Kneading by hand isn't difficult. I actually rather enjoy it, even though I own a KitchenAid. I only pull that out for difficult doughs, nothing I tried when I was first making bread.

Or, how about no-knead bread?

I see bread machines (Some still sealed in their original boxes) all the time at flea markets/thrift stores. I know I have read somewhere about people using bread machines for every step but the baking. It might be worth picking one up to use for the knead/rise times and pulling the dough out to form into whatever loaf you want to make.

I'd be careful with a budget stand mixer for kneading dough. Kneading dough is a tough job and is rough on machine motors.

Save up the money and buy a Kitchen Aid. I've seen them on sale for under $200. They are solid machines that can handle bread mixing and you'll probably find a hundred uses for it once you have one. I made brioche the other day and couldn't imagine even attempting that without the mixer...

I took a baguette workshop at a local baking school and was taught to fold-then-rest method of 'kneading'. Basically, you flatten out the dough, do an envelope fold with the dough, let it rest for 30 minutes. Repeat 3-4 more times. Then shape, proof, and then bake.

I have a Kitchen Aid, but I hardly use to knead bread dough these days since all I make is No Knead bread.

I would invest in a lovely antique bread bowl rather than a stand mixer. It's very easy to make bread and knead it by hand.

I use my KitchenAid for for a lot of things, but bread making isn't one of them. I think this is especially true if you're new to bread making- it's better to learn how the right dough should feel in your hands than to knead by machine.

I actually purchased a KitchenAid a few months ago for making bread, and it did not hold up well; in fact, the motor broke down on the third use! Buyer beware.

I use my KitchenAid stand mixer for baking bread now, but I started with recipes that could work easily by hand, and I recommend that. As others have said, you'll learn what the dough ought to feel like that way, but you'll also learn whether you actually want to bake bread on a regular basis.

Oh please. Yes, Travis, it is possible that a non-KitchenAid stand mixer will somehow manage the wring the necessary cycles out of its tiny Chinese motor to knead a couple of batches of bread for you. I have an antique Sunbeam I got at an antiques fair for $50 and it works great. The doughs and batters occasionally climb, so I babysit them, but it saves me a little elbow grease, which is all 99 percent of us ever ask from our mixers.

If you want a KitchenAid because it's heavy-duty chef quality and you do a heavy-duty chef amount of mixing, fine. If you want one because it's pretty and Martha Stewart has one, also fine. But you don't need to pretend that it's the only mixer on the entire planet that won't experience congestive heart failure while exploding if you try to mix anything more viscous than a single egg.

I tried kneading bread dough in the Kitchen-Aid stand mixer once. I had to fight it climbing up the dough hook and being covered with axle grease. It was pointless. I do kneading by hand, and 95% of the bread I make is no-knead which is by far tastier than any knead recipes I've tried.

If you have wrist problems which means you cannot knead and for some reason don't want to go the no-knead route: try a food processor or bread machine as suggested above.

From the sound of your question- you're new to bread baking, right? If so, the last thing I'd recommend is a stand mixer! Sure it makes it easier, but to me the best parts of bread making and one of the most valuable parts- is doing it by hand. It's like wanting an expensive food processor to chop veggies but not knowing how to chop with a plain knife first. Start simple and work up. Gotta learn to crawl before you walk.

I use my bread machine to knead and handle the rising and punching down. I just take it out to shape it, give it a second rise, and bake it. It's got a "dough" setting specifically for this. Unless I'm feeling particularly lazy or there's a time constraint (meaning I won't be home when the bread needs to start baking) I never actually bake in the machine.

ooh - well-stated @jmorri26! yes - by hand (especially no-knead) is a breeze!

And about @TorchyBlane's input: "antique" appliances often were made much better than current appliances (e.g. with plastic parts instead of metal).

whoops - i meant to say that older appliances were often made of all-metal, and now plastic has replaced many of those moving parts in cheaper appliances.

I was also going to say "Your hands are free!" It doesn't take much more time than using a stand mixer and while you can't walk away, most breads don't require more than 10 minutes of kneading by hand.

I've been meaning to buy a Danish dough whisk though. That tricky part of some doughs between sticky but too tough for a wooden spoon and pliable enough to knead without getting your fingers coated in sticky dough sounds like it would be perfect for a dough whisk. Anyone else ever used them?

Also, if your local library has a copy of Bernard Clayton's Complete Bread Companion (or whatever it's called these days), that would be a great place to start. He gives directions for making bread by hand, with a stand mixer, and with a food processor. His Old Order Amish Bread is super easy (though it takes about 4 hours including rises and baking time) and is essentially vegan, since it contains no milk, butter, or eggs.

Baking bread is fun, and I recommend making several loaves in one go. Bread keeps well in the fridge and can be easily frozen. Plus, if you're going to take the time to make it from scratch, you might as well make a lot of it!

