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At Le Cordon Bleu, I remember feeling apprehensive about our first breadmaking (boulangerie) lesson, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! I immediately fell in love with breadmaking, and it quickly became a regular part of my baking repertoire.
Below are a few of the breadmaking products and ingredients I love and use on a regular basis. For recipe inspiration, be sure to check out my bread recipes page, too.
Proving Basket
Buy Now → A woven basket used for allowing dough to rise before baking. If you see an artisinal loaf with a circular pattern in the dough, it was probably proved in a banneton.
Kitchen Shears
Buy Now → Kitchen shears are useful for scoring the dough (and an easier option than using a bread lame). They’re also great for cutting slices of homemade pizza.
Bread Lame
Buy Now → A bread lame features a sharp razor blade on a handle, and is ideal for scoring loaves with intricate shapes, patterns, and designs. Be sure to stock up on extra razors, too, as you’ll need to change the blade frequently to maintain a sharp edge.
Rolling Mat
Buy Now → A silicone rolling mat isn’t a necessity, but it protects the countertop and makes cleanup easier. I often cover my countertop with a rolling mat when I’m making bread, and I also use my mat for baking, including rolling pie crusts and puff pastry, and when working with fondant.
Bench Scraper
Buy Now → A plastic bench scraper makes combining ingredients easier. It’s great for adding inclusions (like cheese, peppers, or olives) to the dough, and cutting the dough into even pieces. It’s also handy for cleanup, especially when you need to scrape bits of sticky dough from the bowl, bench (hence the name!), or countertop.
Elastic Bowl Covers
Buy Now → These plastic food storage covers (which happen to look a whole lot like shower caps, but are food-safe) are an absolute lifesaver. They’ll fit nicely over a bowl or banneton, creating the perfect environment for proofing your dough. Plus these can be washed and reused, so they’re better for the environment, too.
Mixing Bowls
Buy Now → Metal mixing bowls are ideal for mixing bread dough and allowing it to rise. I often use the smaller bowls from my set for portioning out inclusions, like cubed cheese, peppers, and olives.
Yeast
Buy Now → Unless you’re making soda bread or sourdough, yeast is a must for breadmaking! I keep both instant yeast and active dry yeast in the cabinet; these are the two I use most frequently. Fresh yeast is also an option, but it’s difficult fo source, and is highly perishable.
Serrated Knife
Buy Now → The best kind of knife for slicing homemade bread. The jagged, saw-like edge cuts through crusty homemade loaves with ease.
Bread Stencils
Buy Now → Stencils come in many shapes, sizes, and patterns, and they’re easy to use. Lightly dust flour over the top, then carefully peel away the stencil and bake as usual.
Kosher Salt
Buy Now → Diamond Crystal is my go-to for breadmaking. Welsh sea salt, flaky sea salt, and coarse sea salt are also staples in my breadmaking toolkit.
Olive Oil
Buy Now → I keep a neutral olive oil on hand, as well as fancier options like garlic oil, basil oil, and herbs de provence oil. These are great for standard loaves, as well as pizza dough and focaccia, a.k.a. Italian olive oil bread.
Bread Flour
Buy Now → Another must! In addition to bread flour, stock up on all-purpose flour, and whole wheat flour. You might also want to keep cornmeal or semolina in the pantry for dusting the bench, tray, or banneton.
Rebecca Frey is a freelance recipe developer, food writer, photographer, stylist, and pastry chef. She earned the Diplôme de Pâtisserie (French Pastry Techniques Diploma) from Le Cordon Bleu London in 2020 and an MSc in Culinary Innovation from Birkbeck, University of London in 2022, where she focused her dissertation research on Pennsylvania Dutch recipes. She also holds a Professional Chocolatier’s Certificate from Ecole Chocolat. Rebecca has developed recipes for websites including Serious Eats, The Spruce Eats, Wine Enthusiast, and others. Follow her on Instagram @bastecutfold.
