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.
Jump to a section:
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
Hiya! Wondering how many 800-900g loaves you can fit, in the rofco, at a time. The Rackmaster is quite an investment, but I’m afraid of purchasing the rofco and quickly outgrowing it.
Check out my full guide to using the Rofco bread oven, I go over different scenarios for fitting dough!
The Challenger is way over my budget! Any suggestions for a more affordable pan for baking batards. I love my Lodge combo for boules. Many thanks for all your recipes and tips!
The Breadtopia hearth baker is pretty good.
Also, if you already have a baking stone or steel, a cheap and large mixing bowl inverted over the dough works very well.
Great suggestions there from @ohbadiah:disqus !
I hope I am not the only one with this question so here goes. Making loaves in the round Bannetons and letting it rise in same with a shower cap works great but there are times when a large oval loaf or baguette are needed. My problem is I cannot keep either plastic wrap (oiled) or a floured towel from sticking to the rising dough. The assorted plastic food convers don’t get it done either Any suggestions
Hey there! What I do is puff up the bags with air, then seal them shut quickly. Imagine like a big balloon around your baskets. Then I put a rubber band around the opening to keep that air inside!
I have really good luck with floured linen towels – I get nice linen napkins at the thrift store and flour those.
Are you using the 2 or 2 1/2 gallon bags. I use them in my kitchen all the time. I can even fit a cookie sheet in one if what I’m making isn’t too tall. Anyway, I can fit 2 loaf pans or my banneton in one with extra room. Then find some glasses or such that are taller than the pan or banneton and put them in next to your bread dough to keep the plastic off the surface of the dough.
Check out https://www.wildclementine.co/collections/kitchen for covers! The PUL lining doesn’t let dough stick, plus it comes in a lot of fun designs and sizes. Small business, too!
HI Maurizio, great site and great tips but I have one question that I am having trouble finding an answer for. Since I like a tart sourdough is there a way to short cut the long fermentation or refrigerator fermentation with sour salt? I can find other sites where it is mentioned but the amount is iffy. THANKS
Thank you! Hmm, I have never used “sour salt” and I’m not sure what that is! For a more sour flavor, generally, you need to give the dough more fermentation time.
“sour salt is basically citric acid used in cooking
I’ve heard of adding this, and I believe they do it in some sour, sourdoughs, but I’ve never used it!
Hey Maurizio, I just finished watching your sweet pain de mie sourdough video and in that you are using a very slick flat kitchen timer. Would you mind sharing where you purchased that from? I would love to get my hands on one. Also, just purchased your book – I cannot wait to read through it cover-to-cover.
Hey, Brandon! Sorry for the delay. The timer I use is the Thermoworks Big & Loud Timer. I highly recommend it, I have several and they’re amazing. Hope you’re loving my cookbook!
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond! I’m definitely picking some of these up for the tool kit.
You’re book has been excellent, thanks for taking the time to write it!
Which mill is your favorite for grinding a very fine flour? More for pastas, pastries and a few of your bread recipes that I’ve noticed call out an extra fine grind.
Thanks so much, Briana! Glad you’re enjoying my cookbook. You can get a really nice flour from any of the mills I have listed here. I’d say the KoMo is wonderful for convenience and produces really great flour. I use mine weekly!
Thanks, I ordered the KoMo last week after watching many reviews. They’re on back order though. I use a County Living mill weekly, it works fine, but is super slow. I’m looking forward to something a little faster and more compact.
Your cinnamon babka looks amazing, I’ll be giving it a shot next weekend.
Let me know how it goes, Briana!
Hi there! I follow you on insta and love learning about your projects! I’m interested in your thoughts on mixing bowls. I have a pyrex bowl I got secondhand, but it’s not really big enough (I like to make dough for multiple loaves at once) and the contour seems to contribute to lots of flour escaping, creating a big mess. It seems like a deeper, taller bowl might work better, but I don’t see many of those out there. What do you use for large quantity mixing? I’ve also been really curious about those old fashioned wooden dough bowls that are more trough-shaped. Have you ever used one of those, or do you know why they seem to have fallen out of use? Thank you!
