I’ve spent years vetting the following equipment. This list is has my favorite bread-making tools to help you make the best sourdough bread at home.
Also, check out my Amazon storefront, where I have all my favorite tools (and baking books!) on one page.
Jump to a section:
Sourdough Starter Tools
These are the best tools to help create and maintain your sourdough starter.
Beginning Baker Tools
A list of a few tools to help you get started baking sourdough bread at home.
More Tools For Better Results
Use these baking tools to help you increase your baking consistency in your home kitchen.
Keeps my starter, levain, and dough at the perfect temperature.
(See my guide.)
The perfect rectangular tub (14″x15″x5″) for 4kg+ batches of dough when you make more dough.
Some recipes here call for “high extraction flour,” this helps sift out some bran/germ.
Flour and Grain
The list below are my most-used flours here at home, but look local first! There are many great farmers and millers scattered all over with incredible flour options.
A custom flour blend I created for any sourdough recipe (here’s mine)!
CM has some incredible flour; this is a workhorse flour for any bread.
Pans and Storage
These tools will help you bake pan loaves and are a collection of excellent storage options for flour and grain.
Grain Mills
Below is a list of my favorite grain mills used to mill fresh flour in my home kitchen regularly. They are all built extremely well and are capable of producing excellent flour.
Mixers and Larger Equipment
Other useful tools when baking sourdough bread at home.
An incredibly well-made oven for larger bakes. My current oven.
(See my guide.)
This sealed oven lets me bake 4 or more loaves at a time from home.
(See my guide.)
Didn't Find What You're Looking For?
Check out my deep dive into the best baking tools with a look at why I’ve picked each one (and how they’ve helped with my baking).
Or, check out my Amazon storefront, where I have all my favorite tools (and baking books!) on one page.
734 Comments
Hi, I do not have a dutch oven yet, but I want to bake a sourdough bread. I will buy in some time, but I cannot now, Is it okay if I bake it in a normal loaf pan
In a lot of the pictures, there’s an reddish-orange, ceramic looking mixing bowl (or it may be the one you use for bulk fermentation). I was wondering what type or brand that bowl was.
thanks!
David
David — that bowl is the Large Serving Bowl from Heath Ceramics in San Francisco. I use it for bulk fermentation when my dough mass is 2kg or less. Hope that helps!
Hi: I have a Komo grain mill, so I bake with whole grain only. As I learn more about baking I’m curious to try separating out bran from the flour (as described in Reinhart’s book and many other places) to soak separately. Have you ever used any sieves? I don’t see them mentioned on your site, and I can’t find any advice as to what size openings (holes per inch seems to be how they are described by manufacturers) are appropriate. Reinhart seems to have written mostly for professionals, and in his rye recipes he is clear about not using whole grain flour as it comes out of the mill because the sharp husk particles will tear up gluten. Thanks for the site, btw!
Hi, David! I do have a set of sifting sieves for when I mill my own flour but I don’t use them all that often nowadays as I typically just like to mill very fine and use the entire result. However, sifting is a great way to get varying extraction percentages from your fresh milled flour, as I’m sure you know.
I picked up my sieve set from Korin.com — if you look around the website you’ll find them at varying sifting levels. If the percent extraction is not clear in their description you could always calculate this yourself each time you mill flour. Just mill a given quantity and weigh the result (which will be 100%). Then, using one of the screens, sift the flour and the part left in the screen place in another bowl. Weigh the flour in the bowl that fell through the screen and divide that by the total weight for your extraction percentage. From there you should know approximately what each screen will give you when you sift.
Hope that helps and happy baking!
You’re very welcome, Rich! Glad you’re enjoying my site.
I like to work on wood (maple in particular). A stainless steel surface works, too, but there’s something about wood and the way it interacts with the bench knife I can’t get over. I purchased a large maple Boos block from cuttingboard.com and it’s fantastic. I can’t seem to find the exact dimensions but they have them of all sizes — I’d say get the biggest you can easily move and place on your counter. Mine is large enough to fit my entire kitchen island width, this gives me plenty of room to do large batches of dough.
Hope that helps!
Hi Maurizio –
First off – thank you for all the time and effort you put into this site. I can’t even begin to describe how incredibly helpful it’s been on my bread making learning journey.
