The only essential Baking Tools you really need

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Here’s my list of the best most essential baking tools for every baker.

People, I’m the first to admit that I have way too much baking gear. I can and will justify every single piece from the most unitasking spritz gun to the honking commercial toaster oven I have hanging out in my kitchen.

But do you need said spritz gun or toaster oven that takes the place of a microwave? Nope.

I thought about this long and hard to come up with a list of baking equipment that if pressed I’d label as the most useful to anyone. Hopefully, you’ll get some good ideas as you build your baking arsenal.

Must have baking tools

1. Sheet Trays: buy 2

Sheet trays are the Swiss army knife of the kitchen. There’s literally nothing they can’t do.

Favorite tasks for sheet trays:

Toasting nuts
Baking cookies, buns, sheet tray cakes like German Crumb Cake
Roasting vegetables and meats
Catching drips
Adding water to create steam for breads

You getting the idea yet? You need sheet trays in your life.

A good tray is a half-size or a quarter-size and made of heavy metal. I bought my half-size pans from a restaurant supply place near me for $6 each years ago. I’ve since added to my collection, and I love Nordicware’s natural line.

I currently have 5 half-sheet pans and 2 quarter sheets, but I’ll admit that’s overkill for most people. 2 of the size that fits your oven is more than enough.

2. Baking scale: buy 1

I tell my students that a baking scale is a lazy baker’s favorite tool. Why? Scales allow you to measure everything in one place. You can measure messy hard to measure things like honey and peanut butter and get an accurate weight on your flour EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.

I’ve been glad to see the shift in recipe writing towards using gram measurements for baking. Measuring in grams allows you to get a consistent result on your recipes each time. There’s way less guess work in trying to troubleshoot recipes with a scale.

My preference is for a scale that will measure grams and ounces as well as fluid ounces and milliliters. I’m using this Tanita scale currently and love its lightweight profile, though I wish it had a larger upper weight limit.

Be prepared to invest about $30 for a good scale. I bought a cheapy scale off of Ebay once for my classes for $10. My students affectionately call it “Grumpy Scale” because it has a habit of resetting itself randomly in the middle of weighing things. Don’t buy a grumpy scale!

3. Measuring spoons and cups: buy 1 set each

You will always need a set of measuring spoons for small things that are hard to weigh like baking powder and soda. A good set of spoons will fit into narrow jars that you may use for spices. My preference is for easy to clean metal spoons like these.

And even though my preference is for weighing ingredients, a set of measuring cups is also handy, especially if you’re working from older recipes that are written with volume measurements in mind. These Nordicware cups are my students’ favorites.

4. Parchment paper: buy it in sheets!

My parchment paper uses parchment paper. Seriously, there’s almost no baking task that doesn’t start with me lining something with parchment. I prefer it to washing greasy silicone mats, which I reserve for only my stickiest projects like Florentines or meringues.

Strong opinion: good parchment paper comes in pre-cut half-size sheets. If you buy your parchment this way, you can cut it into any size you need. On the other hand, if you buy it in rolls, you will have to do battle with the roll every time you bake, resulting in a lot of wasted paper and frustration. Do the right thing and buy half-sheet pieces of parchment.

This is another thing I buy by the 1000 at a restaurant supply place near me. This takes me a couple years to go through, but I like having the stash on hand.

If you do not bake as much as I do, a pack of 100 natural parchment liners like these are excellent.

If you make a lot of layer cakes, you might consider buying pre-cut parchment rounds as well. For me, I make a small enough number of layer cakes, that it’s not a big deal for me to cut out parchment rounds for any given cake.

5. Rolling pins: buy 1

Rolling pins are useful for rolling out doughs of all types. Rolling pins aren’t for just beginners either. When you want to up your skills, a rolling pin is all you need for making a gloriously flaky batch of puff pastry!

A good rolling pin is heavy for its size and feels good in your hands.

Far be it from me to say that a French style rolling pin is better than one that rolls. Pick a rolling pin you like and use it.

If pressed, I’d pick my red handled JK Adams (similar) small rolling pin for just about everything, though I have many rolling pins (mostly for my students) including a small pan roller and a meter long matarello for rolling pasta.

6. Baking pans: buy 1-2 each

Loaf pans and a standard 9″x13″ pan are almost as useful as sheet trays. I prefer them for baking bread over free-form loaves.

