Bon Appetit Desserts (7 page)

WHAT
: Dry yeast, also called active dry yeast, comes as dehydrated granules in small packets and jars. Dry yeast acts as the leavening (rising) agent in dough; when mixed with other ingredients, such as flour, water, and sugar, and allowed to sit in a warm place, yeast converts these ingredients into carbon dioxide and alcohol. The alcohol burns off while the carbon dioxide causes the dough to rise. Dry yeast is available as regular and quick-rising (also known as rapid-rise) yeast.

USES
: To activate (or proof) yeast, combine it with a warm liquid (105°F to 115°F), as instructed in the recipe. Use an instant-read thermometer to check the temperature; never use a liquid that is too hot or too cold, as doing so can slow the yeast’s growth or even kill it. If the mixture doesn’t foam after 10 to 15 minutes, the yeast is not active, and you need to start again with a new package of yeast.

FIND
: In the baking aisle.

STORE
: In the refrigerator; use by the date indicated on the jar or packet.

which probably includes measuring cups and spoons, a cake pan or two, baking dishes in a few sizes, a whisk, a spatula, maybe a food processor. All indispensable. But if you’re serious about baking, and you plan to do it on anything like a regular basis, having a well-stocked kitchen will transform your life—making dessert preparation faster, more efficient, and simply more fun. Here’s a guide to the essential elements of a dessert-maker’s kitchen. (Note that you’ll also find plenty of information throughout the book on other handy tools that will help with specific recipes.)

Bon Appétit
recipes are usually specific about the type of baking dish to use. It’s wise to buy a variety of sizes and materials, including heavy-duty metal, tempered glass, earthenware, porcelain, and enameled cast iron.

A
heavy-duty metal baking pan
is preferable when high-temperature baking or broiling is involved, because metal can withstand higher heat than ceramic or glass.

For fruit crisps and cobblers, which contain acidic ingredients,
glass or ceramic baking dishes
are better than metal, which reacts with acidic ingredients—and they can go from freezer to microwave to oven with ease. Ceramic baking dishes have an added advantage: They’re made in attractive colors and are pretty enough to serve from right at the table. The recipes in this book regularly call for 2-inch-deep baking dishes in these sizes: 8×8, 9×9, 11×7, and 13×9 inches.

Rimmed baking sheets
, also known a
jelly-roll pans
or
sheet pans
, are usually about an inch deep. They’re great for cookies and pastries; you’ll want a few of them if you’ll be baking multiple batches of cookies. They can also be used under fruit-filled items like cobblers, pies, tarts, and turnovers, which can bubble over during baking. Rimmed baking sheets are also great for organizing groups of prepped ingredients and ferrying them around the kitchen. Heavy-duty, commercial-weight aluminized sheets (available at well-stocked cookware and restaurant supply stores) are the best choice because they won’t warp or buckle at high temperatures. Rimmed baking sheets come in quarter-sheet pan size (about 13×9 inches) and half-sheet pan size (about 18×13 or 17×12 inches). Note that pan dimensions may vary depending on the manufacturer.

Rimless baking sheets
are helpful when it’s necessary to slide free-form tarts and other delicate items directly from baking sheet to cooling rack; they’re also good for baking cookies.

A set of nesting mixing bowls made of tempered glass, metal, or plastic is easy to store neatly. The various graduated sizes come in handy for mixing doughs and batters, tossing fruit salads, and organizing prepped ingredients.

Heavy-duty
round metal cake pans
come in many diameters and depths. The recipes in this book regularly call for 8-, 9-, and 10-inch-diameter pans with 2-inch-high sides.

Rectangular or square metal cake pans
are ideal for breakfast and snack-type cakes. Glass baking dishes can be used, but because cakes bake faster in glass pans than in metal ones (and because glass pans stay hot longer after being removed from the oven), you should reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees and start checking for doneness a few minutes earlier than the recipe says. Avoid dark metal pans altogether—they tend to brown cakes too quickly.

Springform pans
, which come in several diameters, are an excellent choice for creamy-textured cakes, like cheesecakes and mousse cakes. The high, removable sides provide a form for the cake and the latched sides make unmolding simple.

More specialized cakes—such as
Bundt
and
angel food
—require their own pans; a Bundt pan can also double as a
kugelhopf pan.

For frosting and decorating cakes, a cake turntable offers excellent maneuverability (a lazy Susan would do the trick, too). It allows the cake to be rotated and also raises it several inches above the work surface so that all sides may be reached easily.

To pit whole cherries quickly, try using a cherry pitter. In our test kitchen, we use the Oxo Good Grips cherry/olive pitter (about $13;
oxo.com
). It holds large cherries easily and has a splatter shield that protects you, your clothes, and your countertop from the staining juices. If you don’t have a cherry pitter, use a chopstick: Push it into the fruit through the stem end, forcing the pit out the opposite end.

