Dough Dockers and Blanching Baskets

[BakerAunt]

I've decided that there are two more kitchen "gadgets" that I need/would like to have.

Dough Docker: As I was stabbing the fourth sheet of dough for my crackers today, I decided that a dough docker would be nice. I saw a picture of a nice one on p. 288 of Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. I've looked on the internet, but a lot of them have plastic points, and my experience with plastic is that it does not work that well. I liked one that I saw, but the website came up as "unprotected," so I could not stay around there. Any suggestions on where to look? I've tried Williams Sonoma, Sur La Table, Chefs Catalog, Kitchen Kraft, and Fancy Flours. The ones that came up at Webstaurant had plastic points, as did the ones at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Strainer Basket for Blanching Vegetables: Most blueberry pie filling for canning specifies blanching the blueberries for 1 minute in boiling water. I'm thinking of buying this Polder Strainer Basket:

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/polder-reg-strainer-basket/1014724010?Keyword=polder%20strainer%20basket

It should fit into one of my enamel pots. I want to be able to blanch several "loads" of blueberries (recipe recommends doing no more than 6 cups at a time) without draining the water. Any thoughts on how well this would work? Two years ago I ended up using a frying basket. As the holes were too large, I put a large commercial coffee filter inside it. Although that worked, I'd like to upgrade before blueberry season begins here in a couple of weeks.

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[RiversideLen]

Amazon has a number of dough dockers that have stainless steel pins.

[chocomouse]

What about Wilton and also Pastry Chef? I'm meeting friends at the King Arthur Cafe for breakfast tomorrow, so I'll ask their staff, and maybe get the name of some possible suppliers. You could also try calling their hot line or sending them an email.

[Mike Nolan]

I prefer to use a spider to take blanched vegetables or pasta out of a pot of boiling water. I've got a nice long-handled stainless steel one that even most small pasta (like spaetzle) won't fall through. (Don't buy the cheap ones, though, they're tinned, at best, and will rust.)

I used a plastic dough docker at pastry school (SFBI) and bought one from them. One advantage of a plastic docker is it is less likely to scratch a non-stick pan. (I seldom use a non-stick pan for either baking or cooking any more, though.)

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