Mixers get a stress test

As a relatively serious home bread baker, I read “The Mixer, All Revved Up” (June 22) with interest. Unfortunately, it seems to me that you just didn’t get it.

If you want to evaluate heavy-duty mixers, you need to test more than four egg whites or two loaves of bread. When I was looking for a higher-capacity mixer, I ran a head-to-head test of a new DeLonghi against my old KitchenAid Pro 6, measuring each item to the gram. The challenge was to knead enough 100% whole-wheat dough for two boules.

The DeLonghi, in spite of its vaunted gearing, could not handle the load and simply stalled. The KitchenAid accomplished the task but cannot handle more than two loaves.

I am not surprised that you rated the Viking close to the DeLonghi. As I understand it, the two are essentially the same machine, albeit with a different “skin.”

The real workhorses are the Bosch and DLX. Yes, their concept is different from your mother’s stand mixer. Each has a learning curve, which is not surprising given how they differ from the familiar. But just as knowing how to ride a bicycle does not make one a motorcycle pro, one has to learn how to work with a new technology.

My DLX is an incredible bread machine. It can knead five or six loaves without any signs of strain. If you want to cream butter, it can do that too, but you should either have the butter at room temperature or grate the frozen butter into the bowl.

Deborah Young

Encinitas