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To successfully maintain your sourdough starter, there are a few basic items you need. When you are ready to start baking, there are a few more items that will help ensure you will end up with a beautiful loaf of sourdough bread. Here is a collection of my personal favorite kitchen items.
Maintaining Your Sourdough Starter
Maintaining your sourdough starter is not complicated (especially once you get the hang of it) but there are a few things you will need in your kitchen.
Starter Jar
You will need a glass jar to keep your sourdough starter in (please, please do not keep it in plastic). I recommend having at least two jars, since you will need to transfer your starter to a new jar when you feed it. These Wecks Tulip Jars are the best – they are a good size, with a wide mouth, and come with a lid.
Kitchen Scale
To feed your sourdough starter, you will need to determine how much flour and water to add. The easiest way to do this is with a basic kitchen scale. Sourdough recipes are usually measured in grams as well, and you will need one for the most accurate measurements. Luckily, you don’t need anything fancy.
Discard Jar
When you feed your starter, you will end up with discard, or excess starter. Store this discard in a jar in the refrigerator and use in recipes. You could use the same Wecks jar that you use for your starter, but I use a basic mason jar. I prefer the wide mouth because it is easier to transfer into the jar.
Baking with Sourdough
Congratulations! You have a successful sourdough starter and are ready to bake your first loaf of bread. To make sourdough bread, there are a few kitchen essentials. There is a good chance you will already have some of these in your kitchen.
Mixing Bowl
A glass bowl is needed to mix your dough. You could also use stainless steel or ceramic. You want a bowl large enough to easily mix ingredients without spilling. Please, please do not use a plastic or melamine bowl.
Sourdough Bread Starter Kit
Luckily, it is easy to order a kit online with all of the basic items you need to make sourdough bread.
Banneton basket with cloth liner– This will help to shape your loaf of bread. There are many different shapes and sizes of banneton baskets, depending on what type of loaf you are baking.
Scoring lame – This is how you will score your bread before you bake it.
Bench scraper – This tool will help you divide, portion, scoop and transfer your dough and is especially helpful when you are dealing with high hydration dough that is difficult to manipulate.
Dutch Oven
You will need to bake your bread in a dutch oven. The dutch oven creates a steamy environment inside the pot, which helps the dough rise significantly, resulting in a crispy crust and a soft, airy crumb.
