Bread baking tools: 4 things you don’t need
Jumping on the bread making train
As far as I can tell everyone and their grandma is making bread these days. Which is awesome – bread baking is basically edible therapy as far as I’m concerned!
I’ve been obsessed with baking bread for years so my kitchen is stocked with all sorts of weird bread tools. I have bannetons; lames; a standing mixer; weird specific flours; you name it. But you don’t need it!
Bread baking doesn’t need to be expensive and it definitely doesn’t need to involve kitting out your kitchen with weird tools.
As someone who has a soft spot for buying weird niche baking things I know equipping your kitchen can get expensive. And as a student living in a small Chicago apartment I also get that most people aren’t willing to turn their coat closet into extra storage for baking pans… That’s completely reasonable! Today I’m going to share with you how you can embrace your new bread hobby without having to sell your favorite coats on Thredup.
Alternatively ignore what I said and buy all the fun tools, which is pretty much what I do… Do what I say not what I do right?
The 4 bread tools that you don’t actually need (and what you can use instead)
1) Standing Mixer
This is a big one. So many recipes suggest you knead your dough in a mixer. It’s easier. But it’s not necessary. Sourdough is normally made without a standing mixer and doesn’t even need to be kneaded (see my small batch sourdough bread recipe).
You can also totally knead things by hand.
To do so, tip your dough onto the counter and start stretching and folding it repeatedly until it feels smoother and less sticky. You can use oil or flour on the counter to prevent the dough from sticking too much.
Honestly if you’ve never kneaded dough before you should give it a go – this is where the real bread therapy comes in to play. I spent an amazing semester at culinary school in London and our boulangerie teacher (the scary french guy who taught us to make bread) made us knead everything by hand initially. It really was pretty relaxing so I kind of loved it. But also I like strange things (like owning way too many baking tools and not enough coats).
2) A proofing basket or banneton
Next up the weird basket you see above. It’s called a Banneton and you don’t need it. You really don’t. If you have one, then great! If not, don’t worry about it. I made bread for years without one and it was totally fine.
(But then I went to this one store ,and I couldn’t help myself, and now I own the cute basket above, and my kitchen is even more crowded…)
The proofing basket is used to keep your dough in the right shape while it’s rising. Keeping the shape is definitely important but you can totally do this without a proofing basket.
Instead grab a clean dish towel and place it in a medium sized bowl. Dust the cloth with flour (ideally rice flour but all purpose will work as well) and you’re good to go. Alternatively, if you want an oblong shaped loaf instead of a round one, place your flour covered cloth in a loaf pan instead.
3) A Lame or Razor blade to score the dough
Now that you’ve let your dough rise in your bowl (or loaf pan) it’s time to score the dough. Most recipes recommend using a lame which is a super sharp razor blade.
Lame’s are awesome. You get super clean cuts and can make all sorts of cool patterns (does anyone else follow these sourdough-scoring-artist people on instagram?). But you can totally just use a knife.
The underlying purpose of scoring is to give the dough somewhere to grow. It’s going to expand in the oven so we want to control that expansion. Scoring means that it grows at the cut you’ve made instead of just cracking open anywhere. With that in mind you don’t need to create fancy scoring lines, you just need one cut.
Your best bet is to use a serrated knife because the ridges help to tear through the surface of the dough. You can also use a straight edged knife but you’ll need to drag the tip of your knife across the dough quickly in one confident motion. In both cases your aim is to slice in a straight line across the surface of the dough. Don’t be scared to cut a bit deeper than you’d think (1/2 an inch is pretty good).
4) Pizza stones, baking steels and dutch ovens
Okay next up. Baking the bread. I use a cast iron dutch oven which is brilliant. When baking dough you want steam in your oven. The easiest way to get steam is to trap the steam released by the baking bread which you do by cooking your bread in something that’s enclosed. So if you have a dutch oven already I’d recommend using that. Bake with the dough covered for about 2/3rds of the total cook time and then remove the lid and bake uncovered for the rest of the time.
If you don’t have a dutch oven don’t panic! You can use a baking steel of some type if you have one. If you don’t have one just use a regular cookie tray. You want to place the baking sheet in the middle of your oven and then place another baking dish on the bottom shelf. The second dish should be metal as well, a loaf pan or roasting pan work really well for this.
When you’re ready to bake you’ll start by preheating your oven with the pans already in it so that they’re really hot when you add the bread in. Once it’s hot you’ll load your loaf onto the hot baking sheet and then pour water into the second baking dish. Adding the water creates that same steam effect I mentioned earlier and really helps you get a brilliant texture for the bread.
So what do you actually need to bake bread?
So you don’t need all of that stuff but what do you need to bake bread? Here’s a basic list of things you probably do need (but may have already!)
Key Ingredients:
- Flour – of course. If you only want to buy one flour go for Bread Flour
- Salt – honestly just use whatever you have
- Water – tap water is fine
- Yeast or a sourdough starter
Tools:
- A large bowl for mixing the dough and for it to rise in
- A proofing basket or a kitchen towel and bowl
- A lame or a sharp knife
- A dutch oven or a baking sheet and a second baking dish
So that’s it! Enjoy your baking
If you want some sourdough inspiration try my Small Batch Sourdough Loaf recipe and let me know what you think!
Did I miss any tools you think are key ? What’s the one kitchen gadget you think is totally worth getting?