What tools do you really need? What’s worth investing in? What can you make do without?
It’s definitely easy to think I must have all the tools in order to make really good bread. But the truth is, you don’t need it all and you most definitely don’t need to break the bank in order to start cooking or baking.
With sourdough, I do believe you need to invest in the essentials: the ingredients! If you’re going to spend the money, spend it on making sure you have the best ingredients: flour, water, salt, and a starter. I truly think that sourdough baking should have the best loss ingredients. After all, we’re going through the process of slowly fermenting bread to have something incredibly nourishing, why skimp on just any ole flour? Sourdough is not one I use cheap ingredients on and I hope you won’t either.
bannetons or a starter kit are great! But what if you don’t have them? Do you have a bowl and tea towel? Then you can make an at home banneton! Just sprinkle rice flour over your towel (I do this same step with my bannetons with and without the liner). The rice flour prevents the dough from sticking AND you’re not adding extra gluten to your already fermented dough.
bread lame: while I love my bread lame from bread llamas a sharp paring knife will work too.
Dutch oven: if you want to make artisan style loaves then a Dutch oven is a great tool as it serves so many functions in the kitchen from my go to cooking pot to making soups and stews, long braising, and bread. It’s an incredibly versatile piece of cookware. Do I absolutely LOVE my Le Crueset, YES(!!!) but it doesn’t fit every budget. So what does? Lodge makes a great Dutch oven. You can get cast iron or enameled and Lodge makes product that fits most everyone’s budget. Be on the lookout at thrift stores and Facebook marketplace.
loaf pans and baking stones will also produce beautiful loaves from sandwich to ciabatta and baguettes.
proofing bowls (different than bannetons): this is where I do all of my feeding, mixing, and bulk fermenting. Before I had items specifically for this, I just used the biggest bowls I had. The bowls is use now, are multi-purposeful. I use them as sourdough bowls, salad bowls, food processing containers and so much more. I try not to have one use items in the kitchen because that’s just wasted space. The more uses I can get out of them the better.
Do you still need a sourdough starter? I have starter available to ship. Head to my shop to purchase.
so what do you think? Do you still think you need all the tools? Or do you think you have some creative ways to make incredible sourdough bread without all the gadgets? Let me know.
Disclosure: Some of the links on this post are affiliate links. This means that, at ZERO cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
