3 Kitchen Tools That Upped My Bread Baking Game

While these baking projects only require a short list of simple ingredients (flour, water, salt, yeast or sourdough starter), there are a few key pieces of equipment that make the process of making bread (and lots of it) easier, less messy, quicker, and more failproof.

Here are the three tools that have leveled up my bread baking. 

One way to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to baking is to make a big batch of dough that produces two loaves of bread. You’ll spend just as much time on it as you will for one loaf, but you’ll get double the bread. 

But mixing a large quantity of flour and water in an average mixing bowl can get messy (even if you’re only making one loaf). Mixing your ingredients in a roomy mixing bowl makes it easy to use your hands to thoroughly incorporate everything together and even gives you enough room to knead the dough in the bowl as well. It also minimizes mess, containing splatters of flour and water.

When most home bread bakers start out, they use a makeshift contraption of a clean dish towel set in a bowl or colander when proofing their shaped loaves. And this works just fine! But for professional-quality loaves, a banneton is a must.

Bannetons (also called proofing baskets) help give the dough structure as it proofs. This is especially useful for high-hydration doughs, which otherwise might lose their shape without the help of the banneton.

They’re lightweight and made out of nonstick materials such as rattan or wood pulp, or come with cotton or linen liners. They’re the perfect size for a 1-kilogram loaf. 

Bannetons typically come in round or oval shapes, and we recommend getting two so that if you make a two-loaf batch, you have one for each loaf. 

When it comes to scoring your bread before baking, a sharp paring knife will do the job, but a lame will do the job better. Scoring your dough before baking allows the loaf to expand and the steam to escape in a controlled spot, instead of randomly exploding elsewhere in the loaf. 

A lame is essentially an ultrasharp razor attached to a handle that allows you to make that score with precision and control. It also makes your loaf look really nice too! The thin, sharp blade creates neat cuts that enable you to create a more intricate, attractive design if desired.