[Lulu]

I'm thinking of buy a food processor to help me deal with all this food I'm going to grow this year.  I'm not asking anyone to recommend one but as I know nothing about them except they seem very useful. I was wondering - what attachments etc should I be looking for?  I do some baking now and then as well as making sauces etc.

Any advice would be welcome?   

[Yorkie]

I use one to shred / grate my courgette (for cake) and red cabbage.  Usual one for mixing cake mixture. 

[juliec]

to help us out what do you use at the moment and what are you doing/growing which will make you need different techniques?

jools

[Lulu]

Hi I have used an electric hand mixer and I have a hand blender for years.   I would like to be able to make my own pastry, cakes etc.  As to what I'm growing - carrots, potatoes, peas, sweetcorn, brassicas, onions courgettes,  and squash to name a few.   I do like a nice carrot cake!  This last year I made lots of tomato sauce for pasta etc.  I work full time and would like a way of speeding processes up a bit.

[GrannieAnnie]

I know you said not to recommend one, but I had my Kenwood for years and it came with about 6-7 attachments.

Most used was the chopping blade, graters, and the whippy thing for cake mixes and occasionally the chipper, but the chips came out curled!!!

Liquidiser for soups and sauces would be good too!

[mumofstig]

I have a small size kenwood and it has a couple of graters a dough hook and a liquidiser as well as the chopping blade, and it gets used nearly everyday  

I forgot the slicing thingy 

[Spana]

Apart from the normal blade thingy i use the slicer blades a lot. 
I have 1 for thick and 1 for thin slices.  Brilliant for slicing potatoes for dauphinoise, peppers and cues or anything thinly for salads and i even do my seville oranges for marmalade with one of them. Save hours of work.

[Junie]

Hi,
I had a Moulinex for about 15  years but I dropped the jug and a new one would have cost over £50 from the states!  It had been brilliant, with a processor and liquidiser attachment too, 2 different graters, 2 different slices and a chipper ( which mangled so did not get used).
When it needed replacing I looked around, but they all seemed so flimsy and with a small jug in comparison, most felt that they would not take much use.

I bit the bullet and went for a Magimix - Expensive, but very robust.  I would not do without it, it is very easy to use.  I have the 4200 which has 3 sizes bowls so great for small amounts as well as pureeing soups.  They all work by fitting into one another, but forward planning or a quick rinse sorts out any problem of wanting to use 2 sizes.  I have 1 slicer, 1 grater, 2 cutting blades, a whisk, a dough blade and a citrus juicer all stored in a handy case. Everything works really really well, my only critisism would be that a small lump gets left behind when grating or slicing, but that used to happen with my old one.
It is heavy though, so you may want it to stay on the side, but I put mine away each time.

I have used every attachment that came with it, although I do prefer using a hand whisk to the whisk attachment and I use it regularly.

I was only saying to my OH before I sat down to computer ( currently making Marmalade and have used it for everything!) how much I LOVE my Magimix, then I saw this.

Expensive but I think well worth the money. 
Amazon was much cheaper than anywhere else ( including France!) I went for the cream as it was cheaper and goes away anyway.

Extra attachments can be bought seperately.

Sorry to sound like an advert

[joyfull]

I have a kitchenaid mixer (with loads of attachments - grinder, juicer, pasta maker, dough hook, beater, slicer, grater etc) and bought this as they are really well made and I used them when working in kitchens (same company as Hobart), I also have a kitchenaid liquidiser - again well made and big - great for soups.
As for a conventional food processor I have a little kenwood with a liquidiser but find it quite lightweight. If I just need a small mixer I use my dualit hand held one again well made 

[Spana]

I bit the bullet and went for a Magimix - Expensive, but very robust.  I would not do without it, it is very easy to use.  I have the 4200 which has 3 sizes bowls so great for small amounts as well as pureeing soups. 

Thats the one I have Junie and i agree its brilliant.  The juicer and slicer really come into their own for marmalade making, i make about 120lb every January.  But I use all the attachments often and wouldn't be without any of them.  
If it broke and I had to buy a new processor i wouldn't look at anything else.

joyful,my hand mixer is a Dualit, another really good bit of kit :happy:

[joyfull]

I think with things like well used kitchen equipment you get what you pay for, always choose a good make (not one that is endorsed by the latest celeb) and they should last 

[tosca100]

I always thought it would be nice to have one. Then my MIL bought me one about four years ago with lots of attachments. Trouble is I rarely use it and it gets pushed to the back of the cupboard where I keep my mixer and wand blender....which along with a basic mandolin, I use all the time. So although I do most cooking from scratch for me it is just taking up space. In fact I've moved all the attachments into the garage, where there is also a microwave/oven/grill which has been used about three times in the last five years!

[8doubles]

Do the dough blades on a food processor give you a fully kneaded dough or just do the basic mixing ?
Does a kitchen aid mixer with dough hook make a better job of it ?

If i didn`t need to knead i would bake more bread. 

[mumofstig]

Blades will just mix, like for making pastry, the hooks on the big machines make a much better job of it.

I've never actually tried the dough hook on my small kenwood though, cos I use the bread machine just to knead my dough 

[Junie]

You could probably get the mixture into a dough in the processor, but the kneading would need to be done by hand to do it properly.  My French teacher here, loves making his own bread, he finds the kneading very theraputic.  ( Probably something to relieve the frustration he gets form his pupils!!)