If you’re serious about baking bread. If you want to produce enough loaves of whole wheat bread to feed your family for a week. Or, if you’re starting a baking business and can’t afford the price of a Hobart. Then the Bosch Universal Plus food mixer might be just what you are looking for.
Durable Transmission
The Bosch uses a different transmission than the planetary-type mixers. It is designed to mix heavy doughs with ease. With its sealed transmission and belt-drive it can easily churn out 9 loaves (15lbs of dough) at a time. This is fresh milled whole wheat bread! And it does it without showing any strain at all. The torque pressure a load like this creates, would have the average home planetary-style mixer smoking.
Watch the video below for a demonstration of making bread with the Bosch mixer.
Better Bread
The Bosch Universal Plus makes a better quality bread than many other food mixers. This is because of the unique construction of the dough hook. The dough hook (that is included with the mixer) is fitted with a scraper, in addition to the hooks. This scraper allows the dough to be pulled and folded-in on itself. This is more like the action you perform when kneading by hand. This stretching and pulling develops 100% of the gluten. Formed by the wheat when mixed for long periods, gluten is the protein that gives elasticity to dough. Gluten helps the dough to rise, and to keep it’s shape. Gluten also gives breads a chewy texture. A bagel or pizza crust are examples of a high gluten bread. This unique mixing action gives your bread loaves a professional appearance.
Facts; Gluten is an important source of protein for the world population. Less than 1% of the population of the United States has an adverse reaction to gluten.
Innovation in design
Bosch has been producing this series of mixers since 1950. The Bosch Universal Mixer (the model prior to the Universal Plus) has been on the market for the past 20 years, and is well known for it’s quality. The new Universal Plus is an improvement on this. The Universal Plus has a sleek new design that makes it easy to clean. A more powerful 800 Watt motor that doesn’t bog down. The newly developed sealed oil transmission is expected to double the 17 year life span of the Universal. The large bowl of this mixer features a rim that makes it easy to hold on to. The base has suction cups that prevent it from “walking” off your counter. All in all I’d say the Bosch engineering company has done their homework, and found solutions to make this mixer easy to use, easy to clean, and more durable.
Features
- 6 1/2 qt. bowl will handle up to 15 lbs. of dough enough for 9 loaves of bread
- 800 watt motor with sealed transmission for power and durability
- 4 easy to use speed settings + momentary switch The momentary switch is similar to the pulse button on blenders. It gives you a quick burst of speed.
- Removable steel drive shaft for easy bowl cleaning
- Whisk holder is dishwasher safe
- All Bosch Universal or older MUM3 attachments will fit on this new Bosch Universal Plus.
- Ergonomic and easy to handle rim at the top of the bowl
- Curved Splash ring which allows for extra volume
- Dough hook is designed to replicate hand kneading-100% gluten development
- Double beaters are included for whipping
- Cord storage inside
- Suction feet for a secure standing
- Wide range of optional accessories can eliminate the need for other appliances.
- Light weight and compact design make it easy to store. Weighs 12.3 lbs.
- Overload and start motor protection
- Sealed oil transmission more than doubles the lifetime of the transmission
- 3 year motor/transmission warranty
FREE Shipping on the Bosch mixer
How does it compare?
For convenience sake we’ll compare it with the Kitchenaid Professional 600.
Bosch Kitchenaid Pro 600
Motor 800 Watts 525 Watts
Bowl plastic stainless steel
Beaters Comes with dough hook,scraper Comes with 3 attachments,
and double beater paddle, whisk, dough hook
,
Transmission Sealed oil transmission Spur gears
Optional meat grinder, pasta extruder, meat grinder, pasta extruder, blender,
Accessories blender, food processor, sausage food processor, sausage stuffer, juicer,
stuffer, grain mill, juicer , paddle ice cream maker, pasta roller
Stability Suction cups ———————–
Capacity 6.5 quart bowl 6 quart bowl
Warranty 3 year 1 year
Ergonomics rim on bowl for easy grip handle and pour spout
Speeds 4 speeds plus pulse 10 speeds
Gluten 100% development less than 100 %
Guard 2-piece lid allows easy addition 1-piece splash guard of ingredients
As you can see from this list there are pros and cons to each of these mixers. I think when you are making your decision on which one to buy, you should consider what you will be using the mixer for. If you plan to do a lot of heavy dough and large quantities the Bosch is the better choice. If you plan to make smaller batches of cakes and cookies the Kitchenaid will be a better choice. The list of optional accessories is also something to consider. There are currently no pasta roller or ice cream attachments for the Bosch mixer. These are some of Kitchenaid’s most popular attachments.
How do the prices compare?
You can click here to see the current price on the Bosch Mixer.
Click here to see the current price of the Kitchenaid Professional 600.
How do other customers rate these mixers?
