Great colour choice. You are going to love your new mixer.

Ann

Do we know what the new price will be?

I love orange, it's all over my house :)

I've never used a stand mixer. Pretty sure I'm going to fall head over heels. I'm also jazzed about making our own sandwich bread/rolls and have watched the BreadBecker's video a couple of times, already. I read the ingredients on the store bought bag, yesterday, BLEH!

Kitchendetective, they didn't say, just "significant". I wonder if they're changing/adding something or if import costs are the reason.

Wow, thanks Alex9179! I LOVE the orange color. A friend has it to match all her Le Creuset cookware and it's a perfect match. I agree about the meat loaf. I don't suppose you got yours yet? I was just looking up accessories and thought I was imagining things when I saw the massive price increase (up by $100, kitchendetective)! I wonder why on earth there's such a jump in the price! I wonder if it's just the distributor in the U.S. or if Ankarsrum's charging more?! I mean frankly the price is reasonable for what you get...I still love this mixer. Another friend of mine is very unhappy with her Bosch (however most people love theirs so it's fair to say it's not a great mixer for most people, apparently).

I want to get the meat grinder attachment and am trying to decide whether to get the whole thing for the whopping $300 or just to get the meat grinder plus one or two attachments. It's just that if I get the two attachments I'm interested in (pasta disks and grater), for only $30 more I'd get the cookie press, berry strainer and 3 extra sausage disks as well which I may or may not find useful in the future. I do make cranberry relish every winter and my grandma used to make the same recipe using her antique manual meat grinder so in theory, one of those disks might make it come out like hers used to (whatever that means - I can barely remember anymore - I usually use the food processor myself). So anyway these attachments sound fun sort of but not really all that helpful or necessary since most of the cookies we make are either drop cookies or the rolled out kind you use cookie cutters with. I guess I'm leaning toward the whole package since having more "things" to sell should I ever sell everything in the future will make it more desirable but let's get real: I doubt I'll ever want to sell this thing!

Let me warn you though... I've gone off the deep end with all the other bread making things I've bought. I'm in sane. My husband will want to divorce me if he figures out how much I've probably spent all in all (I don't even know/want to know). I've bought: a used Nutrimill grain mill (got convinced freshly-milled flour is way healthier and better tasting) - luckily got found it on Craigslist! I've bought a couple of bread loaf pans; a good quality pizza stone so I can bake the more artisan type breads on it if I get good at this or pizza dough; a bamboo, wicker-looking banneton to make round loaves that look all serious with the cool little lines in it you know; a little knife to score the bread before going in the oven (geek); a quick-read thermometer (it helps - last week I made bread that was underdone in the center and the bread sounded hollow in the bottom which usually means it's done); a french rolling pin (why?! Oh yeah - for when I make kolache); 4 food-grade plastic storage pails with gamma seal lids to store the wheat berries in; oxygen and moisture absorber packets to keep in the pails in case I decide to store them in the damp basement; 2 smaller, different-sized square plastic containers with measurement lines on them for proofing/rising the dough; a big canning jar to grow homemade yeast in; a danish dough whisk; a bunch of wheat berries (yet to arrive) to mill into flour and a bunch of different seeds, a silpat baking mat and a book or two. Uh huh... I'm out of control and have issues. Clearly.

Wow, thanks Alex9179! I LOVE the orange color. A friend has it to match all her Le Creuset cookware and it's a perfect match. I agree about the meat loaf. I don't suppose you got yours yet? I was just looking up accessories and thought I was imagining things when I saw the massive price increase (up by $100, kitchendetective)! I wonder why on earth there's such a jump in the price! I wonder if it's just the distributor in the U.S. or if Ankarsrum's charging more?! I mean frankly the price is reasonable for what you get...I still love this mixer. Another friend of mine is very unhappy with her Bosch (however most people love theirs so it's fair to say it's not a great mixer for most people, apparently).

I want to get the meat grinder attachment and am trying to decide whether to get the whole thing for the whopping $300 or just to get the meat grinder plus one or two attachments. It's just that if I get the two attachments I'm interested in (pasta disks and grater), for only $30 more I'd get the cookie press, berry strainer and 3 extra sausage disks as well which I may or may not find useful in the future. I do make cranberry relish every winter and my grandma used to make the same recipe using her antique manual meat grinder so in theory, one of those disks might make it come out like hers used to (whatever that means - I can barely remember anymore - I usually use the food processor myself). So anyway these attachments sound fun sort of but not really all that helpful or necessary since most of the cookies we make are either drop cookies or the rolled out kind you use cookie cutters with. I guess I'm leaning toward the whole package since having more "things" to sell should I ever sell everything in the future will make it more desirable but let's get real: I doubt I'll ever want to sell this thing!

Let me warn you though... I've gone off the deep end with all the other bread making things I've bought. I'm in sane. My husband will want to divorce me if he figures out how much I've probably spent all in all (I don't even know/want to know). I've bought: a used Nutrimill grain mill (got convinced freshly-milled flour is way healthier and better tasting) - luckily got found it on Craigslist! I've bought a couple of bread loaf pans; a good quality pizza stone so I can bake the more artisan type breads on it if I get good at this or pizza dough; a bamboo, wicker-looking banneton to make round loaves that look all serious with the cool little lines in it you know; a little knife to score the bread before going in the oven (geek); a quick-read thermometer (it helps - last week I made bread that was underdone in the center and the bread sounded hollow in the bottom which usually means it's done); a french rolling pin (why?! Oh yeah - for when I make kolache); 4 food-grade plastic storage pails with gamma seal lids to store the wheat berries in; oxygen and moisture absorber packets to keep in the pails in case I decide to store them in the damp basement; 2 smaller, different-sized square plastic containers with measurement lines on them for proofing/rising the dough; a big canning jar to grow homemade yeast in; a danish dough whisk; a bunch of wheat berries (yet to arrive) to mill into flour and a bunch of different seeds, a silpat baking mat and a book or two. Uh huh... I'm out of control and have issues. Clearly.