Hey, Angie! I’ve never used a wooden mixing bowl, but I would imagine they are nice after they’re broken in a bit and become super smooth. I think stainless steel bowls work super well, and that’s personally what I use here. Very wide bowls to let your hands and arms get into mixing, and they also clean up very easily.
This is the set of mixing bowls I use for all baking tasks here, from holding soakers to making batters, and finally, the largest size for mixing dough.
Awesome! Thanks for your thoughtful response!
Hi Maurizio! Excited for your book! I am looking to splurge on a fantastic, durable bread knife. It’s a mutual 10th anniversary gift. The bread knife we have was a wedding present. I make a lot of crusty sourdough and we want one that won’t dull within a few months. Thanks!
Thanks so much, Chloe! My favorite bread knife is the Shun Premier Bread knife. I bought this knife over 7 yrs ago and I still use it almost every day (in fact, you see it in many photos here at the site!). I even sent it back to Shun for free sharpening about 3 yrs ago. It’s the best.
Hey Maurizio, any recommendations on bread slicers?
I’ve never used one!
HI Maurizio, I’ve been using the challenger pan for some time now and I love it. Eventually I hope to move up to a Rofco oven, but that will have to wait until we renovate our kitchen. In the meantime, lifting the challenger lid in and out the oven is hard on my back, so I was researching the Fourneau bread baker (http://www.fourneauoven.com). Have you tried it? What are your thoughts?
I use the fourneau oven and love it ! I think it had about the same dimensions as the challenger pan. I place my dough in for 20 minutes and add two ice cubes and fill the most with water before closing the hatch. After 39 minutes I like to bake another 15 with the hatch removed and then 5 minutes for additional color outside the fourneau oven . It’s easy to use and I really love it !!
Thanks so much – this is really helpful.
Hello Maurizio, I love your easygoing approach to baking!! Just curious if there is a reason to transfer the dough from the mixing bowl to a bulk fermentation container. Does stainless have any effect on the bulk fermentation process?
Thank you, Ryan! No, you can absolutely leave the dough in the same mixing bowl for bulk fermentation. As long as the metal is nonreactive (like stainless steel), it’s just fine.
Beautiful!! Thank you!!
Thanks for the superb baking advice Maurizio. One issue, however, is that the flour you recommend is extremely costly to ship. Central Milling, for example, changes $12 for ground shipping of a 5 lb. bag from Utah to California. Maybe you can give suggestions for flour that is available is supermarkets. I use King Arthur bread flour, which has always worked just fine. But it would be nice to see these suggestions as part of your recipes. Thanks!
Yes, KA BF would work just fine for most recipes here, or even their AP flour. But look local, if you have a source nearby that’s great too. In CA you can find flour at Grist and Toll in LA or The Mill in SF. Just a few ideas 🙂
HI Mario – Though the Weck jars do look very nice; they do not fulfill the two criteria I have been looking for. I have been looking for a jar that has graduation embossed. I would prefer a straight side jar. The Weck has a slight taper, but if it is taper and the graduations compensate for the I creasing diameter that would work. The only thing I’ve found so far are straight walled lab beakers. Do know of anything out there that may meet my criteria?
Hey, Jim! I don’t, sorry. It would be great to have markings on the side, yes!
Challenger sells great starter jars , straight sided and with markings and a bamboo lid
Hi Maurizio, apologies if you’ve answered this before, but do you have a recommendation for a pizza oven? Is ooni the one to get?
Cheers,
Paula
I really do love the Ooni, this Ooni Koda is my fav of the bunch 🙂
Thanks! Since I started making your pizza dough, my husband can no longer eat take out pizza!! So I think that a pizza oven birthday gift is in my future!!!
