I’ve spent years vetting the following equipment. This list is has my favorite bread-making tools to help you make the best sourdough bread at home.
Also, check out my Amazon storefront, where I have all my favorite tools (and baking books!) on one page.
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Sourdough Starter Tools
These are the best tools to help create and maintain your sourdough starter.
Beginning Baker Tools
A list of a few tools to help you get started baking sourdough bread at home.
More Tools For Better Results
Use these baking tools to help you increase your baking consistency in your home kitchen.
Keeps my starter, levain, and dough at the perfect temperature.
(See my guide.)
The perfect rectangular tub (14″x15″x5″) for 4kg+ batches of dough when you make more dough.
Some recipes here call for “high extraction flour,” this helps sift out some bran/germ.
Flour and Grain
The list below are my most-used flours here at home, but look local first! There are many great farmers and millers scattered all over with incredible flour options.
A custom flour blend I created for any sourdough recipe (here’s mine)!
CM has some incredible flour; this is a workhorse flour for any bread.
Pans and Storage
These tools will help you bake pan loaves and are a collection of excellent storage options for flour and grain.
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.
Mixers and Larger Equipment
Other useful tools when baking sourdough bread at home.
An incredibly well-made oven for larger bakes. My current oven.
(See my guide.)
This sealed oven lets me bake 4 or more loaves at a time from home.
(See my guide.)
Didn't Find What You're Looking For?
Check out my deep dive into the best baking tools with a look at why I’ve picked each one (and how they’ve helped with my baking).
Or, check out my Amazon storefront, where I have all my favorite tools (and baking books!) on one page.
733 Comments
Hello Maurizio, what brand of food mixer/dough mixer would you recommend? I’ve seen the Hauswirt works relatively well and has good reviews as well as a kitchen aid, but the difference in price is huge! Which one would you recomend?
For a bread dough, I like Haussler or Famag for the home kitchen. They’re a bit larger than a KitchenAid, but work very well! I have a post coming on these two.
I’ll have to measure it! It’s large, but not so large I can’t pick it up and put it away when I’m done with it. I’d estimate something like 4ft x 4ft. I believe Webstaurant sells some, but I got mine years ago.
My countertop proofer has finally arrived, after months of waiting. I’ve just discovered that my 6 qt proofing containers don’t fit into it (too tall). Do you have a proofing container that you like that you use with the proofer? Thanks!
We are renovating our kitchen and creating an area designated for bread making. Do you have a suggestion about the countertop material? We are considering wood (butcher block) or quartz.
It’s a personal preference, but I really like maple wood as a bread dough surface. If you don’t want to put wood directly in as a counter, you can do as I do: I purchased a large Boos Block maple slab I take out and put away for bread, I place this on my kitchen counters.
I’ve been considering doing just this. What size block do you use?
Hi Maurizio, thanks for the great website! Quick question, do you use the water tray in your proofer? Also, I see you live at a high altitude, I am assuming that you take that into consideration in your recipes?
You’re very welcome, Michele! No, I don’t use any water in the tray, I keep my dough covered instead. Yes, I live around 5,000 ft elevation, that’s taken into account with my recipes!
im thinking of getting a grain mill to mill my own flours and wondering what mill do you use and what would you recommend and i don’t know if allowed to ask here but when you do mill your own what setting do you prefer? do you mill it on the finest setting and then sift it or do you keep it the consistency of whole wheat flours? im also going to try the guide from your malted wheat sourdough
I use all three mills linked above! It really depends on the grain I’m working with and how much time I have. If I have plenty of time, I’ll mill with my GrainMaker (which is a hand operated mill), otherwise I’ll use the KoMo or Mockmill. I typically mill on the finest setting possible. I used to sift, but these days don’t—if I’m going to mill I use the entire berry!
Well, not necessarily. If you divide too early, the dough will actually still be quite shaggy and slack. You need to give the dough enough time in bulk to become sufficiently elastic (strong), but yes, if you divide a little on the early side it should not need to be handled as delicately as a dough pushed really far in bulk fermentation. It does take considerable practice in determining the right point at which to divide… In fact, I find this to be one of the most challenging parts to baking. If you’re seeing too much spread try to strengthen the dough with another set of stretch and folds, reduce the hydration of the dough, or if you feel it’s over proofing, reduce bulk and/or proof time like I mentioned before. My feeling is, you’re probably experiencing dough that’s under strengthened and could use more kneading time or sets of stretch and folds.
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! By cutting the bulk fermentation slightly the dough should have some added strength prior to shaping—correct? I feel that the preshape is fine. My batard shaping leaves little to be desired. It seems that I cannot achieve enough tautness when I follow your video. The dough is quite gassy at that point and I feel that I am deflating the dough each time I do one of the rolls you demonstrate. Perhaps this goes back to bulk fermentation. I feel I am either cutting it short or going too far, despite following all of the temperature directives. I am sure that this is where experience comes in. I have not yet had a loaf baked that had the three outcomes that I wished for: Nice large holes, great ear, and good oven spring. In your opinion, would this be due to the timing of the bulk fermentation? I have always done a refrigerated over night proof which adds some additional strength to the skin of the dough but with slashing I seem to forfeit that advantage; I have too much spread. Comments??
