Bosch
In case you want to skip through to the Bosch Page . If you are interested in details, read below.
I grew up in a large family. I had nine siblings. With me, there were 10 of us. I know, bless my parents, right.... Because there were so many of us, my mom became the master of frugality. I swear, she had the ability to stretch a dollar like no one I have ever known. One of her tactics for saving money was making our own bread, and feeding us LOTS of it. All the bread we ate was a partial wheat bread. She would grind her own wheat on a Magic Mill wheat grinder, wheat berries are very cheap. All the bread, after I was about 5, was mixed in a Bosch mixer. Before then she kneaded it by hand. I started making bread when I was pretty young for my mom. She would pay me 25-50 cents a loaf. I thought I had hit it big time. Did I also mention for resourceful my mom was:) ? Every Saturday I made 21 loaves of bread. 3 batches of 7 loaves each. Can you imagine? 7 loaves of bread in one batch? We did it. All praise to the Bosch. My mom owned that particular Bosch for at least 30 years, she only replaced it recently, and it was only replaced because she liked the new designs better. I would say she got her moneys worth. I wish I had some photos to share of those days, but I think my mom must have been too busy with TEN kids to worry about food photography:). Now me on the other hand....
Fast forward to me, in my adult life. I decided I would be different from my mom and get a Kitchenaid, it seemed like the popular thing to do. I generally don't buy into fads, so I am not sure why this one took? I went in to it with the idea a Kitchenaid would be able to handle what my mom's Bosch always had. I was totally disappointed. While I don't have a large family, like my parents did, I do cook for anyone and everyone, constantly. So, big batches of baked goods are a norm in my house as well. Here is my track record with Kitchenaid- I started with the smaller model, and this lasted me at least 5 years. Unfortunately, I had to move to smaller batch mixing, which is time consuming, something I don't have a lot of. I gave it to my sister-in-law and moved to the professional series. Here I thought I would finally have a machine that compared to my mom's Bosch. Wrong. I burned up the first one, it started smoking and stopped. They replaced it and I burned up the second as well. I went in for the third and when I stalled that one out as well, I finally learned maybe my mom had it right all along. About 2 years ago, I came home. I bought my OWN Bosch. This is the workhorse I have been needing in my kitchen. No matter what I have thrown at it, it has taken it without even a stall.
So, if you are in the market for a mixer (this is huge investment and one you should consider carefully), let me show you why I love mine.
Watts are an important consideration when choosing a mixer, particularly if you make bread, or use it for big batch mixing. The universal, which I own, pictured above is 800 watts. You will notice Kitchenaid rarely states their wattage, for a reason. Wattage of course is not the only determining factor for power, but a really good indicator. For example, the professional Kitchenaid models I burned up were 525 watts. I had to really dig for that info. Their artisan is about 325. Classic is 250. Even Bosch's smaller mixer is still 400 watts.
The bowl size on a Bosch is huge! I can tell you, when I want to, I make a batch of dough that makes 5 loaves of bread. The way the Bosch mixes, it allows you to fit in so much dough!Below you can see what one loaf of bread dough looks like in the mixer, nothing, right?
It has suction feet on it. At first I thought it was kind of annoying, I move mine in and out of the pantry ( I hate things stored on my countertop). So, it was a little bit of a hassle getting it off the countertop. But..now I love it! It helps that mixer stay in place when it is mixing difficult batches. I didn't realize how much my mixers got thrown around before, not until I had one that didn't!
If you have any questions, you should definitely reach out and ask. I love mine and would be happy to answer anything you can throw at me.
I am an affiliate for Bosch, I do need to state that. They did not give me the mixer though, this is one I purchased on my own, and love it.
Nutrimill
Next up is my grain mill. While I grew up using a Magic Mill, I have since switched to Nutrimill. I have owned mine for at least 10 years and love. They recently sent me a new model, which is beautiful and so simple to use.
I have loved the movement recently to get back to whole foods, and move closer to our food sources. I think it is important and vital to our health to make sure most of our foods are whole and clean. I have often wondered though, what about grains? It is still a perfectly accepted norm to buy our whole grain flours already ground. Why, when it is so simple to do on our own, is it still not a thing. I would love to see this change. I'll tell you a few reasons I love to grind my own. First, freshness. It goes without explanation, flours you buy in the store are OLD. Plain and simple.
Flour you buy generally has been shipped and moved long distances, this results in a very compact flour. When you grind it on your own, it is so light and fluffy.
They also generally remove the germ in store bought flours, this is where so much of the nutrition in the grain is found.
Whole grain berries have extremely long shelf life. It is the perfect food storage.
AS if this wasn't enough, the taste is so much better.
So, check more info on the Nutrimill . I think you will be excited to learn more about it. I realize the cost is fairly high, but we are coming into the holidays, so you should definitely treat yo self!