You don’t recommend the multi-fuel option?
Thanks, and I can’t wait for your book!!
Paula
Ha ha, that’s a great problem right there 🙂
It depends on what type of oven you want and what kind of pizza you want to make. Do you want to work with live fire and do wood-burning or the convenience of a gas oven? Of course, dual fuel is the best of both worlds, too. I’d probably do duel fuel if you have the option.
What is the difference between rye flour and pumpernickel flour?
Pumpernickel is 100% whole grain rye. “Rye flour” can be whole grain, or something like “medium rye” which has some of the bran/germ sifted out.
Thank you. Can I use pumpernickel flour instead of rye flour for feeding my starter?
Absolutely.
Where I can purchase the iron wood holder you show to start the kindling for the wood oven when making pizza?
That comes with the Fontana Forni oven!
Hi, where did u purchase those baking stones that u pleased on wire racks? It’s in article about steam. Thank u
Hey, Olga! This is the baking stone I now use.
I wish you did somme discover on mixers. I’m replacing a ka 4.5 quart which is tired. I do breads, pizza doughs with a wfo. I’m learning toward a hobart n50 or a100, a120.
Michael, check out my guide to using the Famag, which is a great spiral mixer!
Do you have a preferred salt for sourdough baking? I used Morton for the longest time but transitioned to unrefined salts but struggle with blandness in my dough. Any tips?
I love using Celtic sea salt for the salt in my baking. I buy a large 5lb bag and use that!
Hi, Maurizio! It’s been awhile, and I’m glad to be back — just love the changes you’ve made to your website and I’ve joined as a member. You helped me SO much when I was learning to bake my einkorn loaves, and the proofing box has made all the difference in consistency — what a game changer. I’d like to purchase a heavy ceramic bowl for bulk fermentation — one that will STAY on the counter as I do my stretch and folds. I cut in half all of your recipes and think I do not need the large mixing bowl you have. The same vendor has a “vegetable bowl” which appears to be the next smaller size. Would that work? Appreciate your advice on this.
So happy to hear I’ve helped! Thank you so much for becoming a member, I appreciate that 🙂 That veg bowl is pretty small… I would say get the larger bowl if you can, then just put less dough in there (and then you can make two loaves if you want in the future!).
Hi Maurizio! Love, love, love your sites. I was wondering if you have any instructions on using the spreadsheet you publish. Love the idea, but not sure about the details when comparing to your measurements in your posted recipes (and what’s a buffer!). Thanks!
Thanks, Cindi! Don’t worry about the buffer, you can ignore it. I’m working on a guide for TPL Members on how to use the spreadsheets! The gist is to modify only things in yellow boxes and let it calculate everything else. Adjust the “PFF” (preferment flour) percentage up top to adjust how much levain goes into your dough (which will be shown in the lower-right). In the meantime, let me know if you have any more Qs (post here or on Discord)!
Hey Maurizio,
Thank you for all of the tips. I think I’ve noticed in a lot of your Instagram videos/photos you are using ceramic bowls instead of bannetons for proofing your loaves. Do you prefer those over bannetons, and if so, any comment on pros/cons? Thanks!
For proofing dough (in shape), I use wicker baskets from SFBI.com. For bulk fermentation, I like ceramic bowls from Heath Ceramics (they’re nonstick, pretty much!).
Hi Maurizio,
If you don’t mind, what size Heath Ceramics bowl did you use in this video? Thank you.
Do you have recipes for high altitude baking?
I live at 5280ft so any recipe here will suit you well. Also, check out my guide to high altitude bread baking as well!
Do you have any tutorials on baking sourdough directly on a baking steel? I tried searching, thanks!
I do! Check out my post on how to steam a home oven for tips!
Hi Maurizio.
Here to say that your ‘score lame’ link doesnt works.
Good review about everything we need!
Thank you, Alberto! It works over here, it might be the Amazon in your location doesn’t stock it. Sorry about that!