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
Hi Maurizio,
I don’t think my wife would like you right now because a baking steel is showing up in a few days. 🙂 I did use your link as well. Question. I read your article on baking with steam at home. Do you have a link for the rectangular pan you use? Also, my wife fell in love with Ancient grains, especially Einkorn, do you have any resources with recipes for this grain. Finally, I’ve never use a baking steel before, any tips you can offer would really help. (Do you still put your dough on the baking steel when its a bit wet?
Hah! Thanks for using that link to get the Steel, much appreciated. I use a rectangular pan that’s pretty old, I’ve had it for a long, long time. Really anything that will fit in your oven works well. Some even prefer to use a disposable tin foil style one (the ones used for roasting) so they can replace it every so often.
I do still bake on my Baking Steel. I don’t really have any more tips than what I’ve written in my post on steaming a home oven — it’s all in there!
Hope that helps and happy baking, Eugene.
Hey Maurizio, I was wondering where you got your bowls from? The ones that you use for bulking. I love the colors that you have. Thank you.
Hey, Erin! Most of the bowls I use for bulk posted here are from Heath Ceramics in San Francisco. Awesome stuff!
HI Maurizio,
This is a great article thank you. I still don’t understand how you can bake those huge batards in a 3.2 quart combo cooker? I’ve heard of people using a larger goose pot from la Creuset or similar, what are your thoughts on that? More of pain to transfer and score…are there any other options for larger batards?
Hey there! I don’t bake large 800g+ batards in my Dutch oven, they won’t fit. As I typically list in the Bake section on those posts, I use my baking with steam in a home oven method for those.
Thanks! I read your other posts after I sent my first msg. Oops
Thanks Maurizio,
Can you elaborate more on what you mean by “want to use your starter, and levain, when it’s a little less ripe (mature)”? I’m currently following the weekend baker guide you made. So on Wednesday I start feeding my starter, making my leaven Friday night and bake on Sundays. I also have a Brad proofer, can this help?
Also, is there a way to stop my bread from been too well done at the bottom? I use a Lodge combo cooker and I’ve tried moving the pot away from the bottom of the oven where the burner is to a shelf above, away from the heat. I’ve also reduce my heat from 475 to 450. I’m still getting the bottom too well done.
During a single feeding cycle, use your starter (to make a levain) and your levain (when you mix it into dough) before they gets overly sour smelling (acidic). That acidification really carries over to the dough and will make things more sour (assuming other things are kept constant). Essentially, just try to use them a little earlier to see if that helps.
That seems to be a common issue with the Lodge Combo Cooker. You could try sprinkling down some coarse cornmeal or semolina flour to help insulate the dough from the combo cooker. Additionally, I also place a piece of parchment paper down in the pan (carefully). Also, try preheating the CC for less time, perhaps 30 minutes or so.
I hope that helps!
Hi Maurizio,
I’ve been following your site for a while and I’m so please to tell you that I’ve been getting some wonderful results. My wife is well please with one complain. Is there a way to all but remove all sourness from your bread? What I’ve been doing is making my leaven and use it about 12hrs after(well risen). Can I alter the sourness using a different technique?
Hey there, Eugene. Really glad to hear that! There are a few things you can do to try and decrease the sourness of your bread. First, you want to use your starter, and levain, when it’s a little less ripe (mature). That mature, ripe starter/levain has much more acidity than if used when it’s more on the “younger” side. Additionally, you could try using less whole grain flour in your final dough mix. Rye flour, especially, helps stimulate more acid production for a more sour flavor. I realize that you might be trying to make a more whole grain loaf, which is fine, just be aware what effect these flours have on your bread and adjust to suit. Finally, if you can try and reduce the cold proof time in the fridge. You definitely want your dough to be fully proofed, but there’s usually a little leeway there where you can reduce the proof to limit acidity without compromising overall texture and flavor.
I hope this helps!
That should work. You’ll have to test this in your particular oven, though. Be careful transferring the hot pot from your stove top to the oven.
Sure thing, answers below:
a) It’s hard to say because it depends on what size you want your loaves to be. If they’re on the small size, say 700g to 800g you could get away with smaller baskets for sure, and these loaves would fit in a 3.2qt Lodge. Since you have the 5qt Lodge you could do larger loaves, and might be able to fit up to 1kg loaves. Personally I use 14″ long baskets for all my bread, even if they are 800g, all the way up to 1.2kg. I shape them tight enough so they don’t relax out to fill the entire basket anyways — so that also comes into play. I’d say go with the 8.5″ baskets and that’s a good middle ground. After you bake a while you can go bigger if you find it necessary. As bakers it seems we tend to accumulate quite a large number of baskets over the years, no matter what 🙂
b) 5qt would be fine. It’s large so you might need more preheat time. It’s up to you on that one, for me the 3.2qt is perfect for not only smaller breads but also many other uses in the kitchen.
c) I don’t use a vessel when baking oval batards. I bake straight on my baking stone (or Baking Steel) per my guide on Baking With Steam in a Home Oven.
d) I’m not very experienced with vital wheat gluten, I’ve never used it. I’d say try with just your All Purpose and see how your bread bakes up. If you find you need more rise or you’d like a lighter interior adding in some strength into the dough (via VWG or stronger flour) might help. You’ll have to experiment there!
