May 10, 2020

My Favorite Baking Tools

Hello and welcome to The Food Worthian! I am so glad you’re here. For the first official blog post, I wanted to share some of my favorite baking tools. Although my main goal for this site is to share recipes, that means nothing if you do not have the proper equipment to make them! Not all of these are a must and some can seem extravagant. We’ll work our way up the necessity ladder.

The number one most important item for baking is a measuring device. Accuracy is everything in baking. I recommend these OXO magnetic measuring cups and spoons. Magnetic means no loose items in the drawer or useless hooks. For all those that like clutter free drawers: this is for you.

The second most important item is a large mixing bowl. I feel like I never have enough of these in the size I like. You could get a large pack of nesting bowls, but I find they are more than I need. I currently use a combination of newer Pyrex mixing bowls and an old Pyrex 2 piece set from the early 2000s or even older and they are no longer made. Of the current options, this 4 pack is my favorite. They are durable and come with lids.

How are you going to mix the batter or dough without tools? An eating utensil will not suffice y’all. I recommend spatulas. Loads of them. I have 5 and I still wonder where they all went. Here’s my favorite set. They will help you complete instructions that say “fold in” and get every last drop of batter. You also need a metal whisk, but I have zero preference on this matter. I currently use a metal whisk with a cat paw on the end. Feel free to let your personality shine. If you just want a recommendation, here’s a good whisk by a brand I trust.

After you’ve mixed, kneaded, whipped, or folded, you’re going to need something to bake it in! There are a million options here. You could get creative and make a variety of shapes (think giant gingerbread man, teddy bear, heart, or halloween haunted house), but they maybe get used once a year. With all baking items, you can use parchment paper to prevent sticking. The following are my most used baking pans:

Nordic Ware baking sheets for all cookie related items. They are great quality and never bend from high temperatures, which is key for an even bake. Recommended quantity: 3
Rachel Ray 9×5 loaf pans for all bread varieties. They are sturdy and easy to put in and take out of the oven. Recommended quantity: 2
Rachel Ray’s 9×9 pan for brownies, square cakes and the like. Recommended quantity: 1
Chicago Metallic 9 inch round pan for baking multilevel cakes that will bake evenly and release with ease. No missing cake parts! Recommended quantity: 2
Anchor pie pan for making all of the pies. Homemade apple pie is the best and this pie pan is deep to accommodate lots of apples! Recommended quantity: 1
Chicago Metallic 9×13 cake pan. I usually don’t make cakes this big, but I routinely use this size for making tres leches, a delicious cuban three milks cake. Recommended quantity: 1

In the world of baking, there are endless options. You can technically make everything you want with the above items and a kitchen fork, but it might take you a lot longer and some sweat. Here are a few more items that will make your life easier.

Dough blender for quickly incorporating bits of butter into the flour to make the best pastry. You can achieve the same goal with two knives, but a dough blender will make you more efficient.
Cuisinart Hand Mixer is a must if you want to make whipped anything without hand cramps. The one I own was discontinued but this one is very similar.
Adjustable rolling pin is perfect for getting the dough to an even thickness, which is important for sugar cookies and pie crust to bake evenly.
A kitchen scale for precise recipes that measure in grams or ounces. I currently own an Aldi brand kitchen scale, but here’s the Etekcity one that I’ve been wanting for a long time. I love that it includes a bowl.
Pyrex measuring cups are great for larger quantity ingredients. I use the 1 cup just as often as my 1 cup OXO measuring cup.
You knew this was coming: Kitchenaid stand mixer. When a recipe says beat for 7 minutes in a stand mixer, the time is about doubled if you’re doing it by hand. You can get any size, but I own the 6 quart so I can make large batches of anything and it will power through it. Your new workout plan can be to do everything by hand instead of in the kitchenaid mixer. You’ll get serious forearm muscles.

Alrighty guys! This list seems pretty long, but if you’re wanting to do more baking, these are the essentials for most recipes. There’s nothing worse than planning for a recipe and looking in your cabinets and realizing you don’t have that baking pan and trying to make-do with creative tinfoil shaping. Did I miss something you couldn’t live without? Let me know in the comments below! Happy baking y’all.