Bread and er...um....bread plus a pound cake now and them. Homemade bread just about every week.

Teresa

I think the list of things NOT to use a KA for would be a whole lot shorter.

At one time, I owned 6 KA mixers. I've sold all, except two, which I've kept (couldn't live without), and use almost daily for breads, cookies, cakes, icings, pasta and pizza doughs, etc.

Sol

The only thing I can think of, besides mixing cake and cookie ingredients, is mixing meat loaves, hamburgers etc. You'd have to be careful not to over-mix the meat.

Other than baking things, egg whites and whipped cream mostly.

You could do the meat, but only if you want it squished. OTOH, you can get a meat grinder attachment, which works very well if you are doing small batches, like you would making hamburgers or sausage for the family. There's also a sausage stuffer.

Some people use it to whip potatoes, while others swear that it's no good unless it's by hand.

You can whip cream for desserts someone else baked very well, as well as eggwhites for a souffle. Make sure you adjust the height of the whip if necessary. It shouldn't bang against the sides or hover over the bottom. There's a great video on YouTube that shows you how to get it right, using a dime. The instructions are also in your manual. Mine got out of kilter, so I just had to adjust it. :)

There are lots of other attachments that can be fun. Some people adore the cheese grater. Others the ice cream bowl. But those take investing more money in what was a gift.

You didn't give any background. If you're under 35, keep it around. Who knows. You might want to make some cookies or a cake one day, or even a pizza, and will be all set. If you're over 50 and set in your ways and never, ever want to bake anything ever ever ever; if you buy puff pastry in the freezer section, and pie crusts, and pizza dough and would rather have more counter space than an aid in making your own; maybe you want to shed the mixer. It's a lovely gift, but maybe better loved elsewhere?

I keep the cheese grater attachment on it, and that gets used a lot. It is very easy to clean and grates cheese very quickly. I also have the ice cream attachment and use that fairly frequently. I rarely use it for making bread any more, now that I have a bread machine. I also have the meat grinding attachment and use that when I grind meat for turkey or ham salad. I used to use it for grinding beef for hamburger and pork for sausage, but DB will not eat those, and I do not make that for just myself.

I have found a convenient corner in my kitchen for it - where I used to have my toaster oven, and so those two appliances have switched places.

If I made pasta more often, I might buy the pasta attachment, but I have a manual pasta machine that works fine, although I have to clamp it to a table. For me, the most use I get from the KA mixer is from the attachments. I have a Cuinsinart that will grate cheese, but the KA attachment is so much more convenient. It is a fine grater that is good for Parmesan, and I frequently use the coarse grater for grating carrots. I do a lot of my slicing on my electric meat slicer, including cabbage, bread, and pickles.

I do mix cookie dough in the KA mixer bowl, but pasta dough I made in the food processor.

Lars

Is it a big mixer or a hand held? I have 1 of each the hand held mixer I I use for mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole. The larger one for breads and cakes and cookies. I also have a couple of the attachments. Pasta and meat grinder.
Mary

Any time you need to mix fat with dry ingredients (homemade baking mix - Bisquick substitute, Magic Mix, pastry mix, homemade tortillas, etc.) -- especially when making large batches -- use a mixer (either stand or electric hand-held) instead of a pastry blender. It accomplishes the task better and quicker. I got this tip in "Natural Meals In Minutes" by Rita Bingham.

I make Jimmy Dean Sausage Balls, normally used as an appetizer but we use them as a breakfast meat. I make and bake a large batch and freeze them and mix all the ingredients together using an electric mixer. Once again, gets the job done quickly.

-Grainlady

NEVER though I'd want to spend the $$ for even the basic model. Several years ago, after SIL was RAVING about her newly purchesed basic machine, she "forced" me to take it home on Thanksgiving... with strict promise of its return the following weekend.

I made 5-6 different doughs for holiday cookies in no time. By late November, "room temp" butter is still pretty hard in my kitchen. The KA made each dough recipe almost a dump thing. NO wrestling with stiff doughs at all. I put them into zip bags, froze and then scooped and baked a few weeks later.

On way home from returning her mixer, stopped and gifted one to myself... again a basic model.

During cold months, a nice HOT oven is welcome in my unavoidably cold kitchen. Most weekends I make pizza dough in the KA... dough hook does all the kneeding necessary.

Sister bought a bunch of attachments and gifted me the ones that were just soso to her. Pasta extruder... NOT a keeper for me. Meat grinder... worth having.

A year or so ago, found an offer I couldnt refuse in GOOD WILL!?! A "vintage", faded yellow, crank up/down model, with paddle, whisk and dough hook, and in good running condition. Cleaned it up (wasn't cruddy to begin with), taped everything off, and spray painted it flat black. Couldn't pass up the $19.99 price for a larger capacity/power machine. A few weeks after finding that found a spare bowl for $5!

Had niece totally awe-struck at about 13 yo when we MADE butter! It's well worth the counter space it occupies!

I use the meat grinder attachment to make sweet pickle relish.

