Hi All, I am a KA newbie. It's still in the box. I grew up with a hand mixer but am a serious baker around the holidays. Giada and Contessa made it look so easy that I treated myself and bought the 5qt. I found this post while looking for a carrot cake recipe for the KA. I have the shredder attachment and don't know if I should buy big carrots or small, and if it shreds them real fine and good.. After reading your posts I guess I'll mix the carrot and coconut in by hand. I was thinking of using my old BH&G RedBook carrot cake recipe which calls for coconut, pineapple, carrots, raisins and walnuts. Any advice on how to proceed with carrot cake is welcome. Oh! And -should I run the parts thru the dishwasher after I take it out of the packaging or rinse it with hot water only? I'll check in later,gotta run to work.. ;) Dee

cotehele - I only use the Zo for mixing/kneading - it replaces what my hands used to do. I used to slowly add the flour into the liquid ingredients, and beat the mixture by-hand using a Danish Dough Whisk, and using as many as 500-700 strokes to develop as much gluten as possible while the dough was in the bowl. This cut down on kneading time and made a finer bread. When making dough by hand, properly mixing the ingredients is an important step people tend to rush through and not do a good job. If a shaggy lump of dough is tossed on the counter for kneading, then there wasn't enough time spent incorporating the flour into the liquid ingredients, and not enough gluten was developed before beginning the kneading. When it comes to using the bread machine, I rarely allow the dough to rise in the bread machine, preferring to use a dough-rising bucket so I can make sure the dough doesn't over-proof. Dough doesn't tell time, and all the rises are according to time on the machines. Dough ACTUALLY rises based on the ambient temperature, humidity, amount of sugar/sweetener in the dough, and the strength of the yeast. A timed rise is just a good (or bad) guess. It's especially important when using 100% whole wheat flour to keep the dough to just UNDER "double" for the rise. Whole wheat doesn't have the extensibility bleached and unbleached flour does, so allowing the dough to rise to double is actually over-proofing it. If I'm not getting a good oven-spring, that means the dough was over-proofed during one or both of the rises and the yeast was spent before it hit the oven - which seems to happen when I leave the dough in the bread machine to rise. When I use the QUICK DOUGH cycle, I can have dough in about 30 minutes. This includes pre-heating, mixing and kneading. There is also an add-in beep (about 25-minutes into the cycle) so you can add raisins, multi-grain cereal, etc. Placing dough in a dough-rising bucket is a perfect little environment for it, normally taking anywhere from 20-45 minutes to rise (depending on the ambient temperature and the type of dough). I may decide to toss it in the refrigerator for a nice long, slow, cool rise to really develop the flavors. It's nice to have options. If using the BASIC DOUGH SETTING, it takes 67-minutes for 2 rises (45-minutes for the first, stir down, and 22-minutes for the second) for a total of 1:50 for the entire cycle. So I save a lot of time there. I can cut that time by 45-minutes to an hour. Not that speed is everything, it's not, unless you are trying to get out several recipes in a 5-hour bake-a-thon. I also never make less than 2 to 2-1/2+ pounds of dough at a time. I can make 2-3 small loaves, or divide the dough for 1 loaf, 6 sticky pecan rolls, and a pan of dinner rolls (or 6 hamburger buns, or 6 hot dog buns) - all from one recipe of dough. I can program my Zo, but I never have (I hate messing with electronics). I generally use the QUICK DOUGH setting - no rising in the bread machine. That's the nice thing about a Zo, you can use it however you like, personalize the cycles to suit your recipes, and use whatever cycle works out best for you. I have a friend who programs hers for specific breads she makes. She sells her breads, so she has using the Zo down to a fine art. Choose to use the dough cycles or bake the loaf in it. Different strokes, different folks. I do an overnight sponge for our "Everyday Bread", so the Quick Dough Cycle is perfect because most of the work was done overnight in the sponge. The flavors developed, the acidic kefir (or buttermilk) provide lactic acid to break down complex starches and irritating tannins in the wholegrain flour, and make the finished loaf easier to digest. Soaking also increases vitamin content and makes all the nutrients in grains more available. The sponge also makes the bread lighter in texture and color and I get a nice high rise not typical to loaves of 100% whole wheat bread when made with a fast mixing method associated with most of today's recipes and methods incorporated when using a bread machine. The Zo X-20 has a Sourdough cycle, but once again, it's timed and I'd never use it for rising the dough. All starters are different. Some are stronger than others, so 120-minutes for a rise may be too long, or not long enough. So for naturally-leavened breads, I use the bread machine for mixing and kneading, but never for the rise. -Grainlady

Unlike some other message boards, people here don't look in much at old threads because they figure new messages are spam. You're very welcome to start a new thread of your own. We don't have thread police. You'll probably get a lot more answers. Additionally, you can choose to have one thread show both here in Cooking and also in Appliances, which might be useful. My opinion, and it's opinion only, is that while the old Hobarts were superior machines, they're only good buys if you know how to recondition and service them well (or want to learn and know where to get help). Second hand on new-ish ones from someone whose habits you know and approve of is fine. Or barely used in the box with all its accessories. Otherwise, you're taking on someone else's problems. You might also get a good deal, with a warranty on "scratch and dent", open box, display models, etc. Just don't go for a "demonstrator", which will likely have heavy use. If you frequently have uses that require a heavier duty mixer than your Artisan, getting a stronger mixer makes sense. I can't figure out from your post whether it was the meat that was partly frozen or if the mixer froze while mixing the meat. The Artisan is great for normal baking chores, including lighter breads, but it's not quite there for heavier breads without reducing the batch or other compromises. The meat might just be too much for the model, especially if there wasn't much liquid in the mix. I don't like to use the mixer for meat anyway. It gets too dense from that much handling, so I go old fashioned, put on food handling disposable gloves, and use my hands (I wonder if there's a better way to mix the meat than with the flat paddle?). I can't advise you about models. Do consider starting your own thread.

LOL, auntjen I just bought a red one for my FL kitchen from TJ max. With glass bowl. It will replace my perfectly functional white one. And then I bought the matching red toaster. Which will also replace a perfectly functional toaster. This has prompted me to begin looking at red dinnerware to match even though I of course have dinnerware... So clearly I have some problems ! I'll be listing the other mixer on craigslist at least...