with almost all of the recipes in this book.
A food processor
Because of its design, a food processor works differently than a
blender. Its wide shape and wide blade ensure that everything gets
worked in at once (with a blender, the ingredients have to fall to
the bottom to come into contact with the blade). Thus, with a food
processor you can easily chop up vegetables and bring together pie
dough and pasta dough. With the blade attachment, you can shred
ingredients (like carrots for a carrot cake or cabbage for coleslaw),
and because it comes apart so neatly, a food processor is easy to
clean.
A KitchenAid mixer
It’s possible to make cookies, cakes, and cupcakes without a
KitchenAid stand mixer, but having one makes life so much easier.
Especially when it comes to bread-making, a KitchenAid with a
dough hook attachment is a lifesaver and one piece of kitchen
equipment that is hard to live without once you’ve had one.
As far as how to stock your pantry, it’s a good idea to always
have the following on hand: Extra virgin olive oil
Keep one cheaper bottle for cooking (Colavita is a good choice)
and one more expensive bottle for salads and for drizzling on
finished foods (I like Frantoia for that purpose).
Butter