An assortment of glass bowls, including Pyrex custard cups or dessert dishes, is ideal both for microwaving and storing. Glass bowls are microwavable, nonreactive, and don’t retain odors. When calling for general sizes of bowls in the recipes, I use the following guidelines: A small bowl is about 4 cups (1 quart) capacity. A medium bowl is about 6 cups (1½ quarts) capacity. A large bowl is about 8 quarts capacity.
For melting chocolate, the Lékué silicone La Bomba bowl (see Equipment Sources) is the absolute best because it doesn’t continue heating the chocolate after it is removed from the heat. It can be used both as a double boiler and directly in the microwave. And it collapses into a flat disk for convenient storage.