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OUR FAVORITE HOMEMADE BREAD RECIPES
EVERYDAY
BREAD
Our popular online course will teach you to bake incredible bread that wows your friends and family! Includes step-by-step videos for recipes from yeast breads all the way to sourdough!
ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT
KITCHEN SCALE
If you get nothing else for bread baking, invest in a scale. They're inexpensive and easy to store - and your bread will be more consistent!
MIXING BOWLS
We love glass bowls: watch pockets develop as the bread rises! Use a large bowl to mix your bowl and a small one to let it do its final rise.
PARCHMENT PAPER
Use a piece of parchment to lift bread in and out of your Dutch oven. We like these unbleached sheets - they come pre-cut to make things nice and easy!
PROOFING BASKET (BANNETON)
We love using a proofing basket to let our bread do its final rise! The basket helps our bread keep its shape, and it leaves beautiful rings of flour on the crust.
OVEN THERMOMETER
Ovens are notoriously unreliable - we've had ovens that are off by as much as 30 degrees in one direction! Use an oven thermometer to double-check the accuracy of your oven and, if it's off, adjust accordingly.
COOLING RACK
It's tempting to rip into your bread right away, but letting it cool properly will preserve the crumb so it looks and tastes better. Put just-baked bread on a wire cooling rack to speed the cooling process!
OUR FAVORITE DUTCH OVENS
LE CREUSET
5 ½-quart Round French (Dutch) Oven. Enameled surface is easy to clean and comes in a TON of color choices - check the Le Creuset website directly for the most complete list of current colors! Comes with a plastic knob (heat-safe to 500 degrees F, though some people prefer to buy a metal replacement knob for about $20).
LODGE
6-quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven. Conducts heat evenly and the enamel makes it easy to clean. Metal knob rather than plastic. They also make non-enameled versions. A little big for a single loaf, but good if you'll use it for large soups, etc. A budget-friendly option that holds its own with the more expensive Le Creuset!
STAUB
5 ½-quart Cast Iron Round Cocotte. Another great, heavy Dutch oven with enameled surfaces. Conducts heat evenly, easy to clean, and looks slick on a kitchen counter or stovetop. Color choices can be limited on Amazon, but other colors are usually available at different retailers like Food52, Williams Sonoma, and others.
MARQUETTE CASTINGS
6-quarts. Budget-friendly, and we love the bright white enamel inside. A little big for a single loaf, but good if you also plan to use for big soups, stews, etc. Doesn't conduct heat quite as well as some of the pricier options (not a dealbreaker though) and needs a bit more elbow grease to get the enamel clean.
NICE THINGS TO HAVE
BREAD LAME
Use a lame to slice beautiful slashes, or scores, into your bread! We use and like this one - it's, comfortable to hold and comes with a protective sleeve and a slick storage box, as well as extra blades.
LINEN NAPKINS
We often line proofing baskets with a clean linen napkin - it holds and distributes the flour more evenly and makes cleanup easier! We like linen because it's smooth and doesn't leave any fuzz on your bread.
STORAGE CONTAINERS
Store flour in an airtight container to keep it fresher, longer (and to keep any pests out!) We like these pop-top acrylic canisters, but you can also use glass or stainless steel! This one comfortably holds a 5lb. bag of flour.
OUR FAVORITE INGREDIENTS
KING ARTHUR ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
King Arthur is obsessive about quality - their flour has a consistent 11.7% protein: a high protein content that makes for excellent bread. They're also an employee-owned company and a founding B Corp member.
BOB'S RED MILL ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
Bob's Red Mill is another favorite of ours - and they won the most rounds of our official Flour Taste Test! This flour has a rich, very slightly nutty flavor and a 10-12% protein content that makes for great, elastic dough.
DIAMOND CRYSTAL KOSHER SALT
Our favorite kosher salt for daily cooking and baking. This is the "least salty salt," so it's very forgiving and easy to layer in recipes. Easy to pinch and dissolves quickly into dough for even seasoning!