I have always used a combination of my old bread machine (Zojirushi) and stretch and fold for all my baking (never bake more than 2 loaves, so it worked out). I bit the bullet and got an Ankarsrum, watched like 2 hours of videos to learn its quirks. On my 4th-5th batch now.
On to my question: I made a focaccia & a 100% type 85 flour sourdough pan loaf among other things. Normally I add 5% butter to my type 85 loaf to keep it soft. With the Ank, I forgot to add the butter what with the excitement and all. It came out very soft, no chew whatsoever. In fact, the bread is so soft that the texture is like the tall pillowy loaves you buy in Japanese stores! The volume of the bread was impressive. My son goes "this tastes like wonder bread but in a good way!". I view that as the ultimate insult and compliment. (Focaccia with Bob's red mill APF is basically the same, it's too tender for me).
A Type 85 loaf needs some chew! I'm convinced it's the Ankarsrum's kneading technique is partly to credit/blame. Anyone else have this experience with the Ank? I am wondering how to get my chew back while using the Ank!
(OTOH, making Brioche was a fricking revelation. No matter what I did in the past, I never got a tall loaf of brioche I was happy about. That got fixed. The brioche is ridiculously good).
So, you got the Ank over the Bosch. You never did get back to us on your original thread.
I can't comment how the mixer is changing the texture of your bread, but my understanding is chewiness can be related to the gluten content of the flour. If you don't want to try a stronger flour, maybe adding some vital wheat gluten would help.
Sorry, my bad. I went on a 2-week vacation, ordered both (Bosch, Ank) mixers so that they'll be waiting for me. Came back with covid, now alright, but basically I got to unboxing them only by July 4.
P.S. How do I find all my posts? I could not see a way to do this, and I can't find "my" mixer thread - can someone please help? I want to go back and update that threads with the results of my experience. Also, a couple of people in a past thread had recommended the KA pro 600(650?) watt. I went to KA website, they don't make it anymore but there's a 900 watt commercial one. I decided to add that KA commercial into the mix (har!). That baby arrived just now. It's gonna be carb-loading week.
From the home page, select My account, and track. Doing so will take you to a page that contains all the threads in which you posted.
Thanks!
I've used an Ank for the last year or so (previously used a KitchenAid). I found that the Ank (whether using the roller or the dough hook) takes longer to develop the gluten. I suggest that you let the Ank run longer than usual and see if that makes a difference.