Below is a list of my baking tools organized in sections broken down by their use, and some that are “nice to have” but not essential. I’ve spent many years buying & trying tools one at a time to make things more efficient and baking easier. The list below is the accumulation of all those tools which I still use regularly and nothing else. I keep this page updated frequently.
If you’re new to baking, start with the tools listed below in
Sourdough Starter Creation & Management and
The Beginning Baker. These two sections will get you all the essentials you’ll need to create your wild yeast starter and the tools to get your first loaves in and out of the oven.
Once you become more serious about baking, head down to the
Nice to Haves section and explore more these tools. They will elevate your baking to the next level and help you make your loaves more consistent and precise, or in some cases, make things easier (thank you
Thermapen instant-read thermometer, probably my favorite baking tool I've purchased to date).
Sourdough Starter Creation & Management
These tools are essential when starting your first sourdough starter and keeping it alive and healthy. You want to use weights instead of volumes, a good stirrer and glass container, and of course, rye flour to get things going.
My starter lives in these wonderful glass jars.
A good scale is essential in baking. This is the best one I've found.
The best spatula for mixing your starter each day -- super easy to clean and very durable.
Whole grain rye flour is key to making an active sourdough starter.
The Beginning Baker
A list of tools that are almost all necessary to bake at home. You could get away with not having a few of them (bench knife, ambient thermometer, white rice flour, bulk container, and fine sea salt) but I highly recommend them all.
Cast iron and built to last. This pot traps steam to encourage maximum dough rise.
A must-have. Used to cut, lift & move your dough.
Easily remove sticky dough from containers, the bench, and off your fingers.
Monitoring temperature when baking is incredibly important.
Rice flour has a high scorch point. Dusting your proofing baskets with this helps your dough remove cleanly.
Protects your hands when working with a hot pan and oven.
A wide bowl makes hand mixing dough much more manageable.
Clear sides let you see fermentation first-hand.
Monitoring dough temperature is critical throughout the baking process.
Any fine salt will work, but this is my current favorite.
A pack of razors and a coffee stirrer constructed as you see. Used to score your bread before baking.
Nice to Haves
These are tools that are by no means essential but will help increase the consistency in your baking. Sometimes just having the right tool for the job is half the battle.
An incredible device that reads temperatures extremely fast and accurately.
A bowl used to hold proofing dough.
On the small side, these will still let you load dough in the Lodge combo cooker listed above.
I keep my starter, levain, and dough at the perfect temperature at all times using this proofer.
I use this to spritz the dough a bit just after placing it into the oven.
Some recipes here call for "high extraction flour," this helps sift out some bran/germ to get this flour type.
This steel replaces any need for baking stones and gets incredibly hot with no risk of cracking. It also cooks
pizza incredibly well.
I keep these in my flour canisters, they make transferring and measuring super easy.
The best, and most cost-effective, bread knife I have yet to use.
Cut these to fit your proofing baskets for easy dough removal.
Several reusable bowl-sized plastic covers used to keep dough covered at all times.
Keep your bread fresh for up to a week in this box.
The perfect rectangular tub for 4kg+ batches of dough.
Seeds & Grains
Various seeds and grains I use when baking. Some grains are mixed into a dough, used as a topper only, or even cooked into a
porridge and then mixed into the dough.
Sesame adds a fantastic umami flavor to the bread. Can be used as a topper or mixed into a dough.
When making oat porridge bread, you want regular non-thick oats. These are my favorite.
Flaxseeds are incredibly healthy and delicious.
Flour
Ideally, you'd want locally milled flour for freshness and to support local farmers & millers, but sometimes that is not an option. Central Milling and Guisto's both provide flour that I've found to be excellent.
CM has some incredible flour; this is a workhorse flour for any bread.
I love this flour; it's my current top choice.
Pans
These are the best pans for baking a variety of bread including
rye, whole grains, and high hydration loaves. For more information check out my
guide to baking pan bread.
This pan is perfect for rye bread and smaller sandwich loaves. Incredibly durable, silicone lined and produces a beautiful loaf.
Storage
The containers listed below are the best I've found to store flour, grains, and just about anything else in the kitchen.
These, with
lid, are quite large and perfect for storing 25 lbs. of dry grain or flour.
I use these to store all my flour (they hold 5 pounds). They are airtight, light, and solid -- just the best.
Grain Mills
Below is a list of my favorite grain mills used to mill fresh flour in my home kitchen regularly. They are all built extremely well and are capable of producing excellent flour.
A beautiful mill capable of producing very fine flour at a fantastic price.
A workhorse mill that produces very fine flour. Built by hand in Austria.
A hand-operated, well-built mill that's capable of producing extremely fine flour at low temperatures.