Good luck. Nothing smells better than a kitchen full of baking bread.

I have both a bread machine and a Kitchen Aid mixer, and they're both gathering dust these days. I've made my own bread for the better part of 10 years, and now I'm exclusively making no-knead bread. You can find recipes by searching on 'Jim Lahey no knead bread' or going to http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/ .

If you're just buying a mixer for bread, give the no-knead stuff a try (I make whole grain stuff myself), you could end up saving yourself the cost of a mixer!

kneading by hand is the cheapest....or no knead bread.
but did you know you can buy refurbished kitchen aids from the factory at deep discounts?

vintagejenta: I have a Danish dough whisk and it's fantastic! I got it inexpensively on Amazon. I highly recommend.

I own a Kitchenaid mixer. I bake A LOT and I seriously use it at least once a week so it's worth it for me, however, I never use it for bread and I bake bread usually once a week or at least every two weeks if I make large batches to freeze. I prefer kneading by hand and it's honestly not a lot more work, as inexperienced bread bakers may think.

I cannot recommend enough Peter Reinhardt's "Artisan Breads Every Day." He uses the fold and stretch method mentioned above in addition to kneading. I own a couple popular no-knead books as well, but Peter Reinhardt recipes consistently give me great results. If anyone is interested in pizza, his pizza recipe is the best I've ever had and produced the best pizza crust (closest to pizzaria-style) I've ever made and I've made a lot of pizza.

I have also seriously reduced my use of my mixer for kneading. Sometimes I use it for Peter Reinhardt's "epoxy method" whole grains, at least to get the two halves started coming together, but I mostly make high hydration free-form loaves using the stretch & fold method. I also recommend thefreshloaf.com to learn from an international group of amateur & professional bread bakers (and to ogle other people's beautiful breads).

i started baking a a little over two years ago and have yet to make the dive to purchase a stand mixer. i have a handheld mixer that helps give my arm a bit of rest when making things like cake and quick-bread batters, but for bread... my hands seem to work best.

And... I would suggest getting a little further along in your baking experiments to make sure you'll enjoy it.

And... if you get in a real pinch while your learning, you could always ask a friend to borrow one to try it out.

+1 for kneading by hand, especially when just starting out to make bread for the first time. You don't need a machine to make great bread, plus a machine will only distance you from the process while you are learning. I made bread by hand for years - before there was a no-knead method - and only advanced to a machine (yes, a KitchenAid) once I started making five loaves of bread every Saturday (which I no longer do). I agree with the others who suggest getting to know your process and making sure you enjoy it before making a large investment. And aneelee's suggestion about trying a friend's machine is excellent!

My aunt just recently gifted (pawned off? IDK) an old Oster blender/stand mixer/food processor thinger that she received as a wedding gift 15 years ago.

I've been pining for a Kitchen Aid or something equivalent for a while but haven't had the funds, so it's been a perfect interim product (even if it doesn't come in cool colors or look snazzy on my counter).

After having it for a few weeks, the thing I've been MOST surprised by is how LITTLE I use the actual stand mixer. Undoubtedly, brand and quality have a great deal to do with it, but I find that it really lacks the gonads to get mixing done with a regular batch of cookie dough - I've had to stop and finish by hand at least twice. I have yet to use the dough hooks because, frankly, I think I have more power in my scrawny arms to knead dough for 10 minutes than that whiny little machine.

Plus, I'll agree with EVERYONE up above that learning how to bake bread by hand is pretty important. Plus plus, it feels great in a weird, meditative, woo-woo sort of way to get absorbed in that ten minutes of kneading.

tl;dr: Got stand mixer after wanting one for bread making - now I use the blender/food processor more often. :P

Try checking for deals (I saw a deal for a Kitchenaid mixer at Kohl's on slickdeals.com a while back). Costco also has them. Additionally, consider getting it used and refinishing. My parents purchased a used Kitchenaid when I was a kid, stripped it, and reenameled it...just make sure it runs well. :)

A few folks have suggested waiting-- I agree. I am an avid baker and have a Kitchenaid (graduation gift). However, I've found that I tend to use my handheld or knead by hand more often. "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes..." makes a solid knead-free low-time bread.

You could buy a refurbished KitchenAid stand mixer. We've had great fun with our refurb KitchenAid Pro.

I actually bought my stang mixer specifically for making bread...and then I learned I much prefer to knead by hand.

However, if you're looking for a deal, look for refurbished KAs on ebay. I got mine for a steal and I've never had any problems with it.

