Sourdough Breads

Breadmaker Basics Tool Kit - Save $25

Having the right tools for the task is essential to every artist or craftsman and baking that crusty San Francisco Sourdough Bread is no exception: In this baker's tool kit, you'll get the original San Francisco sourdough starter, the detailed instruction booklet and recipes, the Wire-Bail Jar for protecting your stash in the fridge, the crinkly all-cotton tea towel, the ultra-sharp razor knife for slashing your delicate risen dough, the pastry brush, the chrome-topped glass cornmeal shaker for coating your baking sheet or stone, the instant-read thermometer to determine when your wonderful sourdough bread is done, the amazingly efficient bowl scraper to help you clean up and a baker's dozen of the heavy-duty long bread bags. A $94+ value for only $69.

Straight-Sided Dough Rising Buckets

3.5 Quart or 6 Quart

We recommend that you allow your dough to rise in a container with straight sides --otherwise, how will you ever know when it has actually doubled? It's all a guessing game in a mixing bowl that slopes from very small at the bottom to w-i-d-e at the top. Just put your dough in one of these handy buckets with a rubber band (or masking tape) marking the top of the dough and there will be absolutely no doubt about when it has doubled. The Dough Rising Buckets with Straight Sides are made of heavy-duty food-grade polyethylene, and is dishwasher safe. Plus, it comes with a tight-fitting lid, which expands its uses to great refrigerator/freezer storage for just about anything! $19.99 for the 6-Quart size and $15.99 for the 3.5-Quart.

Wire-Bail Glass Jar

from Italy

This clear glass jar with its hermetic wire-bail closure is the perfect container for protecting your sourdough starter stash in the fridge. You'll be able to glance at it and know that you remembered to leave the lid loose until your yeasties are fast asleep and since it's clear, you'll be able to check on your babies easily. It won't spill and it's much less likely that some helpful person will throw it out because it looks and smells funny. Plus, it's a great-looking jar! $20.99

Flour Wand Flour Duster Mini Sifter

From Our Cool Tool Selections

Light, even dusting! Gentle finger pressure sifts flour over proofing baskets, working surfaces, cake pans--precisely where you want it! Quick, easy refills! Squeeze to open, dredge to fill and you're ready to go. Keep sticky hands out of the flour bin. Versatile! Precision mini-sifter gives you total control for coarser flours, cake and cookie crumbs, cornmeal, confectioners sugar, cocoa, cinnamon & nuts. Made of 100% stainless steel. $15.99 with free shipping in the USA.

Dough Divider, Scraper & Chopper

Be Cool with this Tool

If you cook, you need this tool...but even more so if you bake bread. You will find yourself using it constantly for dividing your dough, lifting sticky dough from the counter, and cleaning up the flour that's left. Truly a multi-tasking tool! I can't function with just one -- I have three of them out in plain sight next to my chopping block. When you chop onions, just scoop them up with this handy blade and put them exactly where you want them. The blade is not sharp like a knife, but it is tapered and made of stainless steel, so I use it to chop all sorts of things instead of getting out a knife to do the little jobs. Easy to clean in the dishwasher. And of course, the price is right at $13.99.

Funnel Cup

A Really Cool Toy Tool

This wonderful new kitchen tool (toy to me) is a brilliant invention! I wish I could give the one who thought of it a big hug. It pours so precisely -- with NO drips -- you won't believe it. It has a measuring capacity of 3 1/2 cups and is marked in quarters of cups, ounces, and milliliters. Perfect for so many little jobs that are a pain with a regular measuring cup that, unless you do it reallllly slowwwwly, you drip all over the counter. This baby is no drip! You're gonna love it! $8.99

Oblong Banneton Bread Rising Basket

As you may know (or not) sourdough breads tend to rise out (spread) rather than up because of the acidity of the dough, which weakens gluten. San Francisco Sourdough Bread is also on the heavy side, which also makes it spread. So, a form to encourage your loaf to be the shape you want is a big help. Before you use your proofing basket--Get it ready to shape your dough by coating it thoroughly with flour. With a soft cloth, rub the flour into the rattan so that all of the inside has a nice flour coating. Dump out the excess. Then you're ready to put your baguette-shaped unrisen dough into the basket for its final rise. When it has risen, place a baking sheet on top of the basket, hod the two together firmly, and turn the two over so that the shaped loaf rests on your baking sheet. Slash, glaze and bake as usual. If you don't want to flour the rattan basket, put a thin all-cotton tea towel that has been heavily floured inside the basket and then place your dough inside for its second rise. Whatever works for you! This basket is 9 inches' long 5 incheswide and about 3 inches tall and holds dough weighing about 1.5 lbs. The price is $18.99 and shipping is Free in the USA.

