lines of what you're looking for.
I have had a few bowl lift KA and love them
Of you want to knead dough, you need the top of the line Kitchenaid or something similar. The big “pro” bowl lift models will do as good a job as anything available for home use. That being said, nothing is going to knead heavy, stiff dough like for noodles well. For this there’s really no substitute for hand kneading, but a food processor can get you most of the way there if you’re really not into kneading.
I have never thought to use the food processor! Great tip thanks :)
Yep, check out Kenjis pizza recipes on Serious Eats, you can knead pizza dough really well in like 90 seconds in a good food processor. Works great on stiffer doughs like bagels too that will kill stand mixers.
If dough is your priority and you don't really care about the delicate baking tasks, you might try a Bosch. They are fantastic with bread dough but complete crap at cake and cookies.
Second the recommendation of the Bosch Universal Plus. Handles large volumes of dough, including bagel dough that the Kitchenaid doesn't handle well. I respectfully disagree about it being crap at cookies and cake, I have had good success.
Great I will check them out. Thanks :)
I used to use a KitchenAid for pizza dough, but found I could knead the dough by hand, do a better job and not have to clean it, in less time it took me to use it.
We have been making 70% hydration pizza dough. It’s really sticky at the beginning and hard to knead by hand unfortunately.
A powerful food processor would work for all three to at least some extent, although I really think pasta dough benefits from being hand kneaded since it’s too stiff for any machine to really do a great job with. Bosches and Ankarsrums use a completely different platform and do much better with heavy doughs than KAs and other planetary mixers. Those are definitely the best bread specialists
I've had good success with a KitchenAid for these. The lift bowl ones are better than the tilt heads.
Yeah that is what I heard. So we got one today. Unfortunately it’s making a loud squeaking noise and the last two shed metal into our food. I think I am ready to give another brand a try now.
If you want to go commercial quality, you can get a Hobart N50, but they're like $3K. I believe KitchenAid was a Hobart brand until the 80's when it was sold to Whirpool. Hobart focuses on the commercial side. If you don't want to go quite that high, the Ankarsrum is supposed to be a good mixer for heavy or large amounts of dough. This mixers spins the bowl and the kneading attachments stays in place. They're about $700.
I've got an old kitchen aid artisan I use to make bread. It's loud as a bitch but it works really well
I will look into them thanks!
Have you tried this model: [https://www.centralrestaurant.com/8-Qt-Commercial-Mixer-c82375p30162.html?st-t=google\_search\_dsa\_catch\_all&vt-k=&vt-c=504654805331&gclid=CjwKCAjwo4mIBhBsEiwAKgzXOOqN0TY\_BCu0PXkfi7DTtRQS7gBuRDLXoeTlMcmMRXBgQMaPHdS3nhoC1I0QAvD\_BwE](https://www.centralrestaurant.com/8-Qt-Commercial-Mixer-c82375p30162.html?st-t=google_search_dsa_catch_all&vt-k=&vt-c=504654805331&gclid=CjwKCAjwo4mIBhBsEiwAKgzXOOqN0TY_BCu0PXkfi7DTtRQS7gBuRDLXoeTlMcmMRXBgQMaPHdS3nhoC1I0QAvD_BwE) It's pretty powerful, but I've never tried to make noodle dough.
No I tried to ask KA to give us an upgrade to that model bc we found metal in our dough from our old machine and they wouldn’t agree to it.
Best recommendation? Legacy HL662 Hobart Pizza Mixer
Either a straight up Hobart (try looking for a used one, very expensive upfront), Ankarsum (if you can get used to the setup) or Kenwood Chef (fairly common for bread in Germany)
I use the KitchenAid commercial model. Tank. Highly recommend
The more powerful Kenwoods, make sure you get the upgraded kneading hook, Ankarsrum or Wilfa ProBaker.
Thanks everyone for the recommendations. I ended up ordering an ankarsrum! 🤞🏻 this one is a keeper :)