Finding the right baskets is always a challenge. If your dough is spilling over, yes, go with a larger basket or reduce the dough weight you’re fitting into each basket. Since you already have those baskets, I’d say drop the weight of each piece going into the basket! You might be pushing the dough a little too far in proof (and maybe this is also related to why it’s spilling over?). The farther you push that proof the more delicate you have to be at score time as the dough starts to loose integrity. Try cutting the bulk fermentation short about 15 minutes and see if that helps. Or, if you’re leaving the dough out on the counter before placing it into the fridge to proof, skip that rest out after shaping and place directly into the fridge.
Thank you so much for the recommendations. The Challenger Dutch Oven, although tempting, is a little too rich for my blood. Lava rocks and dish towels seem far more economical (LOL).Mauricio, I do have an issue with the banneton baskets. I have ordered several, which are supposed to be the same dimensions, and sadly, they all are different sizes. The 10”x6”x4” baskets are too tight, my dough constantly spills over. Would 11” baskets do the trick? Also, I feel that my bread is still not up to it’s fullest potential. The holes inside are just OK (not consistently large), and I am not getting the best oven spring. When I slash my loaves they seem to lose a lot of their integrity. Am I underproofing, overproofing, or mis-timing my bulk fermentation? Any direction would be awesome!
Many thanks,
Maureen
The combo cooker is a bit small for a batard, but check out my guide to steaming your home oven for a method for baking right on a baking stone/baking steel. You might also want to check out Challenger Breadware pans, which are cast iron but longer and wider!
Mauricio, quick question: Do you bake your batards in your Lodge Combo cooker? I am finding that the batards are too big for the shallow part of the combo cooker. I was just wondering if you could give me some tips!
Many thanks!
Glad to hear that, Ben! I’d try moving your oven rack up (if it’s close to the heating element) and/or reducing the preheat temp by 25-50°. A baking steel would only help if you preheated it at a lower temp (or for less time) and it was helping to insulate an exposed heating element. A baking steel is a fantastic item, but it can also get too hot, so if you go with one preheat at a lower temp 🙂
Ah! Thanks for the generous and detailed response, I’ll move the oven rack up and decrease the preheat temp a touch. Cheers
Question: I’ve tried your bagel method twice and it’s phenomenal – thank you! Mine are turning out great except the bottom is bordering on burned (bien bien cuit haha) I’m not currently using a stone or steel though, would that help with the bottoms?
Cheers
Hey, Chase! They don’t sell the exact same ones, but this is another baking stone I have, and it works really well!
Hey, Caroline. I’d say you might be pushing your flour too far—some flour doesn’t hold up to extended fermentation times, and it may also simply be over proofing. If it were me, I’d drop the hydration further, reduce bulk, and see how that goes. If you’re still having issues, you could try prefermenting a little more of the flour to see if that helps bring more strength to the dough (just keep an eye on it because this will make it ferment a little faster!).
You can! Just be sure the amount of dough you want to bake will fit in the pan. Check out my guide to loaf pan loaves for common dough weights and shaping tips.
Thank you, and i have just another question iv been baking sourdough for maybe 3-4 weeks now and i bake at 250c for the first 20 then 230c for the next 20 in a lodge combo cooker and my crumb is always sort of shiny and translucent but yours looks like sort of matte i cant really think of another word.
what causes my crumb to like this instead of yours
https://imgur.com/a/Qfel7Ls
Can I bake a high hydration loaf in a pullman pan instead of a dutch oven?
My favorite oven mitts are added above, Sonja!
Hi just wondering what size oval bannaton do you like to use and what size dough
Matthew—I like to use 8″ rounds for 500-900g or so, 10″ rounds for anything larger.
For ovals, I like 9″ for 500-750 or 800g, and 10″+ for anything larger. For my white style long batard (900-1kg), I usually use 14″ long baskets but the dough must be shaped tightly inside so as not to spread excessively.
Will do!
oven mitts Sir, please add 🙂
Hi! I live in Denmark and have been trying +failing to make successful sourdough ever since Covid lockdown struck in March. I have the feeling that none of the flour I have readily available here has enough gluten, so when I follow recipes with ‘long’ bulking stages, they look really good and then completely fall apart into soup. I am thinking I can continue to use the flour I have (all-purpose low protein, ~12g/100g combined with “ølands” flour (high-protein ancient grain)) and reduce bulking + hydration, or else… maybe use Manitoba flour? Do you have any tips for me? I have been trying to use Full Proof Baking’s method, and I will try yours next time. Thank you so much!
Hello Maurizio,
I wanted to ask where you got your thick baking stones from? I am looking for some just like in your picture on your 100% whole wheat bread recipe page so that I can arrange them in my oven better than my current pizza stone.
A link to the place you got them from or helping me know where I can start looking for some will be amazing.
Thank you,
Chase Campbell