rickster

Once I saw Jacques Torres do a hazelnut butter on his Dessert Circus show by whizzing hazelnuts in a food processor. I tried it and couldn't get close. I just got wet ground nuts. I think success probably depends on getting very fresh nuts with a high oil content, which might be tricky at normal retail outlets like Trader Joes. I'd try the store bought butter idea, or just buy the paste.

I'd second the recommendation on How To Bake. I've never had a recipe go wrong in this and it does cover a very wide range of pies, cakes, muffins and cookies. I wouldn't go overboard with buying pans and would buy them as you need them. Definitely get an oven thermometer and a good mixer.

"the Game"

One solution is to buy the brands of chocolate that come in feves. Much easier to chop into little chunks.

L'epicerie.com has good prices on Valrhona. Chocosphere.com has a broader range of chocolate.

I went there about a year and a half ago when I was living in Greenwich, and my recollection is that it was extremely good. I was not such a fan of the decor. I thought given the quality of the food, it should have a higher profile among Stamford restaurants.

La Cremaillere is in Banksville, NY, just over the state line from Greenwich. Banksville is a tiny place on the way from Greenwich to Bedford. The restaurant does have a sizable parking lot. If the original idea was the Inn at Pound Ridge, this would be an excellent alternative, probably a bit pricier than Pound Ridge though.

I'm pretty sure there's a recipe for royal icing in the Joy of Cooking that suggests microwaving the whites before mixing with the sugar if bacteria is a concern.

I baked the Poilane loaf last weekend using about 80% King Arthur white whole wheat flour and 20% bread flour. Unfortunately I did not get a great rise since I think my starter was weak. However, the final result was not bad and only slightly more dense and sour than Poilane loaf I bought once in a speciality store. For what it's worth, I think I find I get a better crust doing the spraying early in the baking process but not leaving a pan of water in the oven. I also have to recommend PR's American Pie book for some great pizza crust recipes.

I use the Nielsen Massey paste all the time and it's not gummy at all. My bottle is more like a syrup. Can't explain the price difference though.

l'epicerie.com sells 6 oz of apple pectin for $9.50. It's in their "hard to find" baker's pantry section. I've also seen it at meilleurduchef.com in 1 kilo quantities. I'd be interested in small quantity sources for high quality fruit purees.

There's a book called Kaffeehaus by Rick Rodgers which has a ton of Viennese recipes. My recollection is that there is a section on Viennese cakes called "slices" which would seem ideal to be portioned for this sort of event.

Malnati's has 2 different crusts for their deep dish pizza, "regular" and "world famous buttercrust". I'm betting from your comments you had the buttercrust. Don't know where's there's a recipe though.

Pignoli cookies

I made the strawberry ones the other night and they turned out pretty good. I pureed some frozen strawberries and would have preferred a bit stronger flavor. In the Paris Sweets book, Dorie Greenspan has a recipe for strawberry marshmallows which has a similar ingredient list but also includes egg whites. I'm curious whether they make any difference (lighter, fluffier texture?). I also saved part of the pan unpowdered and will try cutting and dipping them in chocolate this weekend.

On the other hand my Sicilian-American girlfriend's family, who emigrated to East Harlem and then moved slightly upstate, always call it sauce. After watching an episode of the Sopranos, I asked them if they ever called it gravy and they were outright offended by the suggestion.

I've used both and haven't noticed a significant difference.

Never heard of cottage cheese in lasagne, even the Italian American kind. I'd suspect it was a suggested substitute for people who can't get ricotta.

You could try www.chocosphere.com or www.chocolatesource.com for valrhona feves.

What bkeith said. "Day" would be the way you pronounce the French word des (unless followed by a vowel, when it would be "days".

Buche is sort of like "Boosh" I agree the prices quoted seem high. I used to live in a very upscale income town in Connecticut and the local French bakery was charging in the $25-30 range for a 10 inch long or so cake last year. As a consumer, I've felt sort of cheated if the cake is not a jellyroll type. It detracts from the tree ring appearance of each slice. As a baker, I've made this with pistachio buttercream filling and it worked really well.

When I used to live in Connecticut, I would frequent a Greek pizza place that would cut their large size round pies into squares. Only place back east that I saw this though.

Try doing a search on "Ispahan", even here on Egullet, and you'll be more successful

Real good point on the chemicals. never would have thought of that. Anyway, my family has always made blackberry apple pies and blackberry cherry pies. I think the apple works best.

The Kaiser acquisition has not gone well for them. They may be #2 in Brazil, but it's with a small share of market, since the Brazil government let Antarctica and Brahma merge a few years ago and the new company AmBev probably has 80% of the market. True, but there is a difference between controlling it and actively running it. The family may not have wanted to see it swallowed up by a big multinational brewer.