Tools

Some of the links for products below are affiliate links. I may receive a small commission if you purchase through the link, but it does not affect the price to you, the customer.

This book is for beginning bakers as well as intermediate bakers looking for something new. There are a wide variety of difficulty levels from quick breads to direct dough with instant yeast to breads made with sourdough starters. Go through the seasons of the year for seasonal breads as well as many different holidays from various cultures. It makes a perfect gift!

I wrote this book with the beginning baker in mind. There are 8 master recipes and each subsequent recipe uses one of the master recipes as a starting off point, making it easier to get started with making lots of different kinds of breads!

Bread baking is done by weight and ratios so using a digital scale creates accurate measurements.

If you don’t have a sourdough starter or a friend who can share, buying a sourdough starter online is an excellent option! Breadtopia offers a live starter as well as a dehydrated starter. Cultures for Health is another great company that sells a dehydrated starter that can be rehydrated and revived for making wonderful naturally fermented breads.

Having a plastic dough scraper is an essential part of a bread baker’s toolkit! This helps you with dividing dough, shaping, and moving shaped dough more easily.

Using a proofing bowl creates a beautiful round boule of dough by allowing the dough to rise without losing its shape due to the breathable material of this proofing bowl.

A standard home oven takes all the steam out of the environment, which creates a dense, hard crusted loaf. Adding steam is critical! The best way to bake a sourdough boule (round loaf) at home is by using a large cast-iron Dutch oven like this one. Enamel coated works as well. Lodge and Le Creuset are two brands I have used. Look for at least 3.7 quart capacity or 10-inch diameter pots. Take note that enamel coated cast iron works, but the high heat over repeated use will create spots that are very difficult to remove on the finish.

You can score your dough before baking with a serrated bread knife but a bread lame makes scoring much easier!  A bread lame uses a straight razor to make sharp cuts easily.

This size container fits one large batch of dough. It is perfect for your bulk ferment, especially for a long cold ferment in the fridge.

This is my favorite loaf pan to use. See this post for how to line it with parchment and my favorite sandwich loaf tips!

I use this cooling rack as a place for my freshly baked bread to rest and cool so that steam doesn’t accumulate on the bottom crust.

I use parchment paper in nearly every bake I do. From lining loaf pans to helping pizzas and calzones transfer easily in and out of the oven. This brand is especially durable at higher heats as compared to others.

This 6-quart size fits 2 to 3 batches of dough, depending on the recipe.

This flaxcloth linen baker’s couche is used for long breads like baguettes.

A baguette flipping board is used to flip baguettes from the baking couche to a baking sheet or bread peel for baking.

I love using a rocking pizza cutter to make clean cuts through sourdough pizzas.

Use a digital heat thermometer to measure the temperature of your baking stone before baking pizza, baguettes, and other breads.

A baking stone is perfect for baking pizza, baguettes, fougasse, and other artisan breads that improve from a direct heat source.

This tool is perfect for moving baguettes, pizza, calzone, and other breads in and out of the oven.

A mesh shaker is a great addition to your baking toolkit. Fill it with some white flour to use for evenly dusting a work surface, the top of a loaf for shaping, or before doing detailed scoring.