Baking essentialsUpdated
Home Baking Essentials: The Complete Starter Checklist
Quick picks
- Best overallEtekcity Food Kitchen Scale, 11 lb
A flat digital scale that reads in single grams, switches to ounces and holds up to 11 lb.
Check price on Amazon: Etekcity Food Kitchen Scale, 11 lb (opens in a new tab) - Best budgetTaylor Oven Thermometer, 2-Pack
Two dial oven thermometers that hang from the rack or stand on it and read from 100 to 600F.
Check price on Amazon: Taylor Oven Thermometer, 2-Pack (opens in a new tab) - Worth the upgradeKitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer, Onyx Black
A 10 speed tilt-head mixer with a 5 quart stainless steel bowl, supplied with a flat beater, dough hook and 6-wire whip.
Check price on Amazon: KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer, Onyx Black (opens in a new tab)
The home baking essentials a new baker genuinely needs, in the order worth buying them, with the things most starter lists include that you can safely ignore.
Most baking starter lists are written to be comprehensive, which makes them useless. A list of forty items does not tell you what to buy, it tells you that you cannot start yet.
This one is ordered by what unlocks the most baking for the least money. Buy in this order and stop wherever your budget or your enthusiasm runs out, and you will have a coherent kit at every point along the way rather than an odd collection with gaps in it.
The named picks come first: the scale and sheet pans from tier one, the thermometer, scraper and rack from tier two, and the two mixers that belong in tier three and nowhere earlier. The full buying order follows them.
The picks
Etekcity Food Kitchen Scale, 11 lb
A flat digital scale that reads in single grams and switches to ounces, with an 11 lb capacity.
Tier one, and it is not close. Baking is a ratio discipline and volume measures are the noise in every recipe you will ever follow. A scale is also the simplest way to make someone else's recipe behave the way it behaved for them.
Worth knowing: It runs on batteries and the auto-off is quick. Walk away mid-recipe and you will be re-taring.
Skip it if: you already own a scale that reads in single grams and has a tare button.
Taylor Oven Thermometer, 2-Pack
A dial thermometer that hangs from the rack or stands on it and reads from 100 to 600F. There are two in the pack.
Tier two, and it costs very little to find out that your oven is not the temperature it claims. Every recipe you have blamed yourself for is worth re-reading once you know your oven runs thirty degrees cool.
Worth knowing: Two is not overkill. Ovens run hotter at the back, and the second one tells you by how much. Put them where you can read them through the door glass, so checking does not mean letting the heat out.
Skip it if: you have already checked your oven against a thermometer and know its quirks.
KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer, Onyx Black
A tilt-head stand mixer with a 5 quart polished stainless steel bowl, 10 speeds and a 325 W motor, supplied with a coated flat beater, coated dough hook, 6-wire whip and pouring shield. KitchenAid gives it a Flour Power rating of 9 cups.
Tier three, and only there. If you bake bread weekly or make large batches often, a stand mixer kneads, creams and whips while your hands do something else. That is the whole case, and for the right baker it is a strong one.
Worth knowing: It is the most commonly bought and least used object in home baking. It stands just under 14 inches tall and about 14 inches deep, lives on the counter permanently, and the tilt head needs headroom to open.
Skip it if: you are just starting out. Buy the scale, the pans and the thermometer first and see what you actually bake.
Nordic Ware Naturals Half Sheet, 2-pack
Uncoated heavy gauge aluminum half sheet pans, 18 by 13 inches, made in the USA, with an encapsulated galvanized steel rim. The listing is a two-pack.
Tier one calls for two rimmed half sheets, light colored and heavy gauge, and this listing is exactly that. Cookies, sheet cakes, roasted vegetables and toasted nuts all happen on them. Two, because one is always in the oven.
Worth knowing: Dark nonstick pans absorb more heat and over-brown bottoms, which is why these are bare aluminum; line them with parchment for anything sticky. Check that your oven takes an 18 by 13 inch pan.
Skip it if: your existing pans are heavy, flat and light colored. Replace warped or darkened ones and keep good ones.
OXO Good Grips Multi-Purpose Scraper and Chopper
A flat rectangle of stainless steel with a handle and a ruler along one edge.
Tier two. It divides dough, lifts sticky things, portions brownies and clears flour off the counter in one sweep, and the ruler edge settles how big a rolled-out round really is.
Worth knowing: It is a straight blade for a flat counter. Getting batter out of a curved bowl is a job for a flexible spatula instead.
Skip it if: you already have one. Nobody needs two.
KitchenAid 7-Speed Hand Mixer KHM7210, White
A 7 speed hand mixer with stainless steel Turbo Beater II accessories, a pro whisk and a lockable swivel cord. It measures 6 by 3 1/2 by 8 inches.
Tier three, and the right answer for most people who think they want a stand mixer. Meringue, buttercream and creamed-butter cakes are well within its reach, for a fraction of the space and the cost, and it goes back in a drawer afterward.
Worth knowing: It comes without dough hooks, so bread is not its job, and a long meringue means standing there holding it.
Skip it if: you already bake bread weekly and are buying the stand mixer anyway.
Nordic Ware Oven Safe Nonstick Baking and Cooling Grid, Half Sheet
A PFOA-free nonstick steel grid, 11.5 by 16.9 by 0.9 inches inside, that nests in Nordic Ware's half sheet pan. Oven safe up to 425F, hand washing recommended, made in China, with a 5 year warranty.
Tier two. Baked goods left in the pan steam themselves soggy, and a rack that fits inside the sheet pan doubles as a glazing and draining setup. Because it is oven safe, it also works as a roasting rack in the same pan.