Artisan Breadmaker Tool Kit - Save $52

Comes with everything that is in the Breadmaker Basics ToolKit: the original San Francisco sourdough starter, the detailed instruction booklet and recipes, the Wire-Bail Jar for protecting your stash in the fridge, the crinkly all-cotton tea towel, the ultra-sharp razor knife for slashing your delicate risen dough, the pastry brush, the chrome-topped glass cornmeal shaker for coating your baking sheet or stone, the instant-read thermometer to determine when your wonderful sourdough bread is done, the amazingly efficient bowl scraper to help you clean up and a baker's dozen of the heavy-duty long bread bags.

PLUS you get: the Unique handmade Starter Stirrer, the multi-tasking Dough Divider/Scraper Chopper, the Funnel Cup, and a 3.5-Quart Dough Rising Bucket. A $150+ value for only $99.50.

Rectangular Baking Stone

2 Sizes to Choose From

If you bake any kind of bread--or even if you just bake frozen pizzas -- you will love having a baking stone in your oven. You don't need to bake directly on the stone to get fabulous results because this preheated stone will hold enough heat to transfer to your baking sheet for crisper crusts and more even baking. This Baking Stone is different -- it isn't brittle and fragile like the others you'll find. It's reinforced with a patented blend of kiln-fired raw materials to give it strength and resistance to breakage. Leave your baking stone in the oven all the time to help your oven maintain consistent temperatures no matter what you're baking. And it requires very little maintenance -- just scraping up big spills. This baking stone is available in two sizes: 13 7/8 inches by 17 1/2 inches and 15 by 20 inches. Be sure to measure your oven shelf carefully before you order. You'll need a one-inch margin on all sides of the baking stone so that the heat of the oven can circulate. Starting at $137.00 with FREE USA shipping.

An Old-Fashioned Tea Towel
for Covering Your Rising Dough

An all-cotton towel is much more efficient for covering rising dough than plastic wrap--it won't stick to the dough and it's so much easier to put on and take off than that blasted plastic wrap that gets wrinkled or sticks to itself. And that's not even mentioning that cotton recycles itself in the washing machine -- no plastic to throw away--or the fact that that's what my Grandma Nana used to cover her rising loaves of homemade light bread. $6.25 with free USA shipping.

Chicago Metallic Double Long Loaf Pan

Shape two long loaves of Italian or French Sourdough in this wonderful pan. It's lifetime non-stick and the tiny holes allow the heat of your oven to circulate. Any serious breadmaker needs one of these!
$27.50 with free shipping in the US.

The Bamboo Starter Stirrer

Handmade & Unique

San Francisco Sourdough Bread Starter is viscous and sticky and it's sometimes hard to mix. This stirrer that my husband invented is sort of a cross between a whisk and a spoon and it works great for mixing all kinds of things ... sticky starter included! You've probably not seen a stirrer like this one and you're gonna love it because it's useful and beautiful too! You'll get one of these in the Artisan Breadmaker's Tool Kit, but you can order one for only $15.99 and FREE USA shipping!

The Fabulous Bread Knife

San Francisco Sourdough Bread is so crusty you need a special bread knife to slice through the thick crust without damaging that wonderful crumb. And it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to get it! Only $13.50 -- and worth twice that! FREE USA shipping!

The Incredible Tomato Slicer

Handmade & Unique

I'll bet you've never seen a knife quite like this one -- I hadn't. When my friend gave me mine, he told me that I wouldn't believe how it could slice a tomato, and he was right! Unlike other types of cutlery, this blade is both hollow ground and serrated on both sides. This unique combination allows you to be incredibly accurate with a remarkably sharp knife whether you are right or left-handed. Only $10.59 with FREE USA shipping!

