Baking Bread: no fancy equipment required

When I first started baking bread I used what I had on hand. However, in the back of my head I was thinking I'd need to upgrade to some 'proper' equipment if I got into the swing of things.

I would often eye off different woven and linen lined bannetons. I researched lames and bench scrappers and all those things. I even looked at different bread bins and the best options to store my loaves.

Homemade sourdough.

Alongside my adventures in bread baking I also started to move towards a stronger connection to my values and how these underpinned my everyday living. A strong value for me is around reducing waste and conscious consumer purchasing. So, I started to question these ideas around what I thought I needed to bake bread. Now many years later I'm still just using what I have on hand.

I thought I'd run through some of the things I use. Hopefully this is useful for those out there doing the same to know that you aren't alone in not owning all the beautiful bread things. And also, for budding bakers I hope this shows that you can start right now, you don't have to wait until you get the right 'insert coveted baking item here' to get started.

Measuring and mixing dough

When I first started baking bread I used recipes that stuck to cup measures. When I moved onto sourdough most of the recipes are in weights so I started weighing. I have a basic spring scale that I use to measure my ingredients with. Nothing fancy, in fact I got it free with a magazine subscription in a past life when I subscribed to such things which means the scale is definitely +10 years old.

I mix my dough in a big bowl with a bread knife. I cover my dough with an inverted dinner plate or a silicon pot cover. I purchased a set of 3 pot covers from Ikea to turn my frypan into a saute pan and they have been so useful for covering many a bowl. Excellent for covering my proving dough.

Well loved and used place mat with favourite spatula.

Shaping and rolling dough

I do all my shaping and rolling on a placemat. This allows for an easier clean up and no worries with scraping the dough off the bench. This started when I lived in a house with wooden benches but I've stuck to it as it works well. To scrape my dough out of the bowl and off the mat when needed I simply use one of my (many) kitchen spatulas. I definitely have a favourite for this job but most will do the work in a pinch.

Proving and baking

I have a couple of linen tea towels that I use for proving my dough in. I pop these in the bowl or dish I'm using and lightly flour them. I have one tea towel that I use repeatedly and I don't wash this. I simply shake off extra flour and ensure it is fully dry before storing. I figure if I had a banneton I wouldn't be washing this either. No issues with mould as long as it's completely dry.

Regular proving dish for free form long loaves, tea towel, fave spatula and trusty serrated 

knife for all my bread slashing needs.

I bake my everyday loaf in a cast iron pot - you can see it in action here. This is one that I've had for a long time and previously used for slow cooking. It's now pretty much exclusively used for bread baking (and the slow cooking gets done in the slow cooker instead). I pre-heat this so that I don't have to use anything to prevent sticking. I inherited a loaf tin with a house once, which I held onto for many years before putting to use just this year for baking my loaves. Anything else is just on a normal baking tray either oiled or lightly floured.

I slash my dough with a trusty serrated knife. Do I get perfect cuts and pretty designs? No, but it's good enough for my everyday baking needs at this stage. You can see the results of my serrated knife efforts in the first pic.

Everyday bread nestled into non-fancy DIY banneton (baking dish and tea towel combo).

I store my bread cut side down on a wooden chopping board that we just use for bread. This keeps the loaf well f around 3 days - after that it starts to get a little dry at the cut end. If for some reason we aren't making our way through the loaf at our usual speed I'll slice what's remaining at about day 3-4 and store in an up-cycled plastic bag (fruit and veg bag or pasta packet) or a container.

And that's the end of the process and my list of 'stuff'. No fancy equipment, no specially purchased items and no waste produced in the cooking process. I do still eye off those bannetons at times for the fancy finish on the loaf though....

Do you lust after various baking paraphernalia or let the lack of stand in the way of your baking?
If you also subscribe to the make do in regards to equipment any tips or tricks to share?