The Hungry Ghost Bread Book: Tools of The Trade

Tools of the Trade
Demeter
she uses
de metric system
T hat glass water pitcher I used for my first attempt at bread was
definitely a mistake, and while I’m not much of a gearhead with
baking or biking or even guitar playing, I have found that avoiding
specifically designed equipment can equally be a mistake.
To make bakery-quality sourdough bread at home is not an
expensive undertaking, but it does require certain tools. The fol-
lowing list is divided into two categories: “Essential” and “Helpful
but Not Essential.” You probably already have some of these items in
your kitchen.
Essential
Digital kitchen scale. One of the keys to success in bread
making is to weigh the ingredients in metric units. Durable,
reliable digital kitchen scales are inexpensive.
Instant-read digital thermometer. A digital ther-
mometer with a stainless steel probe is useful for checking the
temperatures of your water and dough. Seasoned bakers can work
without thermometers, but those with less experience should
incorporate temperature checks into their baking routine.
— 18 —
Tools of the Trade
Mixing bowl. A capacity of at least 5 quarts (4.73 L) is a good

size for the recipes in this book. If you mix by hand, you can use a
mixing bowl made out of almost anything—metal, ceramic, glass,
or plastic; in some parts of the world, home bakers mix dough in
a wooden trough. If you use a stand mixer, you’ll use the bowl that
comes with it.
Fermentation container. The dough will slowly rise during
several hours of bulk fermentation, the first round of proofing
between mixing and shaping. At Hungry Ghost, we ferment the
dough in very large rectangular plastic bins. A polycarbonate food
pan with a flat lid makes an excellent scaled-down home version.
This is a standard item at restaurant supply stores. The straight
sides and transparent material allow you to accurately monitor
how much the dough has risen, and the rectangular shape is
convenient for folding the dough. For the recipes in this book,
the ideal configuration is a half-size pan—roughly 12 × 10 inches
(30.5 × 25.4 cm) and 4 inches (10 cm) deep.
Alternatively, any covered bowl or tub with a capacity of
about 5 quarts (4.73 L) is a time-honored fermentation container.
The cover is needed to keep the dough from drying out. The main
disadvantage of using a bowl rather than a straight-sided clear
container is that it’s harder to be precise in gauging how much the
dough has risen.
A warm spot. For bulk fermentation, you’ll need a warm spot to
park the dough while it ferments. The ideal temperature is 78 to
80°F (25.5 to 26.5°C). You may have a good spot in your home,
though it can vary from season to season. The oven light provides
an inexpensive solution. This light, typically a 40-watt incandes-
cent bulb, will warm the oven slightly. If the oven light makes it
— 19 —
The Hungry Ghost Bread Book
too warm, then bring the temperature down a bit with either of
these hacks: (1) prop the oven door slightly ajar with a pencil (or a
piece of dowel) or (2) place a small pot of ice water in the oven and
replenish the ice as needed. And if the oven light doesn’t warm the
oven enough, bring the temperature up a bit by placing a small pot
of just-boiled water inside; replenish the hot water as needed.
Alternatively, a seedling heat mat or some other flat, gentle
heat pad can be placed on the counter underneath your fermen-
tation container. This solution keeps your oven available for food
preparation while your dough ferments.
Plastic dough scraper. This tool is invaluable for scraping
dough out of a mixing bowl or a fermentation bin.
Stainless steel dough knife. The dough knife is a rectan-
gular piece of stainless steel with a handle, used to divide and
manipulate the dough after bulk fermentation. You could use a
kitchen knife to divide the dough, but for other tasks you’ll still
need a dough knife.
Proofing basket with cloth liner. After the dough has
been divided and shaped
into loaves, each loaf will be
placed into a proofing basket
(or banneton), where it will
complete the fermentation
process before baking.
Proofing baskets are typ-
ically made from coiled
or woven rattan. They
are typically sold with a
removable liner of linen or
— 20 —
Tools of the Trade
cotton. For most of the bread formulas in this book, which yield
two loaves with a dough weight of around 13/4 pounds (794 g)
each, the best match will be round baskets with a diameter of 8 or
9 inches (20–23 cm). You can also improvise a proofing basket by
lining a plastic basket or colander with a tea towel.
Razor blade. A single-edge razor blade is useful for scoring the
bread just before it goes into the oven. You can also use a baker’s
lame, a double-edge razor blade attached to a small handle.
Steam setup. At professional bakeries like Hungry Ghost, the
oven is set up to inject steam at the start of a bake. By bathing
the dough in steam, we delay formation of the crust, which
allows the bread to rise more while baking (this is known as oven
spring). There are two methods to improvise a steam setup at
home: (1) enclose the dough in a baking vessel or (2) generate
steam by boiling water in a steam pan near the dough.
A baking vessel traps and holds water vapor that escapes from
the dough, enveloping the bread in steam as it bakes. A cast-iron
Dutch oven is a good choice for a baking vessel. You can use any
Dutch oven that you may already have in your kitchen, as long as
it’s made entirely of metal, with or without an enamel coating.
If you’re looking to buy a Dutch oven, the design best suited for
bread-making is a combo cooker, so called because the lid doubles
as a skillet. For the recipes in this book, a combo cooker with
capacity of about 3 liters (3.2 qt) will hold the dough nicely, with
enough headroom for the dough to expand while baking. Note
that a round baking vessel can be used only to bake round loaves,
which is the shape of most breads in this book.
Alternatively, a steam pan fills the whole oven with steam. For
this method you just need an all-metal skillet, such as cast iron.
— 21 —
Fill it with water, put it on the lowest rack of the oven, and let
it preheat along with the oven. A steam pan can be used when
baking breads of any shape.
Heat-resistant oven mitts. Wear good silicone oven mitts.
Don’t try to handle cast-iron Dutch ovens at 450°F (232°C) using
cloth mitts, pot holders, or folded kitchen towels.
Wire cooling rack. When your bread comes out of the oven,
it should cool with air circulating freely around the entire loaf.
Starter jars. Get some straight-sided (“shoulderless”), wide-mouth
glass jars with lids to hold your starter. The straight-sided design
makes it easier to take out the starter. It’s useful to have different
sizes, a couple of pint jars and a couple of half-pint jars. You can buy
new mason jars or simply reuse empty jam jars or canning jars.
Helpful but Not Essential