Loaf pan and 9×13 pan uses:

Quick breads
Pull apart breads
Babka
Potica
Sandwich loaves like this everyday bread
Meat loaf
Cinnamon rolls (9×13)
Moravian sugar cake (9×13)

Like sheet trays, a good loaf pan is heavy for its size. I’ve used my Analon 9″x5″ pans for about 15 years. I have a large USA Pan Pullman loaf pan (lovely!), but if I’m honest, I use the smaller pans much more.

I’ve only ever used glass Pyrex 9×13″ pans. Breads I bake in these pans I usually want a little insulation from the heat so that they stay softer, and glass is great for this.

7. Cutting tools: buy 1 each

If you make bread, a serrated bread knife will make your life less sad. I’ve used my Wusthof bread knife for years, though it’s losing its edge for heavy breads. This Victorinox 10″ bread knife does a good job cutting through even my densest traditional pumpernickel without destroying the bread.

If you make pizza or want to make pastry in any capacity, a pastry wheel will also help. Being able to trim off weird pieces of dough quickly and cleanly is so nice.

A pair of kitchen scissors will also do a good job with cutting sticky things that knives seem to be allergic to like dried fruits. They’re also generally helpful for keeping you safe for doing things like spatchcocking a turkey or chicken.

8. Stirring implements: buy 1 each

When you’re just starting out baking, a good old wooden spoon can’t be beat. Get a sturdy wooden spoon, and you can make breads, cakes, brownies and everything in between.

Also helpful is a silicone baking spatula. They’re awesome for scraping the sides of bowls that get sticky when you’re mixing things.

That’s it for the essential baking tools. I’ll list some, “I’ve been a really good girl” things to put on a wish list next.

Splurge baking tools

Stand mixer

You’re probably asking me by this point, do I really need a mixer? The answer is no, you can use your own two hands and more muscle power with a solid wooden spoon.

That being said, there are some things that are zero fun to make without a mixer. Making anything with egg whites–meringues, macarons, marshmallows will pretty near give you carpal tunnel if you try to mix that situation by hand. The same goes for bread doughs that require a lot of work like brioche or big batches of just about anything.

When you’ve decided that baking is something that you want to do, something that you love and want to do more of, seriously consider a stand mixer. I’ve had my Kitchen Aid for 30 years (I was that kid in junior high!), and it’s made everything from brioche to countless breads to my wedding cake. Sometimes I get sparkly eyed over the idea of a hipper pretty pistachio Kitchen Aid, but until my navy darling kicks the bucket (she’s only lost a knob in 30 years), I can be content.

Food processor

A food processor is not quite as expensive as a stand mixer, and there’s a lot of baking tasks it can help with. I love my Cuisinart for grating cheese and especially for making pie dough, pasta frolla, and my black bean brownies. It’s also a whizz at grinding nuts or even making nut butters and no bake date bars.

A food processor is not essential for life, but it is really nice to have for some things.

Grain mill

This is probably the most ridiculous thing on this list. I throw it on here because if you get interested in whole grain bread baking, it might be something to consider, and I’ll make a quick case below.

There’s this idea that you can go to Europe and not gain weight even though you “eat bread every day.” I’ve experienced that, though I’m convinced it has less to do with wheat, and more to do with the quality of the flour that people have access to. I also think it has to do with how long flour has been hanging around on shelves. Historically, people have had local mills that offered flour they could purchase. These days, we’re shipping things across the country or world, letting flour sit in bags for months on end.

In my quest to eat less processed foods as much as possible, I try to use only organic flour. In my breadmaking, I like to use more traditional grains like rye, and I try to buy them in whole berry form and source them locally. Since I do not have a mill that I can take whole grains to, having my own mini countertop mill is really really nice.

I’ve had my Komo Fidibus mill for a couple years now, and it’s been a good friend for traditional ryes like Pumpernickel and Deli Rye. I use it often for whole wheat as well. I have friends with a Nutrimill who love theirs as well.

As you build your set of baking tools, know that you can build your collection over time. With a few basic tools, you’ll be able to bake almost every thing that you can think of. When you’re ready to make more advanced or complicated things, make a plan for investing in some of the splurge items. At the end of the day, the most baking tool you need is a willing heart and a eye that pays attention.