Kitchenaid 12-C Food Processor and Bread Doughs

[nofunlatte]

My super-cheap (read: $9 brand-new at an Iowa City consignment shop) food processor (Black and Decker) has some cracks at the bottom of the bowl. While it has served me well for pesto and peanut butter, which is what I mostly use it for, I am thinking of upgrading to a "real" food processor. I've been checking reviews and the Kitchenaid ones have garnered some pretty decent reviews. I'd like to know if anyone here has the 12-cup one and if so, have you made bread doughs or pizza doughs in it. How well does it knead these doughs? Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[StuartHMB]

I like the Viking FP (14 Cup and 3 cup bowls). That said, I don't think FP's work so well for bread dough...the risk of overheating and creating a very rubbery gluten structure beyond what is desired. If you must, give the dough some resting times with the lid off between "kneading", and you should finish kneading by hand.

[nofunlatte]

I was thinking of using it mostly for pizza doughs and for initially incorporating the wet and dry ingredients, but doing most of the kneading by hand (which, by the way, is a great workout for the arms!)

Thanks for your tips (you and kayakado).

[gnomatic]

I have 9 cup Kitchenaid that I use for bread dough, pizza dough, cookie dough, biscotti, scones, shortbread and pie crust.

It does an excellent job. I don't have a stand mixer, so I use my FP whenever possible for doughs. For breads, it's just for mixing ingredients, I knead it by hand. For anything with butter, I freeze the butter first, and cut it into smaller pieces.

Some pictures baked goods I made with my food processor are attached.

[nofunlatte]

Great pics! Now I'm hungry--what kind of bread is that? It's beautiful!
And Hero preserves (in the last pic)--I love that stuff!

Thanks!

[gnomatic]

The bread was made from a very simple french baguette dough of all purpose flour, water, yeast, sugar (for proofing the yeast) and salt. Pulse only a few times for everything to come together, dumped it into an oiled bowl, knead it in the bowl. Put in warm place to rise. Punch down, knead and shaped. Let it rise again before baking. Overall it required very little kneading. Had a pan on the lower rack that I tossed ice cube in during baking. I also sprayed water on it to create a nice crust.

I tried to shape into an Epi, but I didn't get it right. The 9 cup Kitchenaid made enough dough for two of them.

[dinin and dishin]

gnomatic, I'm in the process of searching for a replacement processor. My 15+ year old Braun is on it's final legs. I didn't see a dough blade listed among the Kitchenaid 12 cup accessories. Do you use the cutting blade or do you have a special dough blade? Thx

[Grillncook]

KA 12 cup comes with a dough blade in the accessory box. I do prefer my KA Pro 6 stand mixer for making dough, but the FP makes great biscuit and pie crust dough.

[kayakado]

I think any large capacity FP should be fine. I have a 14 cup Cuisinart and sometimes it is too small.. I killed all the smaller FPs I had over the years, not with bread dough but with cookie dough. Look for one that has a breaker that shuts the machine down before it fries the motor. I will say my first FP died by stripping it plastics gears.