Buckle in for a season of your favourite baking show and no matter how much the ingredients take centre-stage, every chef relies on gadgets to get the job done. Whether you are a seasoned top-notch chef, or an amateur looking to expand your repertoire, you can certainly lighten your load with the right tools. And while baking is a science, there’s magic in the art of creation. Arm yourself like a pro and dazzle even yourself.
Here are our top baking tools for your home kitchen:
Canola Squeeze Bottle. A fixture on countless countertops, the handiness of this ingenious vessel lies in its simplicity. An obvious choice for keeping close at hand for pan-frying, a canola squeeze bottle is versatile for quickly adding a dash of oil to salad dressings or finishing off a pizza. Other notable uses include precision pancakes, skillfully ‘drawing’ with batter is a snap, as is filling with your favourite spicy aioli for restaurant-style plating. Our Canola Eat Well plastic squeeze bottle is available at our online store, while supplies last!
Scale. Ask any seasoned baker and they will speak this gospel truth: measuring cups can be inaccurate, a scale is a more exact approach to ensuring your recipes are consistent. Baking is a science, after all, keep it consistent and employ a scale for professional results.
Quality Cookie Sheet. Clunky cheap cookie sheets tend to rust up after a few uses, and with their non-stick properties aging out, it may be time to upgrade to something a little more heavy-duty. Investing in a well-made cookie sheet ensures that your creations are consistently crave-worthy as heavier materials retain and distribute their heat much better. It’s also far safer removing something sturdy from a hot oven, unlike their flimsy counterparts.
Heavy-Duty Mixing Bowl. Mixing bowls may seem like a basic item that everyone has but a true bottom-weighted bowl ensures a no-slip situation for your mixes, a flimsy bowl can send ingredients flying, whereas a sturdy bowl sits in place, allowing you to effortlessly blend with a hand-mixer or crack an egg with confidence. Look for bowls with spout-style mouths for easy pouring.
Mixer/Hand Mixer. Add some muscle to your dough mixes and you’ll never regret the added horsepower that comes from these mighty machines. While stand-mixers will set you back price-wise, they last forever and are worth every penny. The litany of attachments means that one pricey buy is converted to countless other offerings: pasta maker, meat grinder, juicer are all add-ons that make it a multi-purpose workhorse.
Measuring Spoons. While a pinch of this or a dash of that may suffice for some, when it comes to baking measuring spoons are all but a requirement. An extra teaspoon of yeast or soda can leave some loaves unrecognizable and quite possibly inedible too. Level off with a butter knife for complete accuracy.
Whisks. And it’s plural for a reason. Whisks come in several types all serving a variety of noble kitchen tasks. They’re indispensably useful for a myriad of baking duties, each serving a different purpose, so it’s best to have a few on hand. From the delicate French Whisk to the all-purpose Balloon, there’s a whisk waiting in wings when you need it most.
Sturdy Wooden Spoon. It’s in every kitchen for a reason, the utilitarian nature of this unsung kitchen hero offers too-many-to-list uses. It’s also brilliant for keeping pots from boiling over, just place the spoon across to prevent messy flare-ups.
Quality linens. Just like your bedroom, your kitchen deserves the very best. A well-made mitt can make all the difference for handling hot pans, and the same can be said for thick absorbent tea-towels for cleaning up messy spills. A safe kitchen is always in style!
Rubber Spatula. The custodian of saucepans, the caretaker of canisters, a rubber spatula is your economical assistant, always ensuring you don’t miss a morsel. The flexible paddle is the best tool for scraping your mixing bowl out or grabbing the last bits of from sticky jars.
Did we miss out on your Microplane? Leave us a comment with your favourite equipment below!
Eat Well…Libby Roach
Libby is a food editor at auburnlane.com and photographer based out of Toronto, ON.
Her creative passion lies in weaving stories into photographs and creating images that are engaging.
Libby attended Canola Harvest Camp in 2018 and you will want to follow her on the gram @cookiespi.
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