Electric and manual citrus juicers are designed to squeeze juice from lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruits. An
electric juicer
is an efficient way to extract the most juice quickly. Less expensive and also easy to use are
manual juicers.
A few different models are available. When just a few teaspoons of juice are needed, a
hand reamer
is an easy-to-use option. Press and twist this small fluted tool into the citrus half, working over a strainer to catch the seeds. With a
reamer set on a perforated base
, the perforated base catches the seeds and sits over a dish that catches the juice. A
scoop-shape juicer
works best for lemon and lime halves. This perforated, clamp-like squeezer resembles an oversize round garlic press and operates like one, too.

To get slender strands of peel from lemons, limes, grapefruit, and oranges, use a five-pronged zester, which removes the zest while leaving the bitter pith behind.

Cookie cutters
in a variety of shapes and sizes will come in handy all year, and can be used for making cutouts to decorate the top crusts of pies, too.
Biscuit cutters
, which are deeper than cookie cutters, are sold in sets of three or four or more, all with different diameters. Fluted or straight edged, they are perfect for biscuits and shortcakes and can double as cookie cutters. Our recipes commonly call for 2- to 3-inch round cutters.

A cooling rack lets air circulate underneath cookies, cakes, and pies for rapid, even cooling.

Cupcake pans, also known as muffin pans, are usually made of metal. They come in a variety of sizes, for baking standard-size, oversize, or mini muffins or cupcakes.
Bon Appétit
recipes usually call for standard (⅓-cup) cupcake pans, with cups that are 3 inches in diameter. For mini cupcakes, pans with 2-inch-diameter cups are the pan of choice.

Custard cups
are handy for baking individual puddings and for organizing prepped ingredients, too. They’re made in two basic styles:
Tempered-glass custard cups
are squat glass cups that are wider than they are tall. These have flared sides and come in sizes that range from 4 to 8 ounces in capacity.
Ceramic custard cups
have gently tapered, fluted sides. They’re less squat than glass custard cups and range from 2 to 6 ounces in capacity.

Ramekins
are squat dishes with flat bottoms and straight, fluted sides. Most are made of ceramic, though glass versions are also available. Ramekins come in a wide variety of sizes; the recipes in this book most often call for ½-, ¾-, ⅔-, and 1-cup ramekins. Stock a range: You’ll use them for baking individual puddings, soufflés, and cheesecakes and for organizing prepped ingredients.

Soufflé dishes
are bigger, straight-sided ceramic dishes that resemble oversize ramekins and hold a quart or more. Glass versions are also available. Soufflé dishes are pretty enough to sit on the table and double as serving dishes.

A double boiler consists of two pans, one set on top of the other. It’s useful for melting chocolate, making custard sauces, and other kitchen tasks that involve cooking above simmering water. If you don’t have a double boiler, rig one up by placing a metal mixing bowl in a saucepan of simmering water, but not so low that the bottom touches the water. (The bottom of the bowl must sit close to but not touch the simmering water when cooking eggs for a custard. When melting chocolate, this is less of a concern.)

Because it’s light, with a less powerful motor than a stand mixer,
handheld electric mixer
is ideal for mixing or beating small amounts. And because it’s portable, it’s also useful for quick jobs like whipping cream for a dessert garnish or making zabaglione on the stovetop. Handheld mixers are much less expensive than stand mixers.

A
stand mixer
is a heavy-duty version of the handheld mixer that’s capable of dealing with large and small quantities of dough or other mixtures, leaving your hands free for other tasks—it can mix and whip while you scoop, measure, and sift. And it comes with a variety of attachments that perform very different functions:

• The
  wire whisk
  incorporates the maximum amount of air into light mixtures—use it for whipping eggs and sugar for flourless chocolate cakes and angel food cakes, and for whipping cream.
  

• The
  flat paddle beater
  is best used for working with firmer mixtures, such as creaming butter and sugar for cake batter or mixing cookie dough. The BeaterBlade, a brand-name product, is a flat paddle beater with a flexible rubber edge that functions like a windshield wiper for the mixing bowl, almost eliminating the need to stop the machine to scrape down the sides of the bowl. It can be purchased separately from specialty cookware stores—or go to
  beaterblade.com
  for more outlets.
  

• You won’t need to use the
  dough hook
  for the recipes in this book. Save it for mixing and kneading yeast dough for breads.
  

For quick chopping, pureeing, slicing, and grating, nothing beats a food processor. It comes with several attachments, including an S-shaped metal blade (which is probably the one you’ll use most often when making desserts; it’s perfect for making crumb crusts for cheesecakes, for example). A plastic dough blade, a shredding disk, and a slicing disk are other attachments.

Use a
large-capacity food processor
, which holds anywhere from 7 to 16 cups, to make purees and mix some doughs. Count on a
mini processor
, which holds around 2 cups, to pulverize small quantities of nuts or make flavored sugar.

If you’re in the market for a grater, choose a reputable brand, like Microplane. The problem with many graters is that the teeth on them aren’t particularly efficient. Look for graters with super-sharp, razor-fine teeth: They’re essential for grating citrus zest, fresh ginger, chocolate, and nutmeg. Graters come in several different styles.