Generally speaking: bread dough is the toughest task you will ask a stand mixer (or a food processor) to do. Motor Horse Power is important. Check something like ConsumerReports.com on the subject; Cuisinart and others make alternative products; some are much less expensive than the least expensive KitchenAid (some for very good reason). Some are much more expensive than the most expensive KitchenAid (some for very good reason)

Your best bet is to establish your needs- again, something like Consumer Reports is good for this- figure out what you want and how much you are willing to pay for it. As someone else said check Craigslist and EBay; lots of people receive these as gifts and have no desire to learn/use them.

Sorry- website is consumerreports.org and requires a paid subscription. Still, a good reference.

Most libraries have the subscription- and the actual magazines.

Really, you need to make some bread by hand kneading before you do anything else. That will do more to tell you what you want or need than anything else. I am now a serious amateur baker, and have a very expensive European mixer for bread making. When I was new to bread, I burned out my KitchenAid trying to make whole grain loaves. The new KitchenAids, made with plastic gears, as opposed to the older machines with all metal gears, just can’t handle heavy doughs. So, try it by hand first. Then, if you continue, and buy a machine, you may find that, like me, you still like to finish your dough with a little hand kneading, to be “one with the dough”. Good luck. Good baking.

I'd recommend an inexpensive bread machine and using the dough cycle. I have Kitchen Aid and I never use it for bread dough.

i purchased my standard kitchen aid last summer for $150 at costco. to me, that's a steal. i've made bread in it several times (some yesterday, in fact) and it holds up fine. when kneading the dough, however, i put it on the 2nd speed to imitate the speed at which i would normally knead and to keep the mixer from breaking (sure, it takes longer but it keeps from my mixer thumping). unfortunately, i don't think normal, everyday stand mixers (like the typical KA) would hold up to a lot of beating. while they're plenty hefty, bread dough is just too dense (esp if kneading whole wheat/whole grain dough) to do anything hardcore in a simple kitchen mixer.

I own an inexpensive bread machine. We only use it to make dough (weekly pizza dough, and bread dough if I'll be home long enough to bake it). It does a respectable job of kneading.

I make bread regularly for my family. It's great to make a handful of loafs at one time because they freeze really well! I had a KitchenAid until just recently but it couldn't cut kneading the dough. After proving to myself that I would continue to make bread even though my KitchenAid was not the ideal tool for my kitchen I now use a Bosch Universal Plus Kitchen Machine. I couldn't be happier! Of course you wouldn't want to spend the money on that if you're just starting out making bread... stick to your hands for kneading!

I got a Kitchen Aid Pro 600 (6 quart bowl) from overstock.com for $269. It's a refurb, but it's still warranted by KitchenAid and it works beautifully.

I've seen 5 quart models go for about 220 depending on how they're selling. The key is to check back often and not to be too picky about colour to get the best deal. They also have attachments at decent prices from time to time.

I'm a 2nd time beginner at bread baking as well. I purchased a Kitchen Aid Epicurean mixer about 10 years ago (for about $300, I think), and I've used it for mostly cake batters up until the past year when I decided I wanted to learn (again) how to bake bread (hadn't done it since college cooking courses in the late 70's). I agree that the hand kneading is a big part of the experience, but I have used my Kitchen Aid a few times when specific recipes called for a mixer to knead, and it has performed flawlessly.

For other baking (cakes, etc.), I have truly enjoyed the Kitchen Aid and not regretted spending the money. For years I used an old Sunbeam stand mixer or my Sunbeam hand mixer to make my huge pound cake. It would take about 30 minutes to beat the sugar and butter until very light and creamy, but with the Kitchen Aid, it takes a fraction of that time. I love being able to walk away from a stand mixer and do something else in the kitchen while mixing a batter.

I have seen negative reviews (on other sites) for some of the Kitchen Aid mixers, but, I think, those were mostly limited to the smaller versions with the "flip up" head, as opposed to the larger heavy duty models where the bowl actually moves up to the mixer head with a lever (this is the style I have). Someone can correct me if I am wrong about that, but that has been my perception.

All in all, I would say learn to knead with your hands, but if you love to bake, save up and get a heavy duty Kitchen Aid; it should last many, many years.

I agree with Hulzee. I grew up around Bosch mixers and they are the best for bread. My mother made homemade bread almost weekly. I bought mine from http://www.bkccooking.com

the cheapest scenerio in the long run is to buy a Hobart 5 qt. All household-types will eventually burn out or melt down with a year or so of daily use doing heavy doughs like bread. Granted the Hobart mixers are expensive, but they are virtually bomb proof and made to stand the daily use and abuse of heavy doughs--unlike the household jobbies. Hobart also used to make a 12 and 15 qt mixer, still small enough for a normal counter, but again, bomb-proof. These are found used at auctions and used food eqpt.
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It really depends how often you will be using the mixer and how much bread you want to make at once. Also, if your new to using mixers then you should put a lot of emphasis on getting a model that is known to be very user friendly. This guide does a good job in recommending some mixers in different price ranges…
Best Stand Mixers for Making Bread