Update on Ken

I have had my Kenwood Titanium Chef for 6 months now and people still arrive at things{we}make searching for Kenwood Vs KitchenAid information, so I thought I would offer an update.

Note: Any underlined phrases link to where I have used the Kenwood Chef in a post.

So, me and Ken are getting along just dandy. It sounds over the top to say that he has changed the way I cook but I guess it has changed the way I bake. So far Ken the Chef has dealt with all that I ask of him and still looks good on it.

I regularly make enough bread dough for a couple of loaves using the dough hook and it doesn’t labour the motor at all. I find that the bread I make is much lighter now and I think this is partly because I can leave the machine kneading whilst I do other things so the dough gets a longer knead. Using a mixer also allows me to make a really wet dough, without getting the kitchen into a real mess. I think that a wetter dough makes for better bread as it allows the gluten to stretch and the yeast bubbles to rise more easily.

Because Ken is busy kneading I can be a little more inventive with my recipes too. I can wander around the kitchen in my pinny and consider new things to add to the mix.

I find the deep bowl really good for allowing bread to rise. I put a plate, or cling film on top of it and there is plenty of room in an enclosed atmosphere for the dough to do its thing. I even sit the bowl in the bottom of a recently emptied dishwasher as the damp warmth is perfect for bread proving.

Now I have adjusted all the attachments so that they are at the right level to nearly touch the metal bowl they all work very well, plus they are easy to attach and easy to clean. Don’t kid yourself though, no matter how well you adjust the blades you will always need to scrape the sides of the bowl after each new ingredient is added if you want to make sure everything is mixed in well.

After the dough hook, the K beater gets the most use. I prefer it to the rubberised version which is designed to stop the mix sticking to the side of the bowl. Somehow I feel the rubber one doesn’t have quite so much ‘welly’. The K beater is K for KAKE as that is what it gets used for the most. It tackles a hefty ‘whole pack of butter and 5 eggs‘ cake like the Pear Cake or this Peach Cake with ease, and that is the cake that killed my last hand mixer.

Ken also helped me to knock out 120 cupcakes with various flavours of frosting for my friend Katie’s birthday party; something that would have been a trial to have achieved by hand.

I have used the ‘food processor’ attachment several times for chopping nuts or making breadcrumbs, pesto or curry paste and it works pretty well, although for anything major I would still haul out the Magimix. The only problem that I have is attaching it to the machine and getting the lid on correctly. I can sometimes be heard cursing it when I can’t work out what should be lined up with what, and it has a safety mechanism that won’t let it work unless it is correctly aligned. Perhaps reading the instructions would help.

The balloon whisk has been employed for the occasional meringue or pavlova and it performed very well. I often put the metal bowl through a hot dishwasher cycle to get it spotlessly clean, so there are no worries about grease contaminating the egg whites.

The liquidiser is a real heavy beast of a thing. It feels right for the job, but I must admit I don’t have many of the jobs that it is right for. I made hollandaise in it, which worked well, as you can leave the motor running whilst you pour in the hot butter, but I had a miserable couple of attempts trying to make mayonnaise. I think the volume was too small as too much of the mix ended up sat underneath the blades.

I had a similar problem making milk shake with a frozen berry mix I just couldn’t seem to get them to mix through and they just spun around at the bottom of the jug. After a lot of jiffling and extra milk I eventually made it work. The next time the boy wanted a drink we just decided to go for an ice cream float.

I remember my Mum using her Kenwood liquidiser mostly for soup, but I find a stick blender plunged straight into the soup pan is a much quicker option and creates much less washing up

All in all I am very pleased with Ken Wood the Chef. I might even go so far as to treat him to a mincer attachment sometime soon. He is a great addition to the kitchen and although he’s already looking a bit grubby round the dials, I can see us having many happy cakes years together.

If you do decide to buy a Kenwood Chef Titanium and click through to it on any of the links or photos above to get to it….Amazon will send me a little something to say thank you. So if this post (or the other two) below have helped you please click through on the link to give me a little birthday present. It won’t cost you any more but it means Amazon share the joy! Thank you.

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Post 2 Comparing

Post 3 Kenwood Review