Worth knowing: It is sized to a half sheet, so it will not sit inside a smaller pan.
Skip it if: you already own racks that fit your pans.
How they compare
| Pick | Best for | Key spec | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Etekcity scale | Every recipe, from day one | Single grams, 11 lb capacity | Quick auto-off |
| Taylor oven thermometers | Finding out what your oven really does | 100 to 600F dial, two in the pack | Lives in the oven, read through the glass |
| KitchenAid Artisan | Weekly bread and big batches | 5 qt bowl, 10 speeds, beater, hook and whip | Large, heavy, permanent |
| Nordic Ware half sheets | Cookies, sheet cakes, roasting | 18 x 13 in heavy gauge aluminum, two-pack | Need parchment for sticky bakes |
| OXO scraper | Dividing dough, clearing the counter | Stainless blade with a ruler edge | Flat surfaces only |
| KitchenAid hand mixer | Meringue, buttercream, creamed cakes | 7 speeds, Turbo Beater II, pro whisk | No dough hooks |
| Nordic Ware cooling grid | Cooling, glazing, roasting | Nests in a half sheet, oven safe to 425F | Half sheet size only |
How to choose
- Accuracy before convenience. The scale and the oven thermometer change results. Almost everything else changes comfort.
- Buy for what you bake now. A bundt pan for the bundt you make next month beats a full set of cake pans for cakes you might make.
- Light, heavy and flat beats nonstick. For sheet pans and loaf pans, light-colored heavy metal browns evenly; dark coatings over-brown.
- Counter space is a cost too. Anything that lives on the counter has to earn it every week.
Buy in this order
Tier one: the complete starter kit
Digital scale. First, and it is not close. A cup of flour ranges from roughly 120 to 145 grams depending entirely on how it got into the cup. Every recipe you have had turn out differently twice was probably this.
Two rimmed half sheet pans. Light colored, heavy gauge, eighteen by thirteen inches.
Mixing bowls that nest. Stainless is light, unbreakable and chills quickly. Glass lets you see what is happening and can go in the microwave. Three sizes covers everything.
A silicone spatula. One good flexible one, heatproof, for folding and for getting the batter out of the bowl. It is the tool you will reach for most.
A whisk. A medium balloon whisk. Not the tiny one, not the enormous one.
Measuring spoons. Even with a scale, small quantities of leavening and salt are measured by volume. Get a set that is accurate and does not bend.
That is a complete kit. You can make cookies, brownies, quick breads, cakes, crisps and scones with nothing else.
Tier two: when you know you will keep doing this
Oven thermometer. Most ovens run ten to thirty degrees off. Everything downstream is guesswork until you know.
Bench scraper and cooling racks, covered in the picks above.
A loaf pan and a square pan. Nine by five for loaves, eight or nine inch square for brownies and bars. Light metal again.
Parchment paper in precut sheets. They lie flat instead of curling. Once you switch you will not go back.
A rolling pin. Any style you like the feel of. This is genuinely personal.
Instant-read thermometer. For enriched breads, custards and anything where doneness is a temperature rather than a color, and the most useful tool in the house for everything that is not baking.
Tier three: specific ambitions
A hand mixer if you make meringue, buttercream or creamed-butter cakes regularly. Two eight-inch round cake pans if layer cakes are the goal. A glass pie dish and pie weights if pie is the goal. A bundt pan, which turns a plain batter into something that looks considered.
A stand mixer, and only here, because it is a significant purchase and a permanent resident of your counter. Buy it if you bake bread weekly or make large batches often. Do not buy it because starter lists put it first.
What to ignore on other lists
A sifter. A fine mesh sieve does it better and has other uses.
A pastry cloth. Roll between parchment instead.
Cookie scoops in six sizes. One medium scoop is genuinely useful. Six is a drawer problem.
Silicone baking mats, unless you bake constantly. Parchment does the job for most people and needs no washing and drying.
A dough hook attachment for a mixer you do not own. Obvious when written down, and yet.
Specialty flours before you have a scale. The scale improves every recipe. The flour improves one.
Where to spend and where to save
Spend on the scale, the sheet pans and the thermometer, because accuracy and even heat are what separate a good result from a variable one. Save on spatulas, whisks, bowls and scrapers, where the plain versions are genuinely fine and the fancy ones are mostly nicer to look at.
The uncomfortable truth about baking equipment is that the least glamorous items on this list are the ones that change your results, and the biggest one, the stand mixer, mostly changes how tired your arm is.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really need a kitchen scale for baking?
If you want a recipe to turn out the same way twice, yes. A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from about 120 to 145 grams depending on how it was scooped, and that gap is enough to make cookies spread or a cake turn dry. A scale removes the variable and leaves fewer cups to wash.
What baking tools does a beginner need first?
A digital scale, two rimmed half sheet pans, nesting mixing bowls, a silicone spatula, a whisk and measuring spoons. With those you can make cookies, brownies, quick breads, cakes, crisps and scones. Everything else can wait until you know what you like to bake.
Do I need a stand mixer to start baking?
No. A stand mixer is a tier three purchase for people who bake bread weekly or make large batches often. A hand mixer handles meringue, buttercream and creamed cakes, and plenty of recipes need nothing more than a bowl and a spatula.
Why do I need an oven thermometer?
Because the dial is often wrong. Many home ovens run ten to thirty degrees off their setting, and the back can run hotter than the front. A thermometer on the rack shows the real temperature, so you can adjust the dial and stop blaming the recipe.
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