Here you will find the main kitchen equipment that I use to make sourdough. I also note the online stores in Australia and New Zealand that you can buy this equipment from. If you have found other sources, drop me a line on my contact page or on Instagram @cuppawithruth. I would love to hear from you.
Jars for Starter and Discard:
In Australia, wheelandbarrow and In New Zealand, kiwifamilykitchen both have a great range of Weck Jars.
These are such good jars for storing your starter in, as they have straight sides and glass lids that you can rest lightly on top to keep dust out of your starter. You need quite large jars and their 850ml and 1050ml are both good choices. I just have 2, one to keep the starter in and one to use when refreshing my starter.
I also have 2 Weck tulip jars, which I use for storing my discard in the fridge and for my levain when making my loaves.
The truth is, that you can use any jars you like. But it is much easier to use straight-sided jars for your starter and the better the quality, the more robust they are. Mine are through the dishwasher continually. Also, I only use these jars for my sourdough, so it is obvious they are different and they don’t get used by the rest of the family for other purposes. They come with rubber seals and clips, so can be used as preserving jars, if you wish.
Utensils:
Spatulas – It is very useful to have a narrow rubber spatula and a metal offset spatula. These easily fit in your jars to stir starter, scrape out containers and mix ingredients together. You should be able to buy these at most kitchenware stores.
The one’s I use are loyal brand
A probe food thermometer is pretty much an essential item in Sourdough. As Maurizio, from theperfectloaf says temperature is a very important ingredient and is often underestimated. They are inexpensive and can even be bought at Kmart or any kitchenware store.
A bread lame is really helpful for scoring your bread before baking, this is to allow the steam to escape. You can buy a reusable, wooden handled lame with replaceable razor blades or plastic lames.
A bench scraper is so useful and fairly cheap to purchase. It helps you to shape your dough and to move it gently.
Bannetons & Bowls:
I use a large tupperware bowl to mix my dough and for the rising phases. This bowl is great as it has a lid. However, any large bowl should do and you can cover it with a tea towel or silicone sheet.
Cane Bannetons are the usual containers for cold proofing your loaves. They leave a pretty design on the loaves and seem to allow breathing and rising room.
Initially, I just used kitchen bowls lined with tea towels but the bannetons are light and easily cleaned. I don’t even bother with lining them now, just dust with a generous amount of rice flour first.
The oval bannetons make my loaves the perfect size for my Romertopf (see further down) and the round ones make loaves to fit my cast iron dutch oven (also further down).
You can buy Bannetons off Ebay and from some online stores, like String and Salt.
You might even be in an area with them in store, though I find them much more expensive at our specialist kitchen store.
Baking Dishes:
I bought this Clay Romertopf Baker 2nd hand, off Ebay. There are several available, you just have to check and be patient. You might even be lucky and find one in an Op Shop or at a garage sale. They were popular in the 1970s. They are not a cheap buy, but make excellent bread.
To bake good Sourdough, you need to have steam for the oven burst stage of baking and this is really hard to achieve in a home oven without a covered dish.
The other, cheaper dish, is to use a cast iron dutch oven. I picked up this one from Aldi for $20. You can probably find them in camping stores cheaper than the ones you find in specialty kitchenware stores.
Bread Proofer:
Now we come to a fantastic appliance, the Brod & Taylor Bread Proofer. This is basically an incubator for your sourdough starter and dough and indeed for any bread dough. They are expensive, though I bought mine second hand off Ebay, but worth every dollar spent if you are making bread all the time. It is certainly not necessary, but makes the whole process so much easier. Sourdough tends to work best at “room temperature” i.e. 26-27C. Now who keeps their house at that temperature in this part of the world!
You can definitely just use a warm oven. I can heat mine to low (warm setting) and then turn it off and place bowl/tray in and shut the door. Keep dough covered so it doesn’t dry out and remove and re-warm oven if necessary. The hassle is that someone might turn the oven on without checking first, and your oven is then out of action for the duration. Also, if you live in a warmer climate, you probably are fine. I most likely won’t need to use my proofer over summer here.
