rickster

There is a recipe for Ligurian olive oil cake in the Pierre Herme Dessert book done with Dorie Greenspan. Note: I tried this recipe and was not overly impressed, but your results may vary. (this is not a chocolate cake)

I'd second the Hensperger books for a beginner. I'd also recommend Carol Field's The Italian Baker. You'll find out there's more than one type of Italian bread.

I've never made an apple cranberry tart, but I would observe the following: The pie recipe is going to make too much filling for a tart, unless it is a very large tart or you are going to use it for more than one. I'll admit I don't know how deep an Emile Henry tart pan is. Type of vanilla is not an issue. There is a type of French apple tart (I'm pretty sure there is a recipe in Baking with Julia) which uses almost an applesauce like filling mixed iwth currants, topped with typical fanned apple slices, you could adapt this using dried cranberries for the currants. When I use fresh cranberries in baking, sometimes to reduce the tartness a bit, I put the berries into simple syrup, bring them to a simmer and then take the pot off the heat when the first berry pops and let cool. The I use the berries as directed in the recipe.

Here's a picture of the goats: Goats harvesting Argan Berries

I use a metal or ceramic dish directly on a pizza stone with no problem. I have heard that pyrex is very good because you can see the crust browning through the dish and insure that it is properly done.

Did you use a lot of Granny Smith's in the mix? I have had erractic experience with Granny Smith's, despite their universal recommendation for pies. Sometimes they work great, somethimes they give up a lot of liquid and get mushy. It might have something to do with ripeness. Still, a cup of liquid seems a lot for these apples. Regarding zilla's advice, I would agree that soaking apple slices in lemon water is a bad idea, since they will absorb up more water to be released in baking. On the other hand, I can't think it makes much difference when the apples are sugared, since the heat of baking will make the apples give up whatever moisture they will anyway. In fact this is contradictory to RLB's advice I quoted above, which is to sugar the apples long before assembling the pie, in order to force them to to give up liquid in the colander rather than in the pie dish. Maybe we do need that pie baking course

My family would boil/blanch the chestnuts after cutting an x before peeling for use in stuffing. They were not that difficult to peel. Roasting in the fireplace was saved for eating them out of hand.

Macintosh are about the worst apples for pie. Only use them if you want to make applesauce. I like Fuji and Royal Gala. One idea to reduce liquid is Rose Beranbaum's idea to let the peeled cut sugared raw apples sit in a colander for a while. They give up some liquid which she reduces to a thick syrup and adds back to the pie filling.

The nasty taste could be due to other additives or preservatives.

Health/natural food stores often carry it. I found it at Whole Foods Market.

Tried the skewer (metal), didn't work. I'm probably not banging them hard enough for sure. The wax bubbling over is a result of putting an extra thick coating inside in response to the first failure to get them out. Thanks for your advice, I'll try them again.

Wll, I've got to admit I'm having the same problem as aprilmei. I'm using Paula's recipe (which tastes delicious), 10 seasoned tin lined copper molds from JB Prince, greasing them with a mixture of beeswax and canola oil, baking them in a convection oven for the required amount of time, and they're still sticking, every single one. They are generally sticking at the "shoulder " of the molds. Am I not using enough grease at the bottom? Currently, it's bubbling up and out of the molds and onto the baking sheet.

I tried these at a coffee place in Grand Central Station and I'm pretty sure they're being shipped to my local Whole Foods in the suburbs. I'd agree, they're OK but I wouldn't go out of my way for one. I can't understand the raves this place gets. The owner got an hour's worth of free publicity on Emeril Live once (which is where I first heard of them).

I would have said it was not so fine and it didn't seem like it was going to get to the mozz state. Thanks for the advice on the rennet. It didn't occur to me that there was a cure for the problem.

One of the most interesting ideas I have seen here is the idea of baking the loaf cold from the refrigerator without bringing it up to room temperature, which is a tremendous timesaver but is contrary to conventional wisdom, at least as published in baking books. Silverton's book warns about the possibility of "blowouts" if the loaf is baked from too cold a temperature. I succesfully baked the Reinhart sourdough loaf from The Breadbaker's Apprentice cold from the fridge a few days ago. I then experimented, modifying the recipe to directly use the barm rather than a firm starter and using a little less water to get a firmer dough. I also shortened the rising time slightly believing my orginal loaf to be a bit overproofed. I was attempting to get more oven spring and a loaf that would hold a boule shape in the oven. The dough this morning had not risen that much overnight in the fridge, so I left it out for about half an hour while the oven was preheating. The loaf blew out during baking. Any idea whether this was due to leaving it out for half an hour, too firm a dough or some other factor?

Well, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I ordered the kit from the company I linked to above, tried it like 3 times with supermarket milk, got ricotta twice and a small amount of mozzarella once. They warn that a lot of supermarket milk will not work, especially if it's ultra pasteurized and sugggest using a mixture of cream and reconstituted non fat dry milk. I haven't tried that yet.

Try this link for the material you need to do it. It is highly reliant on getting the right milk though. Most of the milk sold in supermarkets will not work and turns into ricotta (speaking from unfortunate experience). It's not as easy as it might sound. NE Cheesemaking

Recombinant bovine growth hormone is sometimes used to increase milk production in cows. Some milk labels itself rbgh free.

Based on the publicity around milk, I'd guess just about any US butter has growth hormones in it unless it is organic or specifically says it doesn't contain hormones.

I went there for dinner during restaurant week and at least half the diners were casually dressed.

In today's NY Observer: La Cote Basque to close

The usual explanation is that lamb has a distinctive taste that many Americans consider too "strong".

Yes the red waxy looking wrapper is a 1 pound block of Plugra.

My TJs only carries the red wrapped variety. For a while last year when butter prices were really high, it was cheaper than regular butter in a supermarket.

Connecticut Best Apple - Macoun, but just for eating and the season is short. They don't hold well. Wish there were more local varieties available