This is my vintage Sunbeam Mixmaster mixer. It's from the early- to mid-1960s and still works great. I found it many years ago for free at the community swap station, with both of the beaters and the cord. It's a beautiful, vintage deep buttery yellow.
There's a small story concerning my acquisition of the mixer. I was starting to expand my cooking and baking skills. Mixing and whisking by hand was a workout, and some recipes, such as meringues, required stable mixing powers. I prayed to G-d that He would help me find a mixer. A few weeks later, this answer to prayer showed up in all of its vintage splendor.
The mixer reminds me of a story in the Bible, in Exodus 12. It was right after the plague of the first born. Pharaoh had just let the Hebrews go, forcing them out quickly. So quickly, in fact, that they had to carry their uncooked bread dough with them (v. 34). There was no time for the bread to attract natural yeast, so when they cooked it at Succoth, it was flat and crunchy: matzah (v. 39).
Matzah is used in the Passover Seder, with special rules. It has to be just flour and water, and must be started and in the oven in under eighteen minutes. This is to ensure that no yeast (chametz, which is forbidden during Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread) enters the bread.
Any good matzah recipe will come with a warning. Kosher for Passover Matzah is an olympic event that requires skill and a capable kitchen. After all, you have to knead the dough –no easy task for any bread– from the base ingredients and have it formed and in the oven in a small amount of time. The expert matzah makers share something in common with my pretty vintage mixer: they’re both mixmasters.