Minimalism and Baking Can Go Together

Interested in taking your pastry skills to the next level? With all the specialized baking items on the market, it's easy to get stunted before you even begin. But as someone who changed careers from working in some of Toronto's top bakeries to becoming a writer who still bakes at home can tell you, you can make amazing baked goods and still keep a fairly minimal kitchen. Here are 10 baking must-haves and 10 items you can skip, according to a former professional baker.

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1. A Dutch Oven

If you're a home baker who makes a lot of bread, consider investing in a good-quality cast iron Dutch oven. There's no better way to get a golden brown, crispy crust in a home oven than letting it steam in for the first fifteen minutes in one of these babies.

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2. A Digital Scale

Baking is an exact art. Just like in science, we measure everything in grams. If you're a serious baker, ditch your measuring cups and spoons for a high-quality scale. 

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3. A Set of Mixing Bowls

You won't get far without at least a couple of large mixing bowls. We like metal ones with silicone bottoms that don't slide around.

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4. A Chef's Knife

If you're trying to keep minimize your kitchen stuff, skip all those spacialized slicers, corers, and mandolines. All you really need is a good quality chef's knife. 

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5. An Instant-Read Thermometer

You'd be surprised how often you need a thermometer when making more advanced pastries. One minute can make or break some items so make sure to invest in a good and fast instant-read digital thermometer. 

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6. A Good Whisk

In order to whip it good, you'll need a good whisk. Not all of them are created equal: look for one made of stainless steel, not plastic, with a wide head and more metal wires that fits in your hand comfortably. You really only need one whisk so make it count.

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7. A Plastic Bowl Scraper

You'd be surprised how many different tasks this little piece of plastic is useful for. From scraping every last bit of batter out of a mixing bowl to portioning bread dough and masking cakes, you won't be able to live without this simple item.

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8. An Offset Spatula

Home pastry chefs will find offset spatulas invaluable. They're used for masking cakes, leveling batter, and spreading melted chocolate over a mold or sheet pan. 

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9. A Hand Mixer

The hardcore pastry chef would say all you really need is a good quality whisk for making meringue or whipped cream and while that's technically true, we would say save your arm the struggle. Simplify those jobs and get an electric hand mixer. 

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10. Baking Pans

You will definitely need some baking pans for baking. The minimalist baker can skip the fancy bundt and fluted tart pans and easily get by with just a sheet pan and two or three nine-inch cake pans. 

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Now that we've covered the essential items, let's go over the unnecessary ones you can skip if you want to keep things minimal. 

1. A Stand Mixer

One of the first things many home bakers buy is a fancy $300 stand mixer that ends up sitting on the countertop hardly used for years. Unless you're pumping out cakes like a pro, don't make this mistake. Anything you can do with a stand mixer you can do by hand.

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2. Proofing Baskets

Fancy making sourdough bread? No need to buy proofing baskets or bannetons: you can proof loaves for baking in literally any vessel like a large bowl lined with a tea towel or a loaf pan.

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3. Rubber Spatulas

This is an unpopular opinion: many pastry chefs swear by their rubber spatulas. But anything you can do with a rubber spatula you can do better with a plastic bowl scraper so skip 'em if you want a truly minimal kitchen.

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4. Measuring Cups

Why use measuring cups when you have a digital scale? It doesn't matter how perfectly level your flour is in that cup, you'll always have an inaccurate read because sometimes it's more packed or less packed. For true precision, skip the measuring cups and weigh your ingredients.

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5. A Food Processor

Unless you're making hummus or grinding nuts into nut butter often, we don't think food processors are necessary items. Pie dough recipes call for them sometimes, but you can use a pastry cutter or a couple of forks instead.

6. A Metal Bench Scraper

Metal bench scrapers are needed items when you're working in a professional kitchen with big wooden countertops and large dough mixes, but at home we recommend sticking to a plastic one. You're more likely to do damage to your countertops with a metal scraper than anything.

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7. Oven Mitts

By no means are we suggesting you grab hot trays with your bare hands. However, if you've ever stepped into a professional kitchen, you probably won't see any oven mitts. Everyone just uses dry cloths to take things out of the oven so if you really want to look the part, you'll follow suit.

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8. A Microwave

Pastry chefs do use microwaves for tasks like melting chocolate but most would agree it's not a necessary item and honestly it's kind of lazy. Everything you can do with a microwave you can do over a stove. 

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9. A Cookie Scoop

A good rule of thumb is any item that's specialized towards one task can be passed on. If your business is making cookies all day, maybe a cookie scoop would be to your advantage; however, most of us can just use our hands or a regular spoon.

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10. Piping Bags

An invaluable item to cake decorators, but the regular home baker can get by with a Ziploc bag. How often do you need to pipe frosting roses anyway?

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