http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x54130Now, I'd like to post this in the food forum here, but I'm utterly confused, and maybe someone here can explain this to me.
hippywife (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-27-09 12:12 PM
Original message
I've been looking at buying the pouring shield for my KA but now I'm seriously reconsidering. KA site re-design is terrible and I can't seem to even find it on there. The reviews on Amazon are making me think it just isn't worth the money or the hassle and that I'll just have to put less than 1/2 cups of flour at a time into my 4 1/2 qt. bowl.
Okay, what the Hell is a "pouring shield"?
And what's this "KA" nonsense?--why can't primitives spell things out?
spinbaby (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-27-09 12:14 PM
Response to Original message
1. For what it's worth, I don't use mine
I've found it to be more of a nuisance than useful.
Okay, that's some illumination, but not much.
Apparently a "pouring shield"'s more of a nuisance than useful.
hippywife (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-27-09 12:20 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. That seems to be the majority opinion. I really didn't ever consider buying one of these contraptions until I found one at a deal I just couldn't pass up. Now that I have it and have been baking more than I used to, I find that the mixer I have is really too small for the way I want to bake. I will not buy the professional model that would work better for me but that in all reality I really don't need.
Maybe I just need to make smaller batches of things.
In case anyone wasn't aware of this, Grandma and her hippyhusband live down south of Nebraska, in some sort of rural setting, imagining they're living life as it used to be lived, the old-fashioned way.
One however doubts Joe and Sadie in their sod house in 1888 had an electric mixer.
spinbaby (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-27-09 12:28 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. I have the smaller Kitchen Aid mixer
I like that the head tilts up. The larger model has a stationary head and a bowl that lowers. That setup seems to be less convenient for getting at the bowl for additions and scraping.
Oh. "KA" must mean "Kitchen Aid."
Too bad Grandma, usually a kind person, doesn't have the good manners and common courtesy to spell something out, rather than using stupid acronyms that confuse the reader.
Lucinda (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-27-09 12:44 PM
Response to Original message
4. I like to use my large 1/2 cup measuring SPOON to add items but I also found a set of inexpensive flexible cutting boards that work beautifully. Mine are white with color coding but the basic idea is the same as those pictured below. I think mine are from a local kitchen store, or possibly wal-mart.
after which photograph of plastic breadboards
You can also make a parhcment or wax paper cone to add stuff to you KA bowl.
Okay, now we're getting somewhere, but we've still got a long ways to go.
A "pouring shield" is perhaps something one uses to pour a specified amount of a specified ingredient into an electric mixer?
Warpy (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-27-09 01:06 PM
Response to Original message
5. It's called parchment paper if you're feeling fancy or a paper towel/sheet of waxed paper if you're not. Just sift all the dry stuff onto it, pick it up and use it to pour the dry stuff into the mixer.
I thought about that pouring shield, too, and realized it was just another big hunk of breakable plastic that would take up space in a tight kitchen while being another damn thing to wash when I baked.
Needless to say, I passed.
Thank you, warped primitive, for describing what a "pouring shield" is.
hippywife (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-27-09 01:08 PM
Response to Original message
6. For the record here, I always shut it off when adding ingredients. Those things that everyone is posting they use doesn't keep the flour from shooting back out over the edge of the bowl when I restart it. And I always use the lowest speed.
The sparkling husband primitive, speaking from the commode in the basement:
Stinky The Clown (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-27-09 01:32 PM
Response to Original message
7. I had one for my older KA and never ever used.
Not once. Not ever.
I didn't bother to get one for the new machine.
housewolf (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-27-09 02:56 PM
Response to Original message
8. You could try coving the bowl with a kitchen towel
You might be able to clip it (the ends of the towel) together somehow to make a tent, then you'd just need to lift the towel a bit to add your ingredients, then re-cover the bowl to mix them in. That would keep the flour etc. from flying out all over the counter. It would take some experimenting to figure out how to work with the towel and the bowl.
I've never used the KA shield. I think I tried once or twice and found it not worth the effort - it was easier to clean up the counter than to mess with the 2 plastic pieces. I've had a 5-qt bowl and a 6-qt.
NMDemDist2 (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-27-09 03:03 PM
Response to Original message
9. I"m thinking Warpy is on to it
don't turn off the machine, just pour the dry stuff slowly into the bowl as it runs
I do the same with another bowl, but I think I'm gonna try Warpy's idea instead
edit to add, I have a shield that I only use in the cupboard to keep the dust out, it never makes it to the counter
Stupid primitives and their codespeak.