The 7 Things That Make Me a Better Bread Baker

This foldable proofer is a splurge and takes up as much space as a toaster oven, but it seriously upgraded my skills by eliminating one of the trickiest variables in bread baking: temperature. The proofer creates a perfectly temperature-controlled microclimate, so I can set it to a balmy 78 degrees Fahrenheit and walk away knowing that my dough will rise beautifully and predictably, even in the winter, when my kitchen is normally too cold to ensure a good rise. It’s roomy with enough space to fit a nine-by-13-inch pan. The proofer temperature range is 70 to 195 degrees F, which means you can use it to culture yogurt and temper chocolate — and can even plop your Dutch oven inside and use it as a slow cooker.

This is mandatory if you, like me, absolutely cannot stand the feeling of sticky, gluey dough in between your fingers, under your nails, and in your hair somehow when mixing doughs by hand. Unlike the whisks you use to scramble eggs or whip cream, dough whisks feature a flat coil of heavy-gauge metal (usually stainless steel) that effectively mixes heavy, sticky doughs without gunking up the whisk tines. It’s also good for mixing stiff cookie doughs and meatballs.

Any serious cook or baker will tell you a bench scraper (sometimes called a bench knife, though it’s not sharp like a knife) is a nonnegotiable tool in the kitchen. When baking bread, it’s especially handy for cleanly portioning sticky doughs and transferring shaped loaves to proofing baskets without tearing the delicate dough. I personally prefer a larger bench scraper with a nice wide surface, which makes moving your precious dough around a lot easier. Use it to cleanly cut scones and biscuits or to shuttle chopped veggies from cutting board to skillet.

If your bread baking has advanced from casual fling to committed relationship, you’ll want to invest in a few of these inexpensive, lightweight baskets for the loftiest rises and prettiest loaves. Also known as abannetonin French or abrotformin German, these baskets snugly cradle your shaped loaves as they proof, ensuring they rise upward and keep their shape. There are lots of different styles and shapes of proofing baskets for specialty bakes, but you only really need a round one (for making round loaves, or boules) and an oblong one (for making oval-shaped bâtards). They’re often made with natural materials such as cane, wood pulp, or rattan, and can be purchased with cloth liners, which can help prevent your dough from tearing or sticking to the bare basket.

This handy little shaker makes it easy to quickly and evenly dust your work surfaces, bannetons, and loaves with flour. Mine is always loaded with all-purpose flour and lives in my baking cabinet for easy access. You can also use it to dust baked goods with powdered sugar or cocoa, though I find it useful to keep a dedicated one just for flour.

Before committing to a fancy breadlame(a tool professional bakers use to make artful slashes in their loaves), get an inexpensive pack of razor blades to practice intricate leaves and flowers or perfect your “ear” (the coveted crispy edge that forms on the top of your loaf where the dough was scored). Blades can dull relatively quickly, so once you notice your blade catching on the dough while you score, simply switch it out for a new one. Make sure to get double-edge blades, which are significantly thinner than single-edge blades and will result in a cleaner, sharper score.

A reusable shower cap fits snugly around even large bowls of dough and is infinitely cheaper than products that are specifically billed as bowl covers.