"Dave Smith" wrote in message
> I will probably continue to think of a double boiler as a double boiler
> and >a bain marie as a pan of hot water in which one sets ramekins and
> custard >bowls. I make creme caramel fairly often and that is about the
> only thing >for which I use a bain marie.
>

Yep one of my favs. It's amazing how tastless s/market brand creme caramel,
compared with home grown. Another one I like is coffee + sugar + gelatine -
chilled until firm and served with a dollop of cream. Variation : sub some
of the water with milk.

>I use Crisco and the recipe on the box. It usually turns out well. I used
>to >insist on cutting and stirring by hand but recently tried it with an
>electric >hand mixed and it has been working fine. I just have to be
>careful not to >overwork the dough..
>It helps to chill the batter a bit. Wrap it in Saran and flatten it into
>disks. I >use a pastry cloth, make sure it and the rolling pin are well
>floured and roll >it out starting in the middle, rolling out and then
>shifting about 45 degrees so >it rolls into a circle.
IIRC on one of the shopping channels, they sold a rolling pin and board, say
20" x 16", whereby you turned a dial and the central section would drop,
leaving a 2" border (a bit like a picture frame). You could therefore make
perfect pastry of uniform thickness - say 8mm thick for piecrust or 1mm
thick for the Chinese pancakes for shredded duck rolls. I had a look on the
specialist cookware sites and amazon etc, but no joy - perhaps there isn't
enough demand :-(

Bertie