Tools Every Baker Needs - From a Bakery Owner

For the last four years my sister and I have run a small bakery, The Flour Barn, on our family farm. Prior to opening our bakery, we had baked in our own kitchens, but when we began baking on a much larger scale, we discovered the necessity of quality tools. When it comes to baking tools every baker needs, I believe in quality over quantity. This does not mean you need to spend a fortune on each item you buy. Rather, it means instead of collecting a million different sizes and designs of loaf pans, you pick the most versatile and efficient. I have gone through countless cookie cutters, muffins tins, cookie scoops and so on and now I feel that I have some advice that needs to be shared! Whether you are baking up a storm daily, or just for special occasions, here are some of my essential baking tools…

Thermapen

This is first on the list for a reason. I literally have a whole blog post on why you NEED a Thermapen as a baker. As someone who has sold baked goods and suffered severe anxiety over whether my babkas were baked through, I found the use of internal temperature to be a game changer. So, in case you are like me, you may not have known that every baked good has an internal temperature that you’re shooting for to determine when it’s done baking. This means that when your muffins are done, they will reach an optimal temperature. You cannot know for sure just by looking at the muffins, but you can know, without a doubt, by inserting a Thermapen in it. No more doughy biscuits, dense bread or over cooked scones! We use this every time we bake to make sure we are getting a consistent and perfectly done bake. Highly recommend. This really is a baker’s best friend.

Side note, it is also great for grilling steak, frying chicken or baking salmon. The most used tool in my kitchen…

Digital Food Scale

If you don’t have a digital kitchen scale you need one! In all of our classes at the Flour Barn Bakery, I always recommend weighing your ingredients instead of hand measuring them. I am not sure why people seem to perceive this as more effort; I promise it is the lazy man’s way of baking! Instead of using numerous measuring cups, you simply can dump your ingredients right into your bowl. This is especially helpful when using ingredients like honey and peanut butter that stick to your measuring cup and are difficult to accurately transfer. It also is the most accurate and consistent way to bake. For instance, when using measuring cups, you never know if you are packing your flour too much, or your brown sugar not enough. This handy tool can make a huge difference in your baking. Here is the scale we use in the bakery.

Bench Scraper

Specifically, this bench scraper is our favorite because it is extra-long and durable. This is a tool that I never even knew about as a new baker but is now one of my favorite baking tools. It is one of our most used items in the bakery. We use it to decorate cakes, cut cinnamon rolls, brownies, and bee sting bars. It’s also perfect for dividing dough, whether it’s biscuits, scones, brioche, or sourdough. It is much easier than a knife to cut things straight because of its size and strong blade. It also is so helpful for cleaning up dry ingredients. For example, when you flour a surface to knead dough you eventually have to clean it up. We use this tool to scrape flour or dough scraps into the trash or a container.

Rubber Scraper

Yes, I do recommend having both scrapers. It is essential for scraping the sides of bowls, especially when you are making sticky bread dough or pizza dough. It also can double by doing what the metal scrapper does, cleaning countertops and cutting into dough. Silicone, like this one, is best for durability and effectiveness when scraping bowls.

A Jumbo Cookie Scoop

Even if you do not make a lot of cookies, you need this. Using a cookie scoop for items like cupcake batter and muffin batter allows you to get much more consistency than with a spoon. In addition, it allows the transfer of batter to the cupcake/muffin tin to be much easier and cleaner. When we’re baking cookies, I just love it when every cookie is exactly the same size! If we’re making cookie sandwiches, using a cookie scoop to put buttercream in between the cookies ensures the perfect amount every time. Overall, it’s a lot cleaner because scoops push the icing out instead of having to push it off your spoon. Here is a great variety pack; the handle is so easy to use and does not break like many of the classic handled scoops do.

Stand Mixer

Maybe you are a weight lifter and love hard work, but if not then I would recommend a stand mixer. My experience has only been with Kitchen Aid mixers and commercial mixers, so that is the brand I can vouch for. A good quality stand mixer requires a good motor that can handle mixing dough whether its liquid cake batter or a denser bread dough. Some less expensive mixers also can move around a lot when mixing and can jump off the counter if you’re not watching them. The two most important tasks for my stand mixer are kneading bread dough and creaming fats and sugars together. I don’t think I could make my favorite brioche bread recipe without my kitchen aid and its handy dough hook. I like this one because it has a larger bowl size while also having a neck that tilts up. If you go up to the professional series or commercial series, they have crank necks that I feel are less user friendly.

Dutch Whisk

This is a tool that I use constantly at home. However, not so much in the bakery because we’re making recipes on such a large scale. It is the best way to not over mix batter. So, for example, over mixing biscuit batter can result in tough biscuits. Stirring your batter with a Dutch Whisk helps incorporate the dry and wet ingredients without causing over mixing. This is because of its unique shape. It is a good whisk for making biscuits, pancakes, waffles, muffins, scones, brownies and most baked goods that can be over mixed. It is also the whisk of choice for sourdough bread baking.