Silicone baking mat. Any smooth, clean countertop in your
kitchen will be adequate for bread-making. At Hungry Ghost, we
work at a big butcher-block baker’s table. Butcher block is an ideal
surface because it holds a fine dusting of flour in place, to reduce
sticking of dough. You can get the same result at home by placing
a silicone pastry mat on your countertop. A rectangular pastry
mat that covers about 4 square feet—for example, 28 × 20 inches
(71 × 51 cm)—is a good size.
Baking stone. A rectangular ceramic baking stone is useful
for several purposes. It provides an even distribution of heat for
hearth-style baking directly on the stone. It also buffers the drop
in temperature when you open the oven door by providing thermal
ballast within the oven. Choose a size that allows 2 inches (5 cm) or
more of free space between the stone and the oven wall on each side.
— 22 —
Tools of the Trade
Oven peel. If you bake on a baking stone or other flat surface,

rather than in a baking vessel, then you’ll need something to
transfer the dough into the oven. An oven peel, either wooden or
metal, is the baker’s tool for this purpose. A rimmed baking sheet,
turned upside down, can double as an improvised peel.
Digital thermometer with air probe. A digital
thermometer with an air probe will allow you to continuously
monitor the temperature inside your oven, whether you’re using it
for baking or for bulk fermentation. Most ovens do not match the
settings on their dials, and this two-piece gizmo (probe inside,
display out) will give a far more accurate reading.
Stand mixer. At Hungry Ghost we mix batches of dough weigh-
ing up to 100 pounds (45 kg), and we use a big commercial floor
mixer to do it. For home baking, a stand mixer is entirely optional.
Many home bakers mix sourdough entirely by hand, and some
small-scale professional bakers do as well. If you already own a
stand mixer with a bowl capacity of at least 5 quarts (4.73 L), it
should be able to handle all the recipes in this book. Smaller units
may not have the needed power or capacity.
Pastry brush. Just the tool
for brushing off loaves
on their way into the
oven (and removing
excess flour from
cracker dough).
On Fridays, we use
a pastry brush to
paint an egg-wash
on the Challah.
— 23 —
For making crackers, the following items are helpful but not essential:
Rolling pin. If you make crackers or fresh pasta, you’ll need some-
thing for rolling them out. I prefer an old-fashioned, American-style
heavy-duty rolling pin with a center rod and handles on each end.
Dough docker. This utensil is a spiked roller mounted on a
handle. It is used to prick the dough to prevent blistering and
minimize rising of crackers and some flatbreads.
Pastry wheel. A pastry wheel will either lightly score or cut
right through your cracker dough, depending on the degree of
pressure used.
Offset spatula. This tool is handy for picking up thinly rolled
cracker dough and transferring it to a peel.
— 24 —

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Tools of the Trade

Mixing bowl. A capacity of at least 5 quarts (4.73 L) is a good

Helpful but Not Essential

Oven peel. If you bake on a baking stone or other flat surface,

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