Assure me...will I regret the 11-cup food processor I just bought?

[Magnificat2005]

I've been wanting one for awhile. I've started making my own bread and I thought it was finally time. Amazon.com was selling the KitchenAid KFP750 for only $172. I pulled the trigger. Will I regret getting the 11-cup over the 9 or 7 cup?

[chef chicklet]

report the crudyu,,]

[jspear]

no regrets

[alkapal]

is it loud? i have an old thing that sounds like a jet engine....

[sfumato]

Absolutely not- you won't regret it. I have a larger one, too, and I love the fact that it can handle small (since the blades run so close to the bottom of the bowl) and large loads. Congrats on your new toy!

[ChefJune]

You won't regret it, unless you later are sorry you didn't get a 14-cupper!

You can always (and easily) do a small amount in a large bowl, but processing multiple batches -- over and over and over -- when you have only a small bowl, can get really exasperating.

I've had the 14-cup Cuisinart for manymanymany years, and I wouldn't trade that size for a sack of gold! OTOH, my Mom had the 7-cup size, and whenever I cooked at her house, I used to nearly tear my hair out...

[davmar77]

that's how we feel too.we have the same one i think although if it ever goes,we've looked at the 20 cup pro models but i don't know if we'd really end up spending that much if it came down to it.

[jmckee]

I am probably the only person who rarely uses the food processor to chop vegetables. The 11-cup will be fabulous for my favorite use: Julia Child's French Bread recipe from "The Way to Cook." You will be able to turn out multiple recipes with ease.

[chef chicklet]

For grating cheese when you're making lasagne, or cannoloni or even enchiladas, use it. And for carrots for a Carrot Cake, don't ever bloody your knuckles again.Takes all of two seconds, well ok, almost.

[koigirl]

I bought an 11-cup and wish I had a 14-cup processor like my old one. Every time I make salsa, it overflows! I do this recipe from scratch and just can't get used to the smaller bowl. Bigger is better IMO.

[Magnificat2005]

Thank you all for your feedback! The food processor arrived yesterday. I love it already. Easy to assemble and clean. I made a some bread today and am very pleased. I'm really glad I got the 11-cup and not something smaller.

[grant.cook]

I agree the bigger is better for normal uses. I ended up picking up a very small food processor at Costco for $26, though to go with my 11-cup one, for teeny chopping jobs and things like making small batches of mayonnaise.

[flourgirl]

I have a KA 12 cup FP and I love it. No complaints and I use it very regularly.

[fern]

When you do something that's rather liquidy the larger capacity is especially nice. Sometimes I get leakage where the lid meets the bowl if I have too much in there. A very large bowl is helpful here.

[blondelle]

When Consumer Reports tested these they found that they didn't actually hold the manufacturers stated amounts., and had a smaller capacity than stated. The 12 cup is a great size, and you have the mini bowl too. Also check Kitchenaid's site to see if they have a rebate offer on it now.

[goodhealthgourmet]

absolutely not - you'll love it. as razolnikov stated, you can use the insert for smaller jobs. i'm also glad you got the KA, i like it much better than the cuisinart.

[pharmnerd]

We have the 7 cup & wished we had larger. Of course, there's times when it's fine, but sucks when we have to make larger foods in batches.

[pejoe]

Fear not! You have made the right choice.. I have worked in a large cookware shop for 7 years and am a cook as well as a baker.. ....I always discourage people from the smaller food processors... simply because you can always do less in a bigger one and you'll really appreciate the capacity if you're pureeing soup or making pastry for a two crust pie....and the footprint of the 7 cup is very close to the same size as the big one with just as much stuff to clean so what do you gain? the kitchen aid comes with the smaller insert anyway... your new processor actually has a capacity of 12 cups so thats even better and It has a nice wide feed tube too! Enjoy!!

[Magnificat2005]

I was reading the instruction manual and it says not to use more than 3 cups of flour. I've got a couple bread recipes that require 4 cups. Do you think my 11 cupper could handle it or are those instructions really there for a reason?

[Father Kitchen]

When mixing dough for larger quantities than three cups of flour in your processor, rough mix the liquid and the flour in a separate bowl and hold back a bit of the liquid. Use a bench knife to cut the mass of dough into chunks that the processor can easily handle. Add extra liquid if you need to. Recombine the chunks of dough after you process them by kneading them for a turn or two. Don't worry about minor differences in hydration. They will even out in the bulk fermtation. Also, as Charles Van Over recommends in his book on food processor bread (The Best Bread Ever), use the steel cutting blade, not a kneading blade. Generally his method is to take the base temperature of the water and flour and process for 45 seconds, take the temperature again and process for a bit longer if it is cooler than ideal temperature for rising or put it in the fridge if it is too warm. I've found that if my flour is room temperature and the water is too, I can ignore taking the temp. I've done batches of up to 18 cups of flour this way, both in yeasted and sourdough versions. I have not had much success with brioche doughs--they tend to lift the blade. Also, cleaning can be a problem with enriched doughs. The easiest way to clean the processor is to soak the dough encrusted parts in cold water with vinegar in it. It will degrade the gluten and washing will be easy.

[razkolnikov]

You won't. The 12-cup size is great for most things, and when you need a smaller bowl, the KFP750 comes with a 4-cup mini bowl you can drop into the big one.