Egg wash sprayer

Maybe this is one that is only interesting to me, but I don’t like egg washing with a pastry brush. When I make items like cinnamon twists or croissants, sometimes brushing egg wash on can deflate them or cause a mess. At the bakery I was nervously brushing pans of croissants each week and thought to myself, there must be a better way! Alas, there was a sprayer that allowed you to spray your baked goods with egg wash. This sprayer delivers a consistent amount of egg wash on your baked goods giving them a beautiful, even golden shine. (This was truly life-changing for our bakery on Saturday mornings when we’re egg washing hundreds of things!)

Food Processor

This is an essential tool in our bakery. We use a commercial food processor for scones, and it really results in such a crumbly delicious scone. It also is an easy way to make a graham cracker crust and to crush cookies and candies for toppings. Likely, it is probably an item that you already have in your kitchen, and you just haven’t considered using it for making delicious baked goods.

Three 6-inch or 8-inch round cake pans

If you are a cake baker, I would invest in three pans. Obviously, this allows you to bake all cake layers at the same time. In addition, we have found that cakes look more professional, and have the best cake to icing ratio, when they have three layers. Baking all three layers at the same time ensures a consistent bake, cuts baking time, and makes you look like a professional! Here is a good option for 8 inch pans, and here is an option for 6 inch.

Sheet pan extenders

This is great for baking cheese cake, brownies, blondies or even cinnamon rolls. It basically just turns a sheet pan into a square cake pan. It gives your bake goods sharp, clean edges and provides a very consistent bake. This is also a great option for key lime pie bars, lemon bars or sheet cakes. It is easy to clean and cuts down on the amount of dishes you need in your kitchen. For cheesecake, we eliminated the use of a springform pan and instead just use our sheet pans with extenders. Here is the one I recommend, and that fits on the pans that I recommend below.

Sheet Pans

Several years ago, my mother-in-law wanted to get me a nice set of cookie sheets for my birthday and asked me to pick out a pair. It was surprisingly overwhelming. There are pans with sides, pans with no sides, pans with bumps, pans with enamel, too many pans! To help you out, I recommend these baking sheets. They have moderately high sides if you want to make blondies or brownies and they’re just perfect for cookies. They clean up very well and they do not warp in the oven. Although we use full sheet pans, I would recommend half sheet pans for home use so that they fit in a standard oven.

Mason Cash Mixing bowls

I recently got my mom a complete set of these gorgeous bowls. They make every baking project feel a little more special. Not only are they gorgeous, but they are also a great weight. A heavier mixing bowl allows you to really mix or whisk batter without the bowl wanting to constantly move around. They have the same feeling as nice vintage ceramic bowls. without being overly porous. I also love that I can just have them on display in my kitchen. If you are a fan of the Great British Baking Show, these may look familiar. My favorite pattern is the In the Meadow Pattern and you can find that here.

Parchment Paper Sheets

Okay this one is a little over the top, but it is such a luxury. Precut parchment paper sheets. We go through so much parchment at the bakery and to be able to just pull out the sheet and have it be the perfect size is a game changer. Also, when you buy them as sheets, they will not continuously try to roll up–amazing!

Disposable Bags for Icing

Although these are primarily used for cake decorating, I find them to be so handy to have around. They are great for glazing Lemon Bread, drizzling chocolate over brownies, or piping freshly whipped cream on cheesecake. For years at home, I just cut the corner out of a Ziploc bag. However, so often they would rip, or the liquid would drizzle out the top. Having plenty of piping bags on hand has really elevated my baking game. Here are the ones we use at the bakery.

For Sourdough Bakers: Silicone Baking Mat

This is very specific to bakers who love to make sourdough using a Dutch oven. When baking your sourdough bread, you place it on a sheet of parchment paper to transfer it to the Dutch oven. However, we are baking at such a high temperature that the parchment gets a little crispy making it occasionally challenging to remove your bread from the pot. Also, the parchment cannot be reused. To solve these problems, I’ve been using reusable silicone baking mats that are designed to fit nicely down into your pot! They are a perfect solution that I wish I had invested in sooner!

I actually have a full post on Sourdough Baking Essentials here…

Oven Mitts

I like the flexibility and durability of these oven mitts. Often, bulkier oven mitts can cause you to stick a thumb into a cookie or drop a lid. When lifting heavier bakes, like large cakes and brownies, it is helpful to be able to have a solid grip on them.

Immersion Blender

We love to make freezer jam in our family, and this tool really aids in the process. Here is a “how to” for the best freezer jam. It is great skill for every baker because the addition of a fresh tasting jam can elevate any bake. Whether it’s between the layers of a cake, added to butter for a butter board. or slathered on a fresh buttermilk biscuit, delicious jam is always a welcome addition!