Basic Sourdough Kitchen Equipment

When I tried making sourdough bread the first time, I was astonished at how easy it was using just the kitchen equipment I had on hand. 

There was no real kneading, just four stretches-and-folds, then I slept on it, then in the morning I shaped it and baked it.

My total involvement might have been 20 minutes and it was a good tasting loaf of sourdough bread, although not very handsome. 

Basic Kitchen Equipment

☑ sourdough starter
☑ flour
☑ water
☑ salt
☑ large mixing bowl
☑ medium bowl, for proofing/shaping
☑ linen or cotton kitchen towel
☑ plastic cling wrap
☑ parchment paper
☑ sharp knife or razor blade
☑ dutch oven or baking stone
☑ ovenproof pan for boiling water
☑ serrated knife for slicing your masterpiece when baked

Beginning after my first sourdough bread class I really did not have the right kitchen equipment but I still got a loaf that looked pretty good with just the things I had around. A mixing bowl, a second bowl and linen towel, a sharp knife, my old Kitchenetics mixer.

And on that day of the class, I was determined to get going. I was home by 4 PM and of course, the first thing was to get the start growing.

Martha, our instructor, had given each of us some starter in a baggie and told us to put it into a mason jar with 1/3 cup flour and 1/4 water when we got home, which I did.

By 8 PM my start was frothy and ready, so I could not wait.  I dumped the whole start into our old Kitchenettes mixer’s bowl and added a tablespoon of sea salt, two cups of tap water, and four cups of Einkorn flour. I mixed it up for a few minutes. Then every 30 minutes over the next two hours I would pulse the mixer to pester the dough, (obviously I did not understand the importance of stretching and folding the dough to develop the gluten). Two hours later I covered the dough with the bowl lid and let it ferment 8 hours while I was sleeping.

In the morning, I turned the dough out onto my counter which I had floured. Then I covered it with the bowl over the top for another 30-minute bench rest. Then I shaped the dough the best I could, but it was a bit of a mess.

Sad looking as it was, I put the ball of dough on a linen towel dusted heavily with flour, covered it, and waited 30 more minutes while the oven was heating to 465°F. After putting in a pan of boiling water on the lowest rack of the oven, I baked the bread uncovered on a pizza stone for 30min.

As instructed, I turned the oven off but left the bread in for another 30 minutes as the oven cooled. It looked pretty sad, as you can see, but it tasted great. And the best thing is, that I did all this with the kitchen equipment I already had.

Making that first loaf gave me the confidence to bake more, which I did.

First I tried a cast iron dutch oven, but my bread burned. Then I sent for a Pampered Chef Stoneware Bread Bowl that gave me remarkable looking results the first time I baked with it.

Still, this was not enough kitchen equipment for my new hobby. The sourdough bread bug had bitten me hard and over the next two years, I added proofing baskets, dough scapers (both metal and plastic), a baguette pan, a pyrex cloche, a lame, a Danish whisk, and a Kitchen Aid Mixer.

But of all my purchases, the tool that works best in my home oven is that stoneware bowl I purchased first. Since then, of course, I have purchased many more tools, some of which are listed in this separate additional post: Sourdough Tools of the Trade—More Equipment You May Enjoy

In the comment section below tell us about your favorite tool and be sure to look at our post that describes even more equipment.