Required Tools for Home Bakery

This List of Required Tools for running a home-based bakery is very helpful for smooth business operations. Also, make sure to have packaging for your business.

On Instagram and YouTube, we often see bakers with multiple KitchenAid mixers, fancy ovens, and many spatulas. This can make us believe that we need all these things to start our home bakery. This article is related to my bakery journey and the equipment needed to start a bakery at home. So continue to read this interesting guide.

Let me tell you, you don't need expensive kitchen equipment to run a successful home bakery business! I used an inexpensive hand mixer and borrowed mixing bowls for a year. Those expensive devices are not necessary. They just look good and make things a little easier.

I am proud to recommend these tools to you because I know they will improve your baking experience. So without wasting further time, let’s dive into it.

Equipment Needed To Start A Bakery At Home

Below is the list of tools needed to run a home-based bakery business. In addition, don’t forget about packaging for your business. However, it’s not a tool but a packaging strongly necessary for running your baking business. Moreover, you can order custom kraft bakery bags to meet your packaging needs.

1. Your Oven

The most important thing you will need is an oven. While you can technically use a mini oven, it won't allow you to bake a large amount at once. I suggest investing in an 81-litre oven, which is about 0.6m x 0.6m in size and is commonly found in households. This is the ideal size, and you won't need anything bigger. Fortunately, many homes already have an oven, so you may not even need to buy one!

2. Digital Kitchen Scale (Battery Powered)

For the best baking, you have to be very precise. And if you want to back to paying customers, your back needs to be consistent! To bake for paying customers, you need to be accurate with your measurements. Unfortunately, using a cup to measure ingredients doesn't provide the consistent accuracy you need.

Another big advantage of using digital scales is that you can mix the batter faster! Measuring ingredients in 5 different cup sizes can be time-consuming, but with a scale, you can easily weigh the ingredients into your bowl. Simply press the zero button and weigh the next ingredients directly into the bowl.

3. Plastic Mixing Bowls

Many bakers prefer to use ceramic, Pyrex glass, or stainless steel bowls. Personally, I prefer plastic bowls because they make less noise when using a hand mixer. It's a good idea to have at least one large, one medium, and one small mixing bowl. Make sure they have rubber lines on the top edge for a good grip when pouring the batter.

4. Sieve/Strainer

It is highly recommended to always sift your dry ingredients. This process helps remove any lumps in your flour, cocoa powder, and other ingredients. It also ensures that any odd or hard bits are caught and discarded. Sifting your dry ingredients also helps to remove air and mix them well.

5. Large Chef’s Knife

Every baker should have a large knife. It not only makes you feel and look like a professional but also serves multiple purposes. I personally use it daily for slicing and chopping apples and vegetables for cakes, finely chopping citrus zest, chopping nuts, slicing brownies, chopping chocolate, and even creating chocolate shaving decorations.

When choosing a chef's knife, opt for one with a rubber handle rather than plastic. The rubber handle provides a much better grip, particularly when making chocolate shavings.

6. Silicone Spatula (flat, not indented)

I love using a silicone spatula! Scraping each batter into the cake tin makes me happy. Spatulas are essential to ensure a well-mixed batter. Flat-sided silicone spatulas are ideal because you can easily scrape them along the edge of your mixing bowl to remove all the batter, leaving nothing behind.

7. Sturdy Balloon Whisk

There are times when one spoon isn't enough. For example, when saving split chocolate ganache, making lemon curd, reviving frozen crème patisserie, making salted caramel, or preparing sauces and fillings.

Using a balloon whisk to whisk gives you a smoother result and helps prevent clumping or burning. It's worth investing in a good quality whisk instead of buying multiple cheap ones.

8. Electric Hand Mixer

You don't need a stand mixer to start a home bakery business! That's right, an electric hand mixer will work just fine. The key is to choose a mixer that is stable, lightweight, and offers good control over speed settings. Remember, a high price doesn't always guarantee high quality, so choose carefully. You can get a great hand mixer for under $20 that will last you many years.

9. Piping Bags (Preferably Reusable)

I made a lot of mistakes when I started baking full-time, but one thing I'm glad I did early on was buy reusable piping bags! This is a smart choice because you only need to buy one bag every 5 years, which saves money compared to using disposable bags that cost more over time.

Reusable piping bags are easy to clean and inexpensive. You can find different sizes, but I recommend sticking with sizes smaller than 30 cm (12 inches) for better control when piping.

10. Stainless Steel Piping Tips

There are so many piping tips available on the market today, it can be overwhelming! The type of frosting piping you want to do will determine which tips you should buy. But you don't have to be too fancy with it.

You only need two piping tips: a closed star tip like the Wilton 2D and a large round tip like the Wilton 1A. These two tips will cover most of your frosting piping needs.

11. Non-Stick Baking Sheet

A baking sheet is an essential item in any home bakery. It is versatile and can be used for baking cookies, macarons, roasting nuts, baking pastries and more!

In general, a 15 x 10-inch pan works well in most home ovens. However, it's a good idea to measure the inside of your oven to make sure the baking sheet will fit properly.

12. 2 Inch Cookie Scoop

Using a cookie scoop isn't necessary, but it can make your baking life easier and your cookies look more uniform. The round shape of the dough creates thick centres and thin edges, giving you crispy outsides and gooey centres. This is a helpful tool that makes things easier!

So above is the list of bakery tools to run your homemade business smoothly. Moreover, share this guide with other people on social media.