I hope this helps!
HI Maurizio, Is it possible that I preheat the oven only for 10 to 15 minutes. My question is that whether it would same results if I do not pre-heat the oven for one hour and instead I put dutch oven or baking steel on the gas stove top and heat it over there and put them in the oven which can be heated for 15 minutes only. I am asking as this shall save my electricity cost of turning on the oven for pre-heat for more than one hour at highest temperature
Hi Maurizio, I am planning to buy some equipment for sourdough baking and I was a bit confused about selection. Can you please tell me a few things about following equipment to be used in sourdough baking?
a) Which size banneton I should get? Most people on forums recommend 8.5″. Should I go with that or a larger one like 9″ or 10″. The Dutch Oven I plan to by is Lodge 5 Quart. Therefore which size banneton would result in perfectly raised and round boule of bread because I don’t want them to be flat? 8.5″, 9″, or 10″?
b) Do you think that 5 quart lodge dutch oven would make by bread flat? Perhaps I should buy 3.2 quart like yours, I am not sure. I just wanted it to be big for multipurpose use.
c) What vessel do you use for baking oval shaped loafs? I don’t find oval shaped dutch ovens of lodge. Can we shape dough using oval banneton (batard) and then bake in oven without any vessel?
d) We don’t have bread flour over here. But we have all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. Can we get same result if we add one table spoon of Vital Wheat by Bob’s red mill in one cup of all purpose flour or whole wheat flour?
I have the same issue with my scale! I thought maybe the battery was too weak, although up until recently I barely ever used it. It’s very annoying!
Ciao Maurizio… so happy I found your site!. I am new to bread making and have made 4 loaves so far. My levain passed the float test each time but my bread did not rise as much as I hoped and was very dense inside. Good crust and good taste just really dense. Any thoughts as to why? thanks !
Hey, Francesca! There are many reasons this could happen, even if your levain passed the float test (which isn’t a definitive “yes” that things will work out). It’s hard for me to say without more info and/or pictures. Feel free to shoot me an email through the Contact link up top and I’ll help get ya going!
Hey thanks, Paulo! It’s not something I’ve really considered much, perhaps sometime in the future 🙂
Thanks again and happy baking!
Maurizio… It is time for a book! I live by your site and I know everything there is to know about self-publishing. Let’s team up!
Ciao!
Paulo
That’s a good question, and one I don’t really have an answer for. Those bulk bins can be almost any flour and any age, depending on where your store sources and how much of a turnaround they have. Usually they’ll have the mill written there somewhere, and if it’s one you’re interested in trying out I’d give that a shot. King Arthur actually has really nice flour, though! They’re certainly always a great choice. You could do both: use some KA flour and try the bulk here and there and see if you like what you have access to. KA flour is usually sourced from various mills across the country and they do a great job of keeping it consistent and good quality. Time to experiment, I’d say!
Question about flour. I have a Luckys by me, basically a Whole Foods type grocery store. They have a lot of bulk flours that I can scoop out myself, bread, AP, rye, whole wheat. Question is, would these be better or worse than buying a bag of King Arthur? I really have no idea how old the bulk flour is and such.
Yes, it’s the 3.2qt version. It may seem small but believe me, it’s plenty big!
Is your lodge combo cooker only 3.2 qt? Is that large enough for a 900g loaf? It just looks so tiny.
Glad to hear that, Lauren! I haven’t used flour from Stone Buhr, I’m not familiar with them. I’ll have to do some investigating, I’m always on the lookout for more flour sources. Thanks for the comments and happy baking!
I’m new to all of this, but I’m loving it. I just made some sourdough loaves from your high(er) moisture sourdough recipe. It was maybe the most satisfying thing I’ve ever baked. I used Stone Buhr bread and whole wheat flours and I thought they were great, but I’m curious if you’ve used any flour from them?
is it a good idea to leave the dough reach room temperature after the overnight fridge period before baking it?
It’s not necessary. However, if you find in the morning your dough is a little under fermented and could use more room temperature proof time, letting it sit out for a bit can be a handy last minute adjustment!
Thanks Maurizio for your reply. Good tip. 450 is high enough anyways, nothing a slightly longer bake can’t fix.
Hey, Daniel! I typically don’t push the heat that high with my Pullman pan — I don’t think the USA Pan I use is rated to go that high. When I use it I typically max out at 450°F, but I would say check the specs for the pan you’re using and make sure it can handle even that high of a heat! When I use other pans I have I preheat the oven to 500°F but drop the temp right when I load.
Hope that helps!
H Maurizio. Have you baked at 500 F with that pan Pullman? If so, with what results? Thanks.
Thank you Maurizio. Great recommendations!
If you’re looking for an electric one, it’s hard to beat the Mockmill 100 in terms of price and flour output. I also really like the KoMo line of mills and if you’re into milling by hand, the GrainMaker 116 is fantastic.
Do you have a flour mill that you would recommend?