Reclosable Plastic Bread Loaf Bags

Zip Top & Heavy-Duty

These bags are HUGE and very heavy-duty! You can use them for storing all kinds of foods in addition to your own yummy homemade bread in the freezer. Bags zip closed keeping your homemade bread fresh. Plenty of room for your TWO long French bread loaves. Package of 13 -- a Baker's Dozen. Thick 2 mil plastic bags that measure 12" x 18" with zipper closure that keeps out dirt and moisture. All virgin polyethylene film meets FDA and USDA requirements. $7.99 with FREE US shipping!!

Long Bread Bags

Heavy Plastic Bags that Actually Fit!!

I love these bread bags ... finally a nice heavy plastic bag that will hold two or three long baguettes . I couldn't give my long baguettes as gifts because I didn't have anything nice to package them in — now I do!

18 inches long x 8 inches wide & 4 inches deep gussets (Gusset makes bags extra roomy). 2 mils thick. Plasticized wire ties included.

Perfect for your long loaves of bread -- holds two or three long loaves. $7.99 for a Baker's Dozen (13) - And USA shipping is FREE!

Instant-Read Thermometer

Large Dial

Notice how much larger the dial is on this one as compared to the 'regular' size. I Love It! And I was surprised when I compared this 'old fashioned' analog instant-read thermometer with one of those new digital ones. I'm all about new kitchen tools, but in this case, the digital is in the drawer. This one reads temps twice as fast as the fancy one that needs a battery. Go figure! Anyway, it's nearly impossible to tell when a loaf of sourdough bread is ready to take out of the oven without one of these. If you already have one, then use it! A loaf of bread is done when its internal temp is between 200° and 210° F. This therm is included in all of the breadmaker kits. By itself, it's $12.00 and of course it is free to ship in the USA.

Pastry Brush

If you cook or bake or even grill, then you need to have a pastry brush in your kitchen drawer--because it's for much more than pastry. But you need one especially when you want to make beautiful as well as great-tasting San Francisco Sourdough Bread. For some reason, bread made with a sourdough starter is notorious for not browning as well as breads made with conventional packaged yeasts, so an egg wash is more necessary with sourdough. This handy little multi-tasker comes in all of the breadmaker kits. By itself, it's a mere $5.50.

Plastic Dough Divider-Scraper

If you've baked with sourdough, you know how sticky and clingy it is -- much, much more so than any other kind of dough. This scraper is stiff and thin enough to scrape a bowl or a counter far better than any spatula -- and it's flexible enough to curve to the shape of the bowl. It won't replace your spatulas -- but this is one tool you're going to thank me for--I just know it. This handy little tool is also a multi-tasker. I use it all the time to 'scrape' up onions or peppers that I've chopped -- just like its cousin, the metal Bench Knife/Dough Divider/Scraper. Plus, you'll probably like the price too. Can't get much that's really useful and doesn't wear out these days for $7.99 but that's all you'll pay -- and in the USA, you get free shipping to boot. What a deal!

Chrome-Topped Glass Shaker

I must have half a dozen of these handy shakers in my kitchen cabinet--I keep them full of flour, powdered sugar, cornmeal, grated Parmesan, kosher salt, freshly ground (in an extra coffee grinder) black pepper, red pepper flakes or whatever. They make it easy to shake a little of what you need in a controlled area. They're glass, not plastic, so they're pretty enough for the table too. One of these comes in every breadmaker's tool kit, but if you want it by itself, it's $8.99 and free USA shipping.

An Ultra-Sharp Razor Knife Lame' for Making Slashes in Your Risen Loaves of Sourdough Bread

Loaves of unbaked bread that are fully risen are delicate and need a very sharp edge and a gentle hand to slash them without having a 'deflate!' This little knife, with its snap-off blade sections, is the perfect tool for the job. If you save it for only cutting bread dough, it will take it a long time to become dull, but when it does, you just snap off the end and voila! a brand new sharp edge. You'll love this little gadget for other tasks in your home, so maybe you should order two, since the price is right and the shipping is FREE!! $6.99 with Free US Shipping.