Need me to bake you anything in LARGE quantities?

This summer, we were on vacation in Northern Ontario on a small island which used to be an old Anglican Church Camp. No longer in use as a camp, the island is leased out to cottagers, but the old kitchen with all the big equipment still remains. My brother-in-law's father and uncle joined us, too, for about a week to do some fishing. While they were there, I was coveting the beautiful, large and unused 20qt. mixer in the backroom of the kitchen and wondering if there was any way Steve and I could purchase it and haul it home. Ian's uncle piped up, "How big a mixer do you want?" I said the one in the backroom was perfect. His response? "Well, I have a Hobart mixer about that size in my garage. If you want it, it's yours." WooHoo!!!

Jim's dad used to be a baker and Jim kept this antique, but well-working mixer in his garage. His wife, Wanda, was very happy to see it out of her garage and into a new home which would use it . :) Jim was kind enough to put on a new switch, power cord and do some greasing to get it running very smoothly. It needed some aesthetic help, which we finally ended up having done by a wonderful, local man who sandblasted the whole thing and painted it a fire-engine red! The other challenge was to find a dough hook. It wasn't easy, since no one could seem to identify the model. My dad and I were finally able to locate one at a restaurant supply place about 1 1/2 hours away. They were extremely helpful. We finally brought our new mixer home on Friday night and I was able to start using it on Saturday! So, without further adieu, I present...my new mixer:

I know the bowl isn't perfect and shiny like the rest of the mixer, but it is very functional. On Saturday, I made 9 loaves of bread at ONE TIME!! I actually had to do two baking sessions since my oven can only hold 6 loaves. Yesterday, I made a huge batch of cookies, which I normally have to mix by hand in an extra large bowl because the recipe is too much for my Kitchen Aid.

My three year old thinks the paddle is great for licking, since it is many times bigger than the normal paddle she gets to lick!


Just for interest's sake, here is my mixer before we had it painted:

Pretty amazing, hey?

And, here is the Hobart's dough hook beside the Kitchen Aid's dough hook:


Funny, before we had six kids, I thought the Kitchen Aid was really big. ;)

I know we are going to get lots of use out of our new mixer. It had become a hassle to make a batch of bread (I could do three loaves at a time in my Kitchen Aid) knowing it would all be gone before the end of the day.

Jim and Wanda...God bless you! We are just loving our new Hobart!