Mixer Musings

So I got my new mixer this weekend. A super hoorah to Canada Post who delivered it on Sunday, they really are better then anyone else for parcels here. Mostly because you don’t have to drive out to the suburbs to pick up your package if you miss delivery. Back on topic, I received my mixer early enough time to make something exciting. Since it was already mid afternoon on Sunday that eliminated most bread options so I went with cupcakes instead. In the end I was really impressed with the overall cupcakes but I am still not entirely sure about the mixer.

It is certainly a thing of beauty to behold and it even fits where the old one did which is nice. However after turning it on I found it to be extremely loud. Much, much louder then my old Ultra Power model. The noise appeared to be in sync with the motion so I thought maybe the paddle was scraping along the bottom. I attempted to recalibrate the paddle height but didn’t see any improvement. So I went onto the kitchen aid forums (a great resource) and learned about the dime test.

The dime test is an easy way to see if your paddle is at the right height for your bowl. Place a dime in your bowl and attach the paddle. Turn the machine onto stir, the dime should move about 3/4″ per rotation. If it doesn’t move at all the paddle is too high, if it has trouble moving the dime it is too low. Don’t forget to make sure your bowl is securely locked in place with the bowl clip in the back if you have the bowl lift model.

After I had made sure the machine height was correct my machine was still making the noise so again I turned to the kitchenaid forums. It turns out that such noises are expected as it takes awhile for the grease to work through the gears. In fact a 6-8 hour break in time is expected! Wow, at 7 minutes per bread that’s a lot of loaves!

So overall I am not completely won over by her yet but I haven’t tried the new spiral hook either. I am also looking for name ideas – Betty has been tossed around here?