I had a question for you regarding your preferred work surface? I’m currently using wooden cutting boards but they aren’t very big so I’m stuck having to use two of them when splitting up dough. I have a marble countertop, but not sure how I feel about scraping the top of that with the bench knife. I’ve seen some larger “proofing boards” on Amazon, but not many reviews. Any suggestions?
Rich
Hi Maurizio – the mixing bowls pictured in a number of your articles don’t seem to be listed on this page. Which ones do you use typically or recommend?
Love the site – it’s been a really helpful resource.
David
Hi there! I use a large, stainless steel mixing bowl to mix my doughs. Hope that helps and thanks, I’m happy to hear my website has helped!
Hey, Lisa! Glad things are moving along despite the cold temps. I’ve not tried this myself but, like you said, I think it should be fine given the pot will totally enclose each loaf. I know some bakers have even more than this (5+ pots) going in larger ovens without steam and their bread turns out great.
Happy baking!
Hi Maurizio…building my starter using your method. Looks very promising despite how cold it is here in Central Victoria, Australia. I plan to cook two bread rounds simultaenously. I will have to place one cast iron pot high on shelf and the other low on oven shelf. I am hoping this isnt a problem given that the action happens inside the heated pots. Thanks from Australia.
Thanks Ramiro, I appreciate that! I know several professional bakers who have an oven that doesn’t have any steam injection, they use a handheld garden sprayer to spray down the inside of the oven and on the bread after loading the dough. These pump activated garden sprayers seem to work really well and I plan to follow the same course of action when I (eventually) get an oven like this.
I hope that helps!
Thanks a lot!
Hi friend. Your site is just amazing, so generous an act of yours to share all important information! I write from Brazil. I have a question: I’m selling sourdough bread in a small scale and I want to buy a bigger stone oven to sell to more people. The professional steam stone ovens here in Brazil are very expensive for me. I’d like to begin by buying a stone oven without steam, that is much cheaper, and create steam manually. Should it be interesting to use the lava stone method in this oven? ocuppyng a space of one loaf with the lava stones in a recipient? Or it would be better to buy a steamer machine to jet steam in the begginning of the baking process? This oven that I wnat to buy is the same as a modern stone electric bread oven but without steamer. Thanks a lot and I wish you the best!
Hi there! I have a question… I’ve had an inexpensive stone for about a year and a half, and I have loved using it, but today it broke while making pizza 😨 So, I was checking out your links (I was thinking about upgrading to a steel), and I had a thought. Is it possible to use a cast iron griddle to cook pizza and bread? I’ve been wanting one for a while, but didn’t know if I’d get use out of it – but I’d use it plenty of I could bake on it!
Hey! Yes, while I’ve never used a griddle to cook pizza you certainly could. Anything that gets super hot and is flat should work really well. You’re right, lots of other uses for this in the kitchen as well! If you try it out, let me know how it ends up working for you. Have fun!
Ryan — wow, what an awesome bake you got there! Seriously nice, love that crust and crumb. No worries about the affiliation links! I make just enough to help cover the costs of this website and keep things going, that’s all that matters 🙂
Thanks so much for the offer, though! And keep up that baking, really impressive.
For sure! Thanks Maurizio!
Garrett, I use my Baking Steel for both bread and pizza — it does a great job with both. When using the steel it can actually get too hot so you might need to reduce the preheat temp/time when using it for bread. Otherwise I really think it’s a better surface than traditional stones.
Thank you and happy baking!
Hi Maurizio,
Thanks to your blog my bread is FINALLY coming out of the oven beautifully risen, delicate and airy – presenting a new challenge: how to cut it into thin slices without totally squishing and tearing it apart! Thankfully your Baking Tools section provides a suggestion for a knife upgrade. Being from Canada and wanting to avoid fees at the border, I bought a Kai Wasabi bread knife through Amazon.ca instead of using your Amazon.com link. Although you appear to be set up to receive affiliate commission on these items with Amazon.com, you missed out on the commission you deserved for my Amazon.ca purchase. Perhaps you registering as an affiliate with Amazon.ca (and serving Amazon.ca affiliate links when the user’s geolocation is Canadian) is worth looking into. I did a cursory search and it appears to be something that can be accomplished with some custom Javascript. Not sure what kind of Canadian traffic you get, but if it’s significant you should make sure you’re sending us to Amazon.ca and getting paid to do so! If you need any help with the code let me know, it would be the least I could do after you’ve generously shared your sourdough process with all of us amateur bakers out there.
