If you have just started trying your skills in the baking arena, you might have little or no idea of the tools you should have on the counter. This guide aims to help you set up a baking kit for beginners with twelve essential kitchen tools.
You will probably discover the motivation you need to toss that baking pan out of the cabinet. Choosing the right equipment can also close the gap between professional and amateur bakers.
Let’s dive in:
1. Baking sheet
A baking sheet is a sheet of metal or a flat pan. It has raised edges, making it ideal for baking scones, cookies, and pastries. It also works as a roasting pan for fish, vegetables, and spatchcocked meat. Baking pans with ¾ inch sides at all corners is also called a cookie sheet or a baking sheet. It also helps to bake runny batters.
A proper cookie sheet has a rolling edge on one side to handle it, and the other is open for easily dishing out baked goods.
2. Measuring cups, spoons and containers
Baking needs accurate measurements. Hence, a complete set of measuring cups and spoons is a must. Don’t assume you could get away with one kind of cup or a spoon. It would help if you had dry and wet measuring cups to measure all ingredients precisely. Ensure all these tools are within your reach, as you need them repeatedly as you bake.
A glass measuring cup having a spout is essential. Also, a 2-cup size (16 fluid ounces) is convenient and helpful. It would help if you also spent in a set of metal measuring cups ranging from 1 cup to ¼ cups. As for the spoons, try to find a group with a ½ tablespoon measure for the spoons. It will be a great help when making a tiny batch of your favourite muffins.
Containers help keep your countertops and shelves organized. This can make it easier to find things when you need them and prevent clutter from building up, and they help to prolong the shelf life of your food. Pick the containers made of BPA-free plastic, such as these Oxo pop containers, so you can be sure that your food is safe from harmful chemicals. By keeping food in airtight containers, you can help prevent it from spoiling quickly.
3. Rubber/Silicone spatula
Thin, angled, single-prong spatulas are handy when you want to apply frosting in an even swipe. It also helps to loosen the edges of a stubborn cake. This tool is ideal for scraping those last bits of batter or dough from the baking pan.
Also, they are super-efficient for folding dry and wet ingredients. However, silicone spatulas or scrapers are more heat-resistant than rubber ones. It does the double duty of cooking eggs and sautéing.
4. Cooling rack
Never let your cookies, cupcakes, or cakes cool in the pan placed on the counter. The cooling rate at the bottom is prolonged as no air gets to the lower portion of the pan.
Baked items should cool on the racks or baking sheets. A cooling rack is an elevated wire rack where you can keep baked items cool. It allows air to circulate over baked goods. It releases the residual steam and prevents sogginess.
5. Food scale
This is one of the most critical items on the list. As mentioned earlier, baking is all about precision and accuracy. A slight mismeasure could lead to a horrific baking disaster. A small kitchen scale keeps all such happenings at bay.
It takes away the eyeballing and guesswork of measuring ingredients. You can set it to grams and use the tare function. Then, you could place a bowl on it and zero it out.
6. Fine-mesh sieve
Some baking recipes require sifting dry ingredients like sugar, flour, or cocoa powder. This step helps filter out the lumps and ensure you get a delicate batter. It also helps dust powdered sugar on a completed pan of cookies or brownies. Not only this, but it also comes in handy when draining wet ingredients like quinoa or removing seeds from the raspberry sauce.
Using the sieve ensures you get a satisfactory product to serve at the next family BBQ plan.
7. Stand mixer
An electric stand mixer lowers the hassle of whipping and mixing. Its standard attachments include a paddle, dough hook, and whip. It is enough to mix the batter, knead the dough, or whip egg whites. It is beneficial for all bakers as they need to make a dissolved batter.
8. Hand mixer
A hand mixer helps mix too thick dough to whip by hand, but it doesn’t have enough volume for the stand mixer. It lowers the chance of overmixing a batter and brings a dense final bake.
9. Rolling pin
A marble rolling pin is cool to the touch. This makes it perfect for rolling the pie crust or sugar cookie dough. Essentially, it helps flatten out pies, pastries, and everything else that needs compression. If you are a beginner, the roller type is the easiest. We recommend you get a good-quality rolling pin. You will probably stick to it even if you become a pro.
10. Chef’s knife
If you want only one but a versatile knife in your kitchen, get this one. It is an all-purpose knife you can use for dicing, slicing, mincing, and chopping. To summarise, for any recipe you want, this knife is the one you need to get through it.
11. Pairing knife
This is one of the knives you should get if you start as a baker. It helps to peel and core foods like apples. Besides, it also helps to cut fruits and vegetables. Or you could complete the delicate work that you can’t do with the chef’s knife.
12. Over mitts
You don’t want to ruin your manicure while prepping a cake for your dear spouse. Right?
Oven mitts help to handle safely hot but fresh-from-the-oven cocotte or loaves. Using the mitts, you can easily place the cake on a cake turntable. You could also buy heat-proof gloves to help you hold piping hot utensils.
Final Thoughts
We hope this list will help you shop the next time you go to the mart to buy baking products. We are eagerly waiting to hear from you about how your cakes and cookies turn out!
