Bosch 400-Watt Compact Mixer (MUM 4420) Product Review

One of my best friends is a fabulous baker and homemaker, and she loves to make people welcome in her home by sharing treats like banana bread and homemade wheat bread. We're both into our health and were turned onto the benefits of baking bread with freshly-ground whole grains, which is far more nutritious than store-bought breads. For months I stared in envy as my good friend showed me the large-batch bread recipes she made with her full-sized Bosch kitchen machine. She was making 6 full-sized loaves of bread in one batch with her over-sized mixer, and she couldn't sing its praises loud enough. I wanted one, and I wanted one bad, but the truth was, I was on a budget.

Are you looking for a stand mixer for your kitchen? I was looking for a mixer that would be strong enough to make bread, and I didn't want to spend all day at it. But I wasn't prepared to buy one of the industrial sized Bosch mixers that makes 6 loaves of bread at once. I wanted to, but it was too big for my kitchen, and at the time, my budget. I found the perfect compromise in the Bosch Compact Kitchen Machine. It has the durability and motor power of the full-sized Bosch, but is compact enough to fit into a small kitchen, apartment, or even an RV! I was excited to find this compromise for my kitchen, because now I make my homemade bread and pizza doughs with speed and ease, but I'm still able to turn out the dough in my hands for the final rising so that the bread doesn't have that tell-tale bread machine shape.

The Bosch Compact Kitchen Machine (Product Number MUM 4420) is a powerful, compact, and versatile stand mixer, and one of the best investments I ever made for my kitchen. This all-in-one kitchen tool is a mixer, and if you buy the additional accessories, can also act as a food processor, blender, juicer, and meat grinder. At an average cost of under $175 U.S. dollars, That is a lot of functionality for the price.

This small mixer has a powerful, 400-watt engine, the same size as the larger Bosch Kitchen mixers that sell for more than twice the price. I find that the Bosch Compact's small size and powerful engine make it a highly versatile food preparation tool in my small kitchen, while the fool-proof design allows me ease of use with almost no learning curve. The Bosch Compact Kitchen mixer comes in a washable white and all of its accessories are dishwasher safe for easy cleaning and maintenance.

Bosch Stand Mixer Components

Base and engine

The 400-watt engine is the best in its class. The compact model Bosch can mix almost 6 pounds of bread dough at once. In contrast, the Kitchen-aid 5-quart stand mixer has only a 325-watt engine. If you are looking for a powerful mixer that can handle weekly bread or pizza-making sessions, the additional power of the smaller Bosch is a significant selling point. This powerful engine makes little noise for the amount of power it produces. I bought my Bosch Compact Mixer primarily for the purpose of making homemade bread and pizza doughs. The engine has handled these weekly recipes with no visible impact on the engine. The coil wrap for cords and fold-down arm make the base easy to store out of sight in small kitchens.

4-Quart Mixing Bowl

The heavy-duty 4-quart mixing bowl is an easy-clean plastic surface that takes multiple uses without showing signs of wear. I have been very impressed with the quality of the bowl which continues to look brand new and hold its color three full years since I purchased it. Notched feet in the base of the bowl insert into the engine's platform, holding the bowl in place while the mixer is in operation. You might expect a mixer made from plastic components to have problems with staining. I have used my mixer to mix both hot and cold items, and it shows no signs of staining.

Spatter-Proof Lid

The heavy-duty splatter-proof lid is constructed of a heavy-duty see-through plastic, allowing you to see the progress of any recipe while the mixer is in action. The lid includes a pour-spout feature, allowing you to add ingredients while the mixer is in operation without risk of splatters.

Bosch Mixer attachments

The Bosch kitchen attachments are all dishwasher safe and come with their own storage stand, so you can store your entire Bosch system within easy reach.

• Dough Hook. I use the dough hook when making breads, pizza doughs, and drop cookies such as sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies. Homemade pizza and homemade bread can be made effortlessly with the dough-hook set to mix on setting 2. The steady action of the mixer is a great boon to anyone whose wrists are weakened by arthritis or carpel tunnel.

• French Whisk. The whisk attachment works swiftly to make fluffy meringues in just a few minutes. You will be shocked at how easily the whisk attachment stiffens egg whites compared to a conventional hand-held electric beater, and with the splatter-proof lid, you have no mess to clean up. You can also use the whisk attachment to make omelets and mix homemade mashed potatoes into fluffy mounds.

• Wire Whip: I have used the wire whip attachment to whip up cakes, quick breads, waffles, and pancakes in a matter of minutes. My family raved when I made crepes using the Bosch for the first time only a few weeks ago.

Bosch Passes the Ultimate Test

I've had my Bosch now in regular use for almost 5 years, and it still looks good as new, and better yet, after making all of those loaves of bread, it still works great. I have no regrets about investing a little more in this quality-made kitchen workhorse.

When we moved to Iowa, I downsized from a kitchen with over 30 linear feet of counter space to a home with a kitchen that sported a total of 6 linear feet of counter top space. With almost no space for extra kitchen tools, I put away everything into storage, EXCEPT my Bosch. Because of the compact, foldaway design, I was able to store the Bosch on a bookshelf and put it away to gain more counter real estate in my kitchen, and it continued to do the work one would expect from larger, more expensive mixers.

The great versatility of this kitchen tool in such a small package is what recommends it to any kitchen, whether your tastes incline toward a more gourmand foodie menu or if you are a hurried parent trying to prepare simple, fast meals. This little machine does it all, reliably, affordably, and in a very small space.

You can purchase several attachment pieces to work with the Bosch Compact MUM 400 kitchen mixer. These attachments fit on the mixer base to turn the Bosch Compact into a multi-functional kitchen machine. I think this affordable versatility is what recommends this mixer over the others in its class.

Some of the mixer attachments include: A food chopper, a meat grinder, a blender (comes with the basic mixer in some packages), a grain mill (highly recommended if you are making bread), a juicer, and even an ice cream maker.