mulberryshoots

I’m no Spring Chicken. For a long time now, I’ve been yearning for a Kitchenaid stand mixer. I’ve ordered one and returned it without opening the box. I ordered a much cheaper Chefmaster stand mixer and returned it to Walmart without opening the box. I look at the Kitchenaid mixers when the Williams Sonoma catalogs come in the mail – ones in Champagne color that cost over $400.

My ambivalence is based on not wanting to bake more recipes which contain sugar and flour. However, my recent successes making homemade oatmeal bread which have improved due to using an electric mixer after reading huge volumes about baking bread from the library have made me a little less timid about justifying the purchase of a stand mixer.

Plus, it looks like I’m getting a tax refund.

So, I just looked online at the Williams Sonoma champagne colored one but the 20% discount promotion code didn’t work. I looked at other Kitchenaid stand mixers on Amazon because I have Prime for free shipping (they’re very heavy.) I noticed that the Kitchenaid mixers had motors with 250-350-500 watts. Then, as I was almost ready to check out with one made by Cuisinart which had a 500 watt motor and was around $200 (as opposed to double that for Kitchenaid,) I came across one made by Litchi. Nope, I haven’t ever heard of this brand either.

However, this one is a red stand model with a 650 watt motor. Yep! It has a standard paddle, dough hook and whipping attachments. And it’s priced at $139. The highest watt motor at less than half the price of comparable models. I went for it and am looking forward to receiving it on Friday. Then, I’ll be able to whip up some oatmeal bread at the drop of a hat. It’s getting easier too as I tweak the recipe and also get more experience with the optimal consistency of the dough (soft and moist, not too much flour, let the warm milk, yeast and honey proof before adding dry ingredients.) Etc. etc. etc.

But if you had a chance to sample the medium-thick slices of fragrant, soft, wonderful crumbed bread tonight, you might think about going down this garden path too. Or at least, understand why I’ve finally gone for a stand mixer that is powerful and affordable. Now, I just hope I continue to cook and live long enough to make such a late-in-life purchase worthwhile!~