There are hundreds of different baking tools, and choosing the right ones for your home can be challenging. If you’re new to baking, you may struggle to successfully create delicious treats if you don’t have the right supplies.
Let’s review essential baking tools and a few tips and tricks to help you become a better baker. This way, you can take your baking skills to the next level and enjoy a wide variety of home-baked meals.
Essential Baking Tools
There are several essential baking tools that every baker should have on hand. Some of the most crucial of these tools include:
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Food Scales
- Whisks
- Wooden Spoons
- Rubber Spatulas
- Mixing Bowls
- Baking Pans
- Parchment Paper
- Dough Cutter
- Cooling Rack
Let’s quickly review why these tools are crucial to becoming a better baker. After all, it’s challenging to gain baking skills if you lack the proper tools.
Measuring Cups and Spoons
Baking is often compared to chemistry. That’s because proper baking utilizes many chemical reactions. It also requires delicate and accurate measuring.
Too much or too little of any ingredient can ruin your baked goods. Adding a little extra flour, for example, can turn your pancakes into muffins. That’s why it’s crucial to invest in measuring spoons and cups.
Nearly every baking recipe uses standard measuring cups and spoons. If you don’t own these items, you’ll struggle with your recipes and dishes. However, some recipes use exact weights instead.
Food Scales
If your favorite baked goods recipes use grams instead of cups or teaspoons, you’ll need a food scale. These household items are relatively easy to use and find, and they can be helpful for non-baking purposes.
Whisks
Many baking tasks require whisks. After all, it’s challenging to get your dry ingredients (flour, sugar) to combine with your wet ingredients (milk, water) without a whisk. These tools also add air to your mixture.
Some recipes may ask you to spoon your ingredients together rather than whisk them. For this task, you’re better off using a wooden spoon.
Wooden Spoons
Wooden spoons are safe to use with nearly every type of pot and pan. They’re also useful tools to have around when mixing ingredients. Wet flour can be particularly sticky, and wooden spoons wash clean easily.
Rubber Spatulas
When transferring your mixed ingredients to a baking pan or dish, you might struggle with leftover bits along the sides of your mixing bowls. Rubber spatulas are an excellent tool to help you scrape away excess dough.
Mixing Bowls
Speaking of sticky mixing bowls, you’ll need easy-to-clean vessels for mixing your various ingredients. While glass bowls are a traditional option—most modern mixing bowls are made of silicone or plastic.
In most cases, you’ll be combining room-temperature or cold ingredients in these bowls. As such, it’s often perfectly fine to use plastic mixing bowls when baking. Plastic and silicone tend to wipe clean more easily anyways.
Baking Pans
Whether you’re baking muffins or bread, you’ll need baking pans. If you have a specific recipe in mind, be sure to check which type of pan is recommended. Otherwise, you can choose a pan that fits your preferences.
For example, if you’d like to bake cupcakes and muffins, a muffin pan is the best choice. But if you’re planning to bake cakes and brownies, an 8×8 pan could be the smarter option.
There are many different baking pans available, and each is designed for specific types of baked goods. Always consider your recipe when choosing the right pans for your kitchen.
Parchment Paper
Occasionally, you’ll need parchment paper to line your baking pans. These unique tools help keep your goods from sticking to pans. However, large rolls of parchment paper can be challenging to handle and cut to shape.
However, Perfect Parchment is pre-cut and designed with helpful pulling tabs. There are several options to fit each type of baking pan. It could be the best option for recipes that call for thin parchment paper.
Dough Cutter
Those interested in making bread or dough-based goods should invest in standard metal or plastic dough cutters. These will save you tons of time when cutting large amounts of dough into smaller pieces.
Cooling Rack
Some baked goods need to cool away from their pan to prevent burning. Cookies are a notorious example. But if you don’t have a cooling rack ready, your perfectly cooked baked treats could become charcoal.
How to Become a Better Baker
Becoming a better baker doesn’t happen overnight. And though having the most vital baking tools available can help, it’s not the only thing you’ll want to consider.
When becoming a better baker, it’s crucial to:
- Ensure You Have All the Tools You Need
- Study Your Recipes
- Measure Everything
- Use Precise Temperatures
- Practice Often
Ensure You Have All the Tools You Need
As we’ve mentioned before, the first step toward creating mouthwatering baked goods is gathering your tools. Measuring cups, mixing bowls, and baking pans are an absolute must.
Still, you’ll also want to gather your tools before attempting any recipes. Having the necessary bowls, pans, and utensils on hand can help minimize panic and ensure your baking experience is flawless.
It’s also vital to study your recipes before getting started. Some recipes can be more challenging than others, and reading them beforehand can help prepare you for the baking tasks ahead.
You’ll also want to measure all of your ingredients to ensure you’re using them precisely. The same is true of temperatures. An oven that’s too hot or cold can be disastrous for baked goods of all types.
Finally, there’s practice. Practice makes better, and if you’re struggling with your baking, the best solution is to try and try again!
Baking Tips and Tricks
Are you ready to improve your baking skills and become a better baker? If so, you’ll want to check out these additional baking tips and tricks. After all, improvement starts with knowledge and ends with practice!
Follow the Recipe Exactly
Each recipe is designed to produce perfect dishes. But if you’re not following your recipes to the letter, you could end up with lackluster baked goods. Always read and study your recipes before preparing your ingredients.
Prepare Your Ingredients Ahead of Time
Food preparation is a crucial aspect of excellent baking. Ensuring that all of your ingredients are ready for mixing makes a significant difference in your final product.
If your recipe calls for room temperature butter or milk, prepare those items ahead of time. If you need chopped almonds or nuts, go ahead and slice them up before heating your oven or mixing your ingredients.
Invest in an Oven Thermometer
If you’re not quite sure how hot your baked goods are, you might struggle with underbaked or overbaked dishes. A handy oven thermometer can help you solve this problem. But there are several food thermometer types.
You can invest in thermometers that stick directly into baked goods or sensor-based thermometers. If you’d like to avoid small holes in your bread and desserts, a sensory thermometer might be the better call.
Become a Baking Champion
Wondering how to be a better baker? It all starts with having the right baking tools! Amateur and professional bakers alike need top-notch baking supplies to create delicious treats.
Of course, it also helps to study your recipes, prepare your ingredients ahead of time, and practice your baking skills often. Using these baking tips and tricks, you can become a master-level baker in no time.
Looking for the best baked goods recipes? Check out our recipe database now!
