What do you use your Kenwood/Kitcheniad for?

bootman

Thank you everyone.
KitchenAid mixer going to be tried out for chocolate brownies today, might try some bread dough as well!

I had the blender for xmas. It makes the best smoothies with frozen fruit, and the best pancake batter but thats all I seem to use if for. It is fidly to clean.

Really looking forward to using my mixer today :j Is it the flat beater for cakes? I'll get the book back out to check.

bigmuffins

OOOH mine arrived today and is lovely! :j
Haven't made anything with it yet - but have given it a thorough scrub (not that it needed it though - seems hardly used!)

A couple of quick questions if anyone is about:
Is a dough hook vital for bread making or can you manage without? (mine didn't come with one)
Any books that you would recommend (no manual either!)
Blender is 1.2l capacity but seems to be plastic - can you crush ice in it or does it have to be a glass one?

Any other advice welcomed from old Kenwood Chef hands!

Thanks in advance!
:beer:

Zed42

Congrats bigmuffins on your new purchase, have fun with it.

In my limited experience of breadmaking with the kenwood, I would say "yes" you need the dough hook.

Manuals wise - you could try the kenwood site: http://www.kenwoodworld.com/uk/customer_manuals.php?category=270

Have fun!

Today I used mine to make shortcrust pastry (k-beater), beat a couple of eggs (whisk), make biscuits (k-beater) .... muffins I made by hand

bigmuffins

Back to ebay for the dough hook then.
Think it will christen the Kenwood with Pancakes for breakfast tomorrow, Toad in the hole and a Victoria sponge for tea.
Bread will have to wait on the dough hook then.

Maybe meringues at the weekend! :drool:
Oh dear, I can feel my waistline expanding even more!

Hope the muffins were a success Zed 42!:p :T

bratsmum

Hubby got a KM005 at the weekend as an anniversary present (he promised me one when we got married but it never materialised). After telling him off for spending when economising and that I hadn't decided between the Kitchenaid and the KM001 Chef he confessed it had a red sale sticker on and the salesman talked him into it. Used the savings to get the food processor attachment and the pasta maker today.

A question to you experts then! My victoria sponge came out flat as a pancake and I couldn't cream the butter and sugar, it kept sticking to the side. Used K beater.

And what accessories, if any more, should I be saving up for? I chop lots of veggies, used to do them with the blade in my little old one and they came out just right, small enough not to look like veggies (kids!) but they were pureed after DS did them today!!!

And don't you dare tell me I should have got the Kitchenaid!!!!

LearningToSave.

bigmuffins wrote:

OOOH mine arrived today and is lovely! :j
Haven't made anything with it yet - but have given it a thorough scrub (not that it needed it though - seems hardly used!)

A couple of quick questions if anyone is about:
Is a dough hook vital for bread making or can you manage without? (mine didn't come with one)
Any books that you would recommend (no manual either!)
Blender is 1.2l capacity but seems to be plastic - can you crush ice in it or does it have to be a glass one?

Any other advice welcomed from old Kenwood Chef hands!

Thanks in advance!
:beer:

where did you buy it from bigmuffins? i bought mine from tesco for £89.99...i did post on grabbit but i dont know how to link-sorry!!

anyway mine came on friday and had the dough hook,k beater,something else!,a liquidiser,instruction manual and a recipie book that according to the back retails for £20!!!!
i thought all of them...at the very least....came with the dough hook,k beater and another tool(cant remember what the heck it is!!) and everything should have a manual.....i would ring the retailer you bought it from-it sounds to me as if you have one that has maybe been returned to be without manual and dough hook.

Zed42

bratsmum wrote:

A question to you experts then! My victoria sponge came out flat as a pancake and I couldn't cream the butter and sugar, it kept sticking to the side. Used K beater.

And don't you dare tell me I should have got the Kitchenaid!!!!

I can't compare the Kitchenaid, as I grew up with a Kenwood Chef, and now own one my own now

Victoria sponge - I always make my victoria sponges in the Kenwood and use the K-beater for creaming the butter/sugar, the whisk for beating the eggs beforehand. Sounds to me like the fact that the butter/sugar weren't creamed were the issue.

I do have to use a spatula now/again whilst creaming, as dependant on how cold the butter is, it gets stuck to the edge of the bowl.

Can't answer the one about the food processer attachment, as I rarely use mine.

Other attachments - hmm, well, I'm currently contemplating a mincer.

Good luck, you'll get there!

Zed42

LearningToSave. wrote:

....came with the dough hook,k beater and another tool(cant remember what the heck it is!!) and everything should have a manual.....

Do you mean a whisk?

LearningToSave.

Zed42 wrote:

Do you mean a whisk?

a whisk!!!!!!!! thats it!!!!!!!!!! god,for the life of me i couldnt think of what else it was!!!!

flea72

i always use the whisk attachment to make cakes, as i was never too sure what the k beater was used for

ive used the K beater to make bread dough, as i too didnt have the dough hook

However, i have since acquired 3 kenwoods of varying models, from car boots and local free ads

i spent ages trying to 'win' a dough hook on ebay, but the prices werent much lower than buying a hook new. You will prob find a better priced one at a carboot, but that usually means you have to buy the machine and all the other attachments too, hence my 3 machines lol

Flea