I love to use the bread hook, especially to make soft pretzels and pizza dough.  My machine has not been used often since I got it about 20 years ago because it is too heavy to lift and move around.  Recently, I remodeled my kitchen and provided a slide out shelf to accommodate the mixer and use it more often.  While kneading some dough last week, the hook just snapped in two pieces!  The dough was soft and pliable and should not have caused well-constructed metal to break.  Chips of the coating came off and fell onto the dough.  I had to start from scratch and use my Cuisinart instead.