I have the big one and it can make about any kind of dough you want to make, but it works best with a large recipe, like 3 loaves of bread or larger. I'm not saying it doesn't work with smaller amounts, but it is a real workhorse with a large load. I have made double recipes of bagels also, which is a really stiff dough and it handles it just fine. Most of the bread I make has a great deal of whole wheat, or white whole wheat, flour and it works great for that.

I bought several accessories with mine but the one that has been most useful to me is the Slicer/Shredder attachment. I buy my cheese in 8 oz packages and just shred the blocks and keep them ready in the refrigerator. When I was making pickles every other day or so last season, it was great for slicing the cucumbers. It shreds cabbage easily. It has a blade that will slice potatoes for potato chips, or a little thicker for scalloped potatoes. It has been well worth the $120, but I am not as impressed with the after-market things. If it says Bosch on it, it has to be a winner.

My kitchen center was vintage, so when I replaced it I bought everything new. It was very expensive, but I deserved it. LOL The blender is extremely powerful but is hard for me to get the blade unit off of. The lid is used to remove the bottom and I sometimes have to ask my husband to take it off. There is another tool, but I didn't realize it when I bought my blender. I liked my old blender better just for the ease of cleaning. Since you have a Vitamix, you don't have to worry about that anyway.

The bowl for the slicer/shredder has a dough hook that you can buy as an extra and although I bought it, I have never used it. I thought that I would use it for making things like pizza dough or small bread recipes, but I have just used the big one instead. I do think it would work for smaller recipes though. All of the Bosch stuff is quality. The center section of the lid from the big bowl fits the top of the slicer/shredder bowl if you want to use it for mixing. I bought the whisk attachment for the small bowl and I have not been happy with that, but it doesn't carry the Bosch name.

I ordered mine last Fall from the website below, then in November when I was in Utah, I went there and bought the small accessories that I wanted to add. I guess that I am not a food processor person, because it is still in the cabinet unused at this point. Everything that I have needed to do, I could do with the other attachments.

I have used the same pizza dough recipes for years, but changed last year after discovering this one on-line. The instructions are for a food processor, but I just use my Bosch. I always double or triple it. Sometimes I make pizza for the freezer but mostly I just follow the "Make Ahead" instructions, but I separate the dough into one pizza size and put it in individual quart size Ziplocks. It keeps for 5 days like that and I can always use a pizza crust, for some type of flat bread or even a desert. Sometimes I just add carmelized onions and cheese and we eat it as bread, (think pizza without sauce). You can find the recipe here:
http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/cheri-s-favorite-pizza-dough
I have made it just like the recipe or used whole wheat flour in place of the semolina and both are good.

When I bought my mixer, I assumed that I would need those smaller attachments when I wasn't cooking for a crowd. Instead, I just started making all of our bread. I have always made homemade bread, but we have still bought bread for sandwiches. We have not bought a loaf of bread since I bought the Bosch. I make bread, rolls, pizza crust, bagels, hamburger buns, a just about anything else I can think of. I still have a small hand mixer that gets used, but if it is too big for that, the Bosch is the tool of choice.

If you are thinking of buying one, my suggestion would be to go on-line to www.BYUTV.org and put Chef Brad in the search box. He is a chef that cooks with whole grains, and he uses a Bosch in most of the baking portions of his programs. The linked website also has some video to watch.

There is a learning curve and it took me several tries before I was happy with my bread. It is mixed so completely that it doesn't need to be cooked as long as I had always cooked mine, plus I never use flour when I am shaping the loaves. Instead I use a small amount of oil on my hands and my mat.

I put all of the ingredients in the mixer except for holding back about half of the flour. I let it mix to combine, then leave it there until the dough starts to puff up a little, maybe 15-20 minutes while I do something else. Then I begin to add the flour a small amount at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Then I set the timer and let it knead for 8 minutes. I take it out and shape the loaves and put it into greased pans, or just shape it to cook on a stone. If I am cooking on a stone, I let the loaf rise on parchment paper and I slide paper and all onto the hot stone. For a normal size loaf, I bake at 360 degrees for 33 minutes.

The Bosch mixer is a quality piece of equipment and has worked great for me, but do your homework first because it is a different concept of use since it mixes from below and comes up through the center of the mixing bowl.

To keep this about gardening.....it certainly made my food prep easier at harvest time last year, because it shreds and slices in a heartbeat.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bosch Dealer

Thanks so much for your detailed answer! I am trying to decide on which one. I might be happier with the smaller since most of the time it would be the two of us. If the larger one was OK with smaller batches, I would go for it. I like the 800 watt motor. Most reviews I have read the people who are unhappy with the larger machine are trying to do smaller amounts with it. I will certainly look further about it, and I will go to your link and see if that helps me. Or confuses me. LOL. I do like fooling with sourdough. Mostly I like eating it. Ha! I live in an area that is limited in what I can buy locally, so special flours etc, will have to be ordered or purchased on a trip to OKC or Tulsa. We are trying to eat healthier and the same old Sara Lee multigrain loaf or whole wheat gets kind of tiresome. Thanks again for your help. I might have an additional question or two later.
mo