Oh ya, and here are pics of my bread (based on your Beginner’s Sourdough Recipe): https://goo.gl/photos/gbfR9bXChY3ZysPC7
Maurizio, do you still use your baking steel for bread or primarily just for pizza? Are there noticeable differences in the outcome of the bread when you use the steel versus your normal baking stone and steam method? Thanks for this great source of information for the home baker!
Hey there! I just tested it for you: the 6qt Cambro does fit inside the B&T proofer. It reaches just about to the top lid, but it fits just fine.
Thanks for the kind words and I hope that helps!
Maurizio, I was wondering if you’re able to fit one of the 6 qt Cambro containers inside of the dough proofer? I just purchased the containers and have been using them for my bulk fermentation and have been considering getting that Brod and Taylor proofer. I measured the container at 8 inches tall and that’s what the measurements say for the inside of the proofer.
Love the site and thanks for your time
A truly fantastic blog!!! Thank You!!! I was doing some flour research and found out that Giusto’s Flour company was sold a few years ago. Unfortunately I’ve recently learned that they do not mill ANY of their unbleached flours (only whole wheat flours). They actually buy their unbleached flours from different mills and put it into Giusto bags. Also during my research I found out that the original 3rd and 4th generation Giusto family members (Keith, Nicky, and Matt) are no longer associated with Giusto’s Flour and are actually owners and or part of Central Milling Flour Company and Keith Giusto Bakery Supply. I had some issues with the Giusto brand flour and called them to obtain customer/technical support or speak with an actual Giusto family member for some expert advice and got the run around. As of the past year or so I’ve been using the Central Milling flours and have been very satisfied. Technical support from Nicky and Matt has been awesome!! and I feel really good knowing that Central Milling personally sources all of their grain direct from farmers and mills all of their flours in house at their Utah milling facilities (No toll milling from other mills). The biggest plus for me and many of my artisan baking friends is that we’re now getting the best artisan flour available coming from the original Giusto family along with their many years of expert artisan baking knowledge.
Thanks Hugh, I appreciate that! I’ve used Giusto’s and Central Milling for quite a while now. I didn’t know about the departure from Giusto’s but that’s interesting information, thanks for sharing!
How do you store 50 pounds of Artisan Baker’s Craft Plus?
For the 50lb. bags I just keep the flour in the bags in my pantry. I cut the top off and then roll it up tightly and clip it shut. The bags are a little too large to transfer to another container. I then have a large scoop where I scoop 5lb amounts out into the Oxo storage containers I have listed above for easy day-to-day access.
I actually have a dark blue version of that exact same one on my wish list but they’ve been out of the blue for a while and didn’t know if it would actually work. Thanks!
Fantastic, really glad to hear that, Kato! I love the inventive use of the terracotta pot 🙂 Happy baking!
Hi Maurizio, I just made your Beginner’s Sourdough and got beautiful results. It’s a very easy recipe to follow and a super dough to handle. I used a couple of Pizza stones as the baking surface, and a cloche I made out of a 10.5″ diameter terracotta pot with an eyebolt in the hole to act as a handle. I’ll be working my way through your site and trying out all the recipes. Thanks for the great resource!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053XZEP0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Looks good. Works well.
Thanks Brian! that is a very nice one and not a bad price.
Anyone have a bread box they’d recommend? My loaves go stale after about 4 days…although are still very good toasted. But, I’d like to keep them longer if I can. Assuming they aren’t eaten within 4 days!
This is the bread box I’ve used for years, works really well!
Really glad to hear that Steve! I like to refresh my starter 3 times before using it from the fridge (over the course of 1.5 days essentially). If you haven’t had a chance check out my newest post outlining a sample Weekend Baking Schedule — this answers your exactly question (I hope!). Happy baking!