Theresse, sorry, you haven't gone off the deep end, you are still in the range of normal - in fact you haven't finished the normal compliment of baking tools, I didn't see bakers couche, or peel, or dutch oven, or steaming contraptions. If you start a pizza addiction, there is the dedicated pizza oven as a must, together with an IR thermometer, pizza pans for serving, separate peels for loading and unloading your pies. If you need some support for the amount you spent, go to the local farmers market and see what a loaf of bread sells for, and multiply by 52, and point out that is how much you are saving each year by baking bread at home rather than buying it. ( Hope he doesn't realize that the berries are a continuing cost, unlike most of the rest of the equipment) Great score on a used flour mill, while they appear on ebay all the time, shipping is pretty expensive. Good luck on your home ground wheat, there are a quite a few of us who have gone down that path, but unfortunately, not a lot of good books on that path.

Theresse,
That just sounds like a basic recommendation for a list of purchases to make when starting to get serious about baking bread. I just have to decide how serious I want to get, ;)

Wow, the price is almost double what I paid for the Magic Mill DLX 25+ years ago. That seems a lot for 8 more cups a couple hundred watts more. You would have to make thousands of loaves of bread to pay for it...guess if you are young it might pay, surely not if you are my age!
I have never used a mixer to mix up meatloaf, makes it too way too dense for our liking.

Barryv: ha - I didn't mention those cause I haven't had to spend money on them HOWEVER I do have most of that already! ;) I have my grandma's old baker's couche (however there's a hole in it and it's MIGHTY old - the canvas kind...but I'm sentimental about it). Oh and I forgot to mention that another thing I bought recently is one of those metal pans like a couche. I have a peel that my husband brought into the marriage. I have an IR thermometer (didn't I mention that above? Meant to. Actually I almost bought one of those really good Thermapen ones but then I found one for twenty-something that had really good reviews on amazon so I figured I'd be a good girl and got that one. It reads in 6 seconds instead of 2 but oh well). I have 2 big pizza pans (husband again) and one of those pizza screens. Too bad I'm about to go on the Wheat Belly diet - no more wheat for me. Just kidding.

Kitchendetective - my theory is that now that I've bought all this stuff, I just HAVE to get serious about it, haha. But mostly, I just love the therapeutic factor - it just feels good to use the kick-ass mixer and then do a light knead and shape, and to watch it rise...then to smell it bake...it's really something (I've come to realize) that sensory people enjoy. Another thing I've come to realize about myself - which I first figured out when I started making homemade cold-processed soap years ago - is that I like to do things that make me feel connected to the past, you know? I feel like a witch, stirring my cauldron when I make soap. ;) Actually witches probably didn't have immersion blenders but still... And I feel connected to women of the past when I knead the dough. Plus I'm a gadget whore so there is that. But bottom line is that in the end, warm, healthy-as-can be bread fresh out of the oven with butter is quite hard to beat. And they make great gifts. :)

Marigene - have you used yours a lot? Do you continue to use it and is it holding up well? What else do you use it for besides bread (assuming you use it for bread as most people do)? I used it for meatloaf but what's funny is I actually can't stand traditional, bready meat loaf. I use a recipe that has ground turkey breast, sweet italian sausage, and fresh garlic, onion, mushrooms and spinach. No bread thrown in and it's very meaty. But while I like a medium rare steak, I want this stuff very dense and chewy. So I made meat loaf the other night in the mixer and it worked great (didn't make it too dense regardless, not sure why - maybe cause I mixed it using the roller on low?). I loved how I didn't have to stick my hands in that greasy mess!

WARNING: um, rant to follow:
It's funny to hear you talk so objectively about money and your age in such practical terms. Like you're talking about a thing with an expiration date. I get it, but it's a funny-sad sort of thing. I hate age. I hate death (my friends are starting to die due to illness, which never happened when I was younger). Such a bitter pill to swallow - I totally lack grace and humility about the whole aging thing. It's a bigger loss than I ever would have expected but I guess that's the nature of the beast. We're clueless until we're not. I want to find some peace about it but instead I'm just obsessing about it (can you tell??!). I guess that's common enough in one's 40s - to silently freak out about it. Will it get easier? Ugh - I'm so disappointed in myself that I'm one of "those" people who is so affected and saddened by it - so vain I guess (not beauty-vain necessarily but just unhappy about being seen as "old" and therefor instantly devalued by society - especially here in the U.S). Youthful appearances of course is part of it but really it's more of an identity thing. It's probably made worse by not having a real career in place (stay at home mom). My friends with wonderful careers barely seem to feel the sting. So thank goodness for hobbies!!! :) And love...and family and friendship...and appreciation for so much about life and nature that has nothing necessarily to do with the material and physical aspects of one's aging but rather what one sees when one looks outside oneself or within, if that makes sense. Holy cow - sorry for the MAJOR rant and for going so far off topic! Hahaha.

Actually witches probably didn't have immersion blenders . . .

Talk to DH about when the doctor tried lowering my hormones.

BTW, about your comments on aging? i totally concur, although it pains me deeply to admit it, which is sort of meta-sadness and meta-rage against the way of things. I would love to be one of those perky people who age gracefully. Doesn't seem to be the case. It all hit me like a brick when I officially hit menopause. TMI?

And what a lovely idea for the title of an article:
"Do Witches Have Immersion Blenders?"

And for GW readers, the subtitle, "And, If So, What Kind?"

Okay, back on topic.

This post was edited by kitchendetective on Sun, Jan 12, 14 at 10:32