10 essential tools for Sourdough baking

The journey of baking sourdough took me down a maker's path. To ensure I could produce better loaves in my kitchen without splurging on fancy tools, I did quite a bit of research on the essential tools. Here are my recommendations, along with direct links to the exact version I have for ease of purchase.

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1) Dutch Oven

I didn't' want to splurge on a $300 Le Creuset so I did my comparison shopping seriously for this guy. It's also a really heavy piece of equipment so I didn't want to have to return it. The reviews came through and I am really happy at how awesome this affordable option turned out. They have many other colours, so get one that matches your kitchen backsplash!

2) Banneton set

Bannetons are proofing baskets for bread. These are special baker baskets made of natural rattan which help maintain the shape of the loaf as it proofs. If you remove the linen liner and put your dough on the basket directly, it will leave beautiful rings on the dough. I've bought a few but this banneton set has pretty good quality for the price and didn't have a smell, unlike a cheaper option I previously bought. It also comes with a great bread lame and handy dough scraper.

4. Bread lame

This is basically a sharp razor blade mounted on a handle. It allows you to easily score the bread before baking, so that the dough can open up more and rise beautifully.

Word of caution - don't get the cheap green ones on Amazon, they are blunt and break easily. I know, cuz I broke 2 of them before I found the wooden version in this banneton set. Blunt blades can also pretty much ruin your dough when you are scoring it. Definitely invest in a good bread lame if you want your patterns to turn out sharp.

5. Dough scraper - this little guy is important to help you release the sticky dough from your containers, or to pick it up from your kitchen counter. No strong recommendations on which one to get, but it's best to get one as spatulas and such do not really cut it for this use case. The banneton set I recommended above comes with a dough scraper.

6. Water filter - you need filtered water to feed your sourdough because tap water typically contains too much chlorine and will kill off the active cultures in your sourdough. I love my zerowater filter pitched which filters out all contaminants in my tap water without affecting the taste.

7. Thermometer to measure the temperature of water to ensure we are only adding water at 70ºF - 80ºF. I bought this for cooking other meats and repurposed it for baking too. You can of course get other more cost-effective thermometers, but if you only want one in your kitchen, consider this handy model!

8. Kitchen scale - if you bake anything at all, you probably have one in your kitchen already. The accuracy of ingredients does matter for sourdough loaves, so I recommend you measure out your flour when baking sourdough. If you do not have one yet, something like this would work well.

9) Glass jars - you need to store your starter in a clean glass jar. You can use any spare glass jars you have at home, but it helps to have more than one, so you can transfer it out while you clean your existing jar. I like jars with wider mouths, so that flour doesn't get all over the sides when I feed it. Tip: use a rubber band to mark the level of starter so you can tell how much it has grown since the last feeding.

10) Large container- A large clear container for your stretch and folds will be useful to help you see how much your dough has risen since the last stretch and fold. Professional bakers often use containers like this to prepare their dough.

Bonus item: Rotating cake stand - for rotating your dough while you score designs on it. Since I started getting into more intricate scoring, I found this indispensable, so I can score quickly and get my dough into the Dutch Oven as quickly as possible.

Do you have any other kitchen tools to recommend? Feel free to link them in the comments below!