TEN Best Gifts for Bread Bakers

Have a friend or family member who loves to bake bread? Here are 10 gifts for bread bakers. Gifts don’t have to be expensive so these start as low as five dollars but are very valuable for home bakers. These are bound to make the bread baker in your life happy and grateful.

Are you a bread baker? Well, I am. I started with my mom and then had a big gap of no bread baking when I left home. A few years later, I married a man who loves bread. Guess what, since then been baking pretty much every week. We still buy bread but not as much as other families do. The truth is once you get used to baking bread at home, it is hard to eat frozen bread, or cold store bought bread.  It’s an addiction.

With a collection of over 25 bread recipes on this blog so far. I’ve had a few of you ask me a few questions on tools. The truth is bread is the simplest thing you can make with nothing more than your bare hands to mix and an oven to bake.  But we are all pampered and love to use the tool. I love tools whether it’s a simple spatula or a piping bag. If I see it I add it to my wish list.

 

10 Best Gifts for Bread Bakers (Save/Pin)

Have a bread baking in your life like me? Well, we love tools. The truth is tools helps simplify things and make our life simpler. So here are a few amazing things you can gift anyone who loves to bake.

1. Bread Baking Books – Starts at $35

Now, the list of good bread baking books is in plenty and as one who loves books and loves bread, it is really hard to choose just one. But here are three that you will love.

• The first one is the bread bible (free shipping here) – perfect for anyone who is just getting into bread baking. It has recipes and lots of progress pictures. It aims not just to give you the recipe but to teach you to bake. It’s ideal for anyone who loves baking bread
• The second is Flour water and yeast (free shipping here) – this book really goes deep into how the author got into baking which is very interesting and explains each and every concept and ingredients in details. It’s for those who would love to deep dive into baking bread more seriously.
• The third is The Bread Apprentice (free shipping here)  The best feature I like about this book that it gives you variations of the same recipe. Which means you have one recipe with so many options. Great for those who want to take bread making to the next level.

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2. Stand Mixer – Starts as low as $ 150 and above. 

This is one of those things that you will never EVER regret buying. A good stand mixer is my best companion when making bread. Why? Good bread needs a bit of love and care in the form of kneading. While there are those of us that pride and take joy in the old school process of kneading the dough by hand, let’s face it there are times when we just don’t have the time patience or energy. That’s when having a stand mixer is the next best thing to kneading the dough by hand.

A stand is not one you buy often so take a moment, review the mixers and buy the one that best suits your pocket. I shared my recommendations and what you should look of when buying a stand mixer in this post here – Best Stand Mixer for a homebaker. 

 

3. Digital Kitchen Scale – around $20 and above

You know how I feel about measuring ingredients and I’m always encouraging you to bake with weight rather than volume. One cup is supposed to be 128 grams of flour but a cup can hold from 110 to 150 grams depending on how you fill your cup! So always bake from the weight.

A scale is the most important thing to have on hand when baking bread or cakes. Weighing your ingredients will make you a much better baker, and you will be able to create the same results every single time.

4. Pizza Stone – as low as $15 

Do you know a baker that does not like to make pizza? Well, it’s one of the things we pride ourselves with. Mastering the perfect pizza dough. No matter how many breads you will bake, if you ruin a pizza dough it will bother you. I know! I try not to take it personally but gets me every single time. My pizza dough has to be perfect or else? Let’s just say I’m in a bad mood.

You may have a good pizza dough but if you don’t bake it well over a pizza stone there is something missing. That lovely bottom crust we love. That comes from a good pizza stone. These days there are so many choices that they have become a lot more inexpensive. The best part? if you take care of it well, it will last you a lifetime. I’ve gone thru a couple of ovens but my pizza stone is still the same.

 

5. Dough Scraper / Bread Scraper – as low as $5 (really) 

A must-have for anyone who bakes bread. Bread dough is sticky so a baker needs to have this on handy every single time she needs to bake. These aren’t expensive as well. I have both a metal and a plastic scraper. The metal is great to divide dough into sections as well as help when kneading. The plastic works great to scrape the dough out of a bowl as it bends. Works well to scrape everything out.

6. Loaf Pan aka Pain de Mie as low as $20  

Who doesn’t love sandwiches? Right? Every home needs a good loaf pan but the Pullman loaf pan makes the best square shaped slices for your sandwiches. And it makes a deliciously soft, rich bread with a tender crumb.  Whether you make sandwiches or French toast these will give you those perfect presentable slices.

Buying a good loaf pan is important. Why? the pan needs the lid to slide open and close easily despite that cooking process. The last thing you want is for the lid to stop working after a few bakes.  You can find my recipe to make the Pullman Sandwich Bread here

 

7. Baguette Pan – starts at $20

We all love baguette but often we don’t make it at home because it needs special equipment. A baguette pan really comes in handy for more than just making a baguette.  You can make small sausage rolls as well as a mini sandwich loaf with other bread recipes in this. So it’s quite a versatile pan and very helpful to have on hand.

 

8. Benneton – starts at $20

This is a bread rising basket also know as banneton or brotform. It gives bread with high moisture the support they need to prove gently and slowly. It’s a great basket to have on hand if you bake often. It also gives your bread the shape and beautiful pattern. The most common is round but I do like the oval and long as well.

 

9. Bread Scoring tool – around $15 

I have for years used the regular kife and it works great for some bread like the rustic loaves. But if you make bread often or if you make artisan bread like the baguettes. Then scoring the bread correctly is an important step just as making the bread itself. Again not a very expensive tool but worth an investment if you love to bake bread often.

 

10. Bread Knife -around $20

I do like tearing my bread and I’m known to do that even with the prettiest of bread but then again there are those bread and need to be treated graciously and there are those times when tearing a bread just does not look elegant. You know what I mean?

Well, a good bake absolutely MUST-HAVE a good bread knife. After all, you must showcase your hard work well. A serrated knife cuts bread well. This does not mean you have to buy an expensive bread knife. Just make sure you have a good bread knife. One that’s not so blunt and does a great job of cutting wonderful bread slices.

Do you love baking homemade bread? I do enjoy it very much too!

Feel free to check out my – Slice of Bread – Homemade Bread Collections
or see my Recipe Index for a collection of all recipes on this blog