Laura, you will not burn out a bosch mixer. i highly recommend them. I have seen people mix 8 loaves of bread at the same time with out straining the bosch much. the bosch mixer also sounds like a luxury car compared to a kitchenaid 600, at least the one’s i’ve heard. the bosch mixer will last forever like your old magic mill mixer. my mom has had the old bosch mixer for over 16 years and I have had the new bosch for about 2 years and they are both winners in durability and performance.
Bosch has really designed a powerhouse here. 6 months ago, when I wanted to buy a stand mixer to replace a basic Sunbeam from years ago, I thought “Of course, I’m finally going to get that Kitchenaid I saw in the kitchen store all those years ago, but couldn’t afford. That’s the real deal.” Then I read the reviews on Amazon, and read the Yahoo Mixer-Owners list and some other bread making lists. With the amount of complaints I saw, and the prohibitions in the manual against using too much flour or to high a speed or whatever, I decided I needed to keep looking.
Enter the Bosch. The reviews and youtube videos showed that the way you know how much flour / dough you can make in this – when the bowl is full! That’s the sort of obvious scenario I like! The Bosch Universal Plus (BUP) also has quite the reputation for lasting forever. So far, I have no reason to doubt that. I’ve done 6 loves of bread at once in this, and it’s never gotten hot, shut down or even slowed down. I’ve done mashed potatoes, no problem. It does have overload protection, but I have to say, so far the only way I can imaging tripping that is if you’re mixing up concrete.
Many reviews have some listed weaknesses of the Bosch. I’d like to address them as I see them.
1) It’s plastic and ugly.
It is plastic. It’s a strong plastic, I don’t see any issues with reliability so far. As to being ugly, I think that’s a matter of opinion. The best part about being plastic is it’s light and it’s not that large, so I put it away when I’m not using it. It fits in a cabinet in my Kitchen. So to me, asking how pretty it is is like asking how pretty my skillsaw is. It’s a tool that’s in the shed when I’m not using it. Who cares?2) It’s hard to clean.
Honestly, I don’t know where this is coming from. You can put everything but the dough hook in the dishwasher. I actually wash it by hand by setting my tap water on hot and using my sink sprayer to knock off all the batter or dough or whatever, add some dish soap, swish it around and rinse. The whole thing is non-stick. Everything just sloughs off under some water pressure. It’s easer to clean than the glass bowls from my old Sunbeam mixer. I suppose it’s a little fiddly because there are so many parts, but again they all go in the dishwasher save the dough hook. And that really is as easy to clean as the bowl etc. The hardest part is wiping down the stand / motor that you can’t just spray water at, but I can’t see how it could be that hard as it’s the same sort of slippery plastic and you just rub a little with some hot water and done.3) It can’t do cakes or cookies.
All I can say is “works for me”. I did several kinds of cookies and cakes over the last 6 months and it was the same as using the old Sunbeam. I honestly don’t know how it could be easier – it worked like any other mixer. I suppose if you didn’t know to use the whisks and tried to use the dough hook it wouldn’t work, but . .. ?? I even did frosting.4) Can’t do small batches.
This is true depending on your definition of small. I found it couldn’t really do a half recipe of buttercream frosting when I needed just a bit more for my cakes I did last weekend. But that’s a half recipe – it would be the frosting for 1 8″ round. That’s probably unusually small. For bread, if you’re doing 1 loaf, I would use a bread machine, but there are attachments (for like $6) to do small dough amounts. To be honest, I’m not messing with a mixer and the oven etc for less than 6+ loaves of bread, so it doesn’t come up for me.5) Extra part to scrape down with the center post.
Well, yes and no. Yes, you occasionally have to scrape the bowl down. I haven’t heard of a mixer that you don’t. The middle post rarely needs to be scraped down though as the batter or dough is all being pushed against it by the beaters or hook so it gets grabbed by the mixer. I generally have to scrape down the outside of the bowl, and that’s the same as with my old mixer.I have to say, I’m really happy with my Bosch. It has pretty much all the same attachments like a food processor, blender, pasta maker etc that the competition has. It powers through the jobs. One thing, if you buy this, get the cookie paddles and batter whisks. You’ll want to use them for cookies and cake batter respectively. The French Whisks that it comes with are good for making marshmallows and angelfood cake and things you really really need to beat / whip. But for cake batters I suggest the batter whisks which don’t beat as strongly. And get ready to want to “collect them all” for attachments.
Out of 36 reviews, 25 customers gave the Bosch a five star rating. See the reviews here
The Final Decision
The Bosch is a heavy duty machine that can handle the most difficult mixing tasks with ease. If you are planning to bake whole grain bread for a family or business it will get the job done, and will give you professional results. The cost is in-line with other professional mixers. The Bosch comes with a 3-year warranty and many new innovations like the suction cup feet, the hide-away cord, the large sealed oil transmission, and the ergonomic bowl design. The optional accessories can eliminate the need for many other kitchen appliances. The Bosch Universal Plus is a great tool for bread bakers, and people that need to do large quantity mixing.
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