Hi Maurizio. I baked today with a eight day old starter with awesome results. Didn’t have any rye flour but used organic plain and wholemeal flours. I have used other starter methods before but the results weren’t anywhere near as good. I was surprised how quickly the starter developed. I would like a little more sourness but I guess that will develop with time. The starter is currently in the fridge as I will not bake for a while. How long do you recommend to restart the starter to get the best results?
Ahh so glad to hear that! Usually it just takes a little perseverance and eventually your starter will get going, glad it worked out. I’ve never used a dough whisk (just my hands and trusty plastic scraper) but I’ve heard great things about those clay bread bakers (cloche I believe). If you don’t have a Dutch oven you could go with that baker instead, up to you! I do find the Lodge DO nice because I use it for many other things in the kitchen as well as baking brea.
Happy baking!
Hi Maurizio, I began a starter according to your instructions a little over two weeks ago, and after some initial doubts and despair about its viability, i am so excited because it’s finally ready to go! So, thank you for encouraging patience and perseverance. Anyway, I’ve been gathering some equipment in preparation for the first bake, and I don’t want to go too crazy with buying stuff, but I was wondering if you had any opinions about the danish dough whisks, or the clay bread bakers (like the kind on breadtopia’s website under your bannetons.) I’m so glad I found your page – cheers!
Jesse, thanks so much I really appreciate that! I find with baking acquiring a few key tools to get started makes the entire process so much easier and removes a lot of guesswork. Consistency can be hard in baking! I’m confident you’ll stick with it, you already know how satisfying it is to make bread at home and it will only get better from here on out. Keep me posted on how it’s going and let me know if you have any questions — happy baking!
I clicked the link you provided to order the Weck jars and Amazon suggested everything else (I’m buying it all!) I think that says something about the trust your readers have placed in your advice. I’m really happy I’ve found your blog. I’ve baked for a while using the “Bread in 5” method, and although I think it’s a great place to start considering the time investment advantage I’m so excited to build off of your efforts (and Chad’s too) and develop the loaves that my senses long for. I’m going to be keeping a journal along the way, and I only hope to maintain the excitement I have today. I guess what I’m saying is thank you!
The Baking Steel is a bit narrow, I don’t think you’ll be able to squeeze 3 loaves at a time on it. I can comfortably fit two of my large (1kg) batards no problem. The Steel can get very hot, I don’t have a problem, though. I preheat my oven for about 1 hour at 525ºF and my crust is just fine. I love the steel I have linked above, it makes awesome pizza, too! Hope that helps 🙂
hi maurizio, thanks as always for the blog. i am looking to switch from a dutch oven setup to a baking stone/steel set up so that i can bake more than 2 loaves at a time. does the baking steel feel large enough that you could do 3 loaves on it at once? also, other folks on the internet have suggested that the baking steel can burn the bottom of bread because it is so hot- have you had this issue at all? thanks!
Thanks so much! Ahh, I envy your Griswold dutch oven, some really fine iron there! One day I’ll snag a few pieces.
I think for baking bread the Lodge combo cooker is the best. The shallow end makes it easy to load the dough into while the tall side gives it plenty of room to expand upward. It’s a good piece of equipment for this and can take quite a beating (assuming the usual maintenance is performed).
One day I’ll have a Griswold myself but until then the Lodge combo works perfectly! Glad to have you along 🙂
Wow… what an amazing blog! I’ve recently started my adventures in sourdough bread, and it seems to be quickly turning into an obsession. I am a *big* fan of old school cast iron, especially the legit collector quality Griswold stuff. I have an old Griswold #8 dutch oven, which I stripped and seasoned with 8 coats of flax oil, and I’ve been pining over a #9 (6 quart) tight top for awhile now. That said, now I’m actually considering getting a Lodge combo cooker or double dutch just for baking my sourdough loaves, since I could invert the whole thing as you do. Do you think it’s worth it to get (what I would consider to be) an inferior cast iron piece just to have the inverted oven option for baking bread? Do you like the long skillet style handles and shorter depth of the combo cooker, or would the Lodge double dutch (with it’s increased depth) make more sense? Thanks so much for all the great info you have here… I have a feeling I’ll be pouring over it all for many hours in the coming weeks and months!
Thanks for tips! I’ll try baking with a baking steel this weekend. Have a good day ü