That picture is my six batard sourdough morning batch. Total dough weight is 2130g. I will often do a double batch in the machine which is 4260g. The machine has no troubles with either, but the double likes to climb up the roller more readily. I've learned to keep sturdy but not hard pressure pushing the roller against the wall to control dough climb. Not an easy skill to teach my staff. The dough climb can be seen in my #3 circle below. This is no different than my old Kitchen Aid except it is easier to resolve on this machine since the top is accessible during operation versus the lifted bowl of the KA.
The number one circle shows how dough likes to slip under the side bowl scraper. I normally will hold the scraper arm with my left hand while leveraging that against my right hand on the roller arm. At times I'll just let it all go hands free, but that normally doesn't give me a very positive outcome - ie, it is more efficient for me to have both hands active in the process. It seems over time that my scraper is letting more dough underneath than it used to. This is still much better than my KA bowl walls.
The number two circle shows how dough likes to pull the scraper away from the side. Once this happens your mixing efficiency drops to nil.
My biggest problem is that their instruction manual seems inaccurate as to what tool to use for what job. I use the roller wheel for my bread and most other doughs, and the whisks for creams, but I have yet to find a good use for the dough hook. I've tried the dough hook many times on my bread, but it doesn't work well. Maybe someone can enlighten me on that.
So, my summary...this is still a workhorse showing no signs of letting down. Because of the design there really is no reason for the motor to burn out. On the contrary, since my last post, my KA died a third time doing far less work. I had to pay for this repair versus the first two which were covered by KA.
Even so, there are some design flaws as I see them. First, I'd like the side scraper to hold itself in place. Second, I'd like to see the roller bar arm lock keep the arm from moving inward versus outward (not sure why they thought it was useful for the arm to be locked from moving toward the outside of the bowl). Third, I'd like to have a hands free experience so I can do things other than babysit my machine.
That's my summary for now. I expect my fellow Magic Millers to chime in with their experiences.
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4 comments:
I wouldn't say that the mixing efficiency drops to nil when the dough pulls the scraper away, since it is stretching it out, even if it does tear it sometimes.
As for the scraper, I usually scrape down the bits that the scraper misses, since I have the same problem.
Also, I've never had any success with the dough hook, since all it does is spin the dough around and make it climb all over the place.
I agree. Its not nil, but it certainly is not what it should/could be. Glad to know we are having similar experiences. I would love to know how to use the dough hook.
The dough hook really only works when the mixing bowl is very full. With a small quantity of dough/ingredients, the dough hook just doesn't make contact...the material in the bowl needs to be pushed and squished and torn and pulled through the dough hook in order for the dough hook to be of use. I only use the dough hook when the amount of ingredients in the bowl would either creep up too frequently on the roller or when the roller itself takes up needed space that could otherwise be taken up by ingredients. Again, the bowl needs to be very full if you want to get good results from the dough hook. And you can make very elastic doughs with the dough hook and produce good results with it because it's constantly pulling and stretching and tearing the dough as the bowl rotates.
You might find the breadbeckers demonstration on youtube helpful ~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMB4CVG5fLs
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