Where to find baking supplies?

sergio said:
I think people do very little to NO baking in BA.

That's right. Argentines don't bake - no one makes cookies, for instance, but instead they eat facturas or those awful packaged "galletitas". This is true even for people employing a cook.

Years ago there used to be some very good pastry shops in BA, mostly German or French. They were put out of business by chains like Delicity.

Out here in Paranoid San Isidro there are a few superb pastry shops like Violeta or Mechi d'Andre. There are fiendishly expensive but worth it - they only use the best ingredients. Mechi is half a block away from my house, and I see the organic farm delivery truck there each morning.
 
MizzMarr said:
I, too, would LOVE to hear if anybody knows where to buy molasses! I used the last of mine on Gingerbread men last holiday season...


I have to revise. I was just out walking around making some food purchases, and was in a dietetica where I spied on the shelf--lo and behold! Melaza. I bought a 450g jar for $11 (tasty stuff, too). On that note, I did email Doña Clara earlier and they said they sell melaza, too, at $18.50 for a 450g jar. Success. Now if I can just find rhubarb I'd be a happy camper...
 
syngirl said:
Gas ovens tend to be more moist than an electric so things don't necessarily rise as they would in an electric. Some people do use baking stones in their ovens to temper the moisture. Also realise that your gas is different in winter than summer due to demand, so in August you may need to crank up the gas but in January you'll need it all the way down.

Wow, great technical info! Do you mean the gas pressure is stronger in winter than in summer, so the same knob position will yield a vastly different temperature depending on the season? Geez.. yet another reason to find an oven thermometer. Dad always said that baking was a science!

MizzMarr said:
I have found brown sugar (the soft, light brown and small grained type that we're used to in the States not the big dark heavy chunky crystallized kind) in Barrio Chino (Casa China)! They sell it in big bags, and it's along where they sell the rice, dried beans, and dried fruits. Gotta love that place.

THANK YOU for this - I never would have thought of looking in Barrio Chino for brown sugar! Woo-hoo! Another reason to head over there besides the superior shoyu and ramen..
 
sergio said:
I think people do very little to NO baking in BA.

You obviously have never walked through a park on a warm spring day.

;)
 
MacDaddy said:
THANK YOU for this - I never would have thought of looking in Barrio Chino for brown sugar! Woo-hoo! Another reason to head over there besides the superior shoyu and ramen..

No problem! Oh and it occurred to me that I forgot to mention that it's called 'azucar integral'. That's the soft brown sugar I know and love. I erroneously said it was 'azucar rubia' before but that's actually a bit more granular than what I like/look for (was just in BC today making some purchases so thought I'd update with the most current info). :) They sometimes sell it in dieteticas, too. Happy baking!
 
irishvan said:
Went to Dona Claras yesterday and purchased an oven thermometer (german) for 38 pesos. Works a treat! Cooked a gluten free beer bread loaf perfectly! Would not have been possible without the thermometer as the required temp was much lower than I had previous guessed.
They also take credit cards and sell icing (confectioners) sugar very cheaply compared to other places, and many other things I have not seen here. i.e. xanthin gum.
website address www.donaclara.com.ar


Hi There I am also looking to bake some gluten free yummies whilst in BA. Possible silly question number 1) is Xanthin gum still called that over here? Possible silly question number 2) What flour do you use out of interest? I have seen loads of bags of gluten free flours but no good gluten free mixes. By that I mean back in the UK I would buy all purpose Plain flour (GF) and it was a mix of corn rice and some other bits, but here you can opnly buy a bag of rice flour or corn it seems. Or do you mix your own? Any help would be ace.
 
Does caster sugar exist here? In Scotland it is used in baking - it's very very fine sugar
 
irishvan said:
Went to Dona Claras yesterday and purchased an oven thermometer (german) for 38 pesos. Works a treat! ...Would not have been possible without the thermometer as the required temp was much lower than I had previous guessed. They also take credit cards and sell icing (confectioners) sugar very cheaply compared to other places, and many other things I have not seen here. i.e. xanthin gum.
website address www.donaclara.com.ar

I picked up the same oven thermometer, and it works great. Made in China by a German company, and uses Imperial units! (also has Celsius.) Don't you love globalization.

While at Doña Clara, we also bought a French press for a very reasonable 45 pesos, a nice set of measuring spoons for cheap, and a teflon bread pan. The prices are all over the map - some things are inexpensive here, others higher than elsewhere. But the key is that it's all under one roof, and they have some items I haven't seen anywhere else in town.

Reinforcing what SarahSarah said about people not using their ovens - the frozen french fries we just bought have instructions for preparing in a deep-fat fryer (complete with exact cooking temperature), in a pan, or in an oven. The oven instructions don't bother mentioning what temperature to heat it to, or even "low","medium", "high". Weird.

Another place we found that has a good selection of cookware, dishes, and other kitchen supplies at reasonable prices is in Chinatown, at Arribeños 2220.

While you're in the neighborhood, head into the grocery across the street - they have good prices for all kinds of tofu, sauces, peanut butter, tahini, nuts, fresh seafood, bok choi, and unusual ramen flavors that beat the pants off the standard stuff.
 
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