I'm in awe of the deals that you are able to find in Goodwill and other second-hand stores.

Often items get picked up for a song and re-sold on Kijiji.
There was a news item on a girl buying name-brand items in new condition (purses, clothing) and other items in good condition and selling them for much more than she paid at Goodwill.

I've bought dishes and some cookware for myself. There are usually coffee makers and sometimes bread makers.
You really lucked out finding a KA! Good for you!

I use mine a lot. I grind meat, slice potatoes, whip cream, mix sausage in large batches for the freezer. I haven't been able to successfully use the pasta attachment, it just comes out in a gloopy mess or crumbles, I haven't gotten the liquid right yet, but I know other people have.

Mine gets precious counter space and stays there, I use it a lot.

Annie

How do you slice potatoes with the KA mixer?

I love to bake so if my Kitchenaid died tomorrow, I would replace it immediately. In addition to baking, I use it for pizza dough, sausage balls, shredding meat(just discovered this little trick recently), homemade playdough, whipping cream, etc. My favorite attatchment is the ice cream maker. It lives in my deep freeze and works beautifully. Enjoy your mixer!

Tracey

If it learns to peel potatoes I will love it more. As it is, I use it to whip egg whites and make light batters. The Magimix, Ankarsrum, and Vitamix have taken over the other tasks.

pizza dough (using dough hook)
pasta
lots of cookies and cakes

Annie...my daughter has mastered the pasta making. She tells me the texture should be crumbly after mixed with the dough hook and before kneading. So, use amount of water (Tablespoon at a time) until you get that texture [a moist crumbly texture - not a formed ball - that will give you too wet a dough to work with].

Remove from mixer bowl onto floured surface. Put water on your fingertips and rub into your hands. Knead dough until you have collected all the crumbs and achieve a soft dough ball. About 6-8 minutes of kneading.

Put in refrigerator (wrapped in cellophane ) for 15 minutes. Cut into eighths...start on first setting of pasta sheet maker fixture and feed through 8 times [each piece 8 times on setting 1]. Then go to setting 2 - feed through once. Continue to feed through until you achieve the setting you want for the type of paste you are making. Fettuccine is setting 4. At this point you will have 8 sheets of pasta ready to be cut into strips (fettuccine, bucatini, spaghetti - depending on the attachment you choose).

It sounds laborious but once you get the hang of it 2 pounds of pasta can be made in about 45 minutes. It is beyond delicious.

We also have the maker that takes the ball of pasta...no sheets. Similar dough texture is required after kneading.

This post was edited by LKZZ on Thu, Jun 5, 14 at 16:23

I don't need mine for bread dough because I have another appliance for that. But I do use it for cookie and cake batter. That is about it.

~Ann

angelaid, beachlily very kindly sent me an attachment that she didn't use, because she doesn't cook "in bulk". It's a slicing/grating attachment and it works great if I'm doing more than will fit in the food processor. It looks like the one at the link....

I'm not very graceful and so haven't gotten the hang of being really good with a mandolin, plus my carpal tunnel kicks in if I slice more than 5 or 6 pounds.

Annie

Here is a link that might be useful: KitchenAid Slicer

Thank you, Annie. Will be ordering the attachment, because I will use the shredder/slicer a lot more than the stand mixer itself!

For those of you who use the KA for bread, what speed do you use to knead the bread on? I've looked at my manual, and the web site, but haven't found the info. DD has a good 2loaf white bread recipe that I like with the KA. Done in less than 3 hours!

Tami

Pizza dough. I want to use it more but need to spend more time in the kitchen.

The manual for mine says setting 2 with the dough hook. I believe that is to prevent over heating the motor. If you use the hook for the initial mixing before things get a little stiff, you can probably use speed 4 until the mix begins to come together.

pizza dough

goat cheese mashed potatoes

meringue

You're welcome, angelaid, it's a very useful tool and cranks out sliced potatoes for a big pan of scalloped potatoes in no time without the need for me to take a bottle of ibuprofen.

Annie

chas045, thank you! I've probably had mine for over 15 years. I've read the manual and I've gone on line to look. My plan was to contact KA and ask, but I couldn't find a contact us button on the site to ask when I finally remembered to go and look. I do use it for bread, but have always wondered if I was using the correct speed. I love the easy bread recipe my DD gave me, which can be stirred together by hand or with the mixer. As I can't stir anything like that, the mixer it is. I have a bread machine, but seldom use it. It's good in the winter since my kitchen stays colder than the rest of the house, but I still like my KA better for bread.

I also use it for cookies and cakes, and grinding hamburger. I never thought of using it to make my own mixes! I need to find some recipes for that.

Tami

Besides the bread/cookies:

We often pick boxes of lemons off of one lemon tree. The juicer attachment (I don't use the strainer that it has) over a large bowl with a big strainer and we can prep lemonade concentrate for a summer easily

I use the strainer to make tomato sauce from our garden.

I have never gotten the hang of making a pie crust in the food processor, but the KA is great