Help! Do I have to buy all these things to do the bread revolution?

[Cat]

I got the book. The list of equipment is daunting. Do I need to buy all of it to make bread? Hoping not becaue no $ and no space in tiny kitchen...

[monkeylicious]

no you don't need it all... what don't you have, and we can tell you what to use instead :yes

[newday]

what are the things you are "supossed" to have that you don't? i am just curious.

edited:
i didn't realize what your question was exactly...
maybe i was thinking of an earlier post i read on bread??

obviously, you don't need another recipe :)

[CakeLady]

All you need is something to keep the dough in and something to bake it on.

[schmamy]

I don't have a pizza peel--I use a very thin metal cookie sheet and it works great. :yes

I've been using my stainless mixing bowl for my KitchenAid mixer to keep the dough in--just putting saran wrap over it in the fridge--and that has worked fine so far, too, but I need to come up with another solution because it puts my mixer bowl out of commission :)

I don't have a broiler pan, so I just put a cup of water in a loaf pan (I tried a jelly roll pan, but the water all evaporated and then it just smelled bad). The loaf pan seems to work just fine. :shrug

Seems like there was something else I didn't have, too, but I can't think what at the moment. What do you not have that you're concerned about? I bet you can improvise :yes

[Cat]

This is what I don't have:

Oven thermometer
Baking stone
Storage container
Broiler tray
Pizza peel
Cooling rack
Dough scraper
Mixer
Scale

Ugh! You can't imagine our cupboard space. Even if we had the money, we have nowhere to put all of this. And our teeny tiny little electric stove...I can barely fit a cookie sheet in there.

Do you think I could still do it without all this stuff?

[KatieMae]

Oven thermometer - don't sweat this one
Baking stone - this would be a very good thing to put on your wish list :yes but you could just use a cookie sheet, the important thing is that it's pre-heated (note that the sheet will heat up much faster than a stone would)
Storage container - I bought a 5-quart container of ice cream :shifty When we're done eating it, I'm going to use that
Broiler tray - any small, metal pan like Amy said above
Pizza peel - Ooo, I like the cookie sheet idea; all mine have edges, but I could just use the bottom instead :rockon
Cooling rack - Well this would be really cheap to get actually, so maybe check at your grocery store or WM; you want the open rack so the air can get all around the bread. If you just put it on a towel it'll get moist on the bottom where the steam collects.
Dough scraper - a spatula would do fine
Mixer - you can do it by hand with a big spoon
Scale - naaa, you can guess by their "grapefruit size" analogy

:)

[Rabbit]

I do it with:

A large ice tea pitcher for the container.
A wooden spoon to mix the dough.
A serrated knife to cut the dough.
A cookie sheet I don't bother to preheat. (No need for a pizza peel, now.)
I do have a broiler pan. A loaf pan would probably work better than my broiler pan is, so I'm going to try that.
A cooling rack. They take up less space than a cookie sheet, and are cheap.

[monkeylicious]

i use a small plastic cutting board to let my dough rest on - and with the cornmeal it slides right off
i haven't been using the cooking rack - and i have a couple :shrug my bread is still good, will have to see the difference if i use the rack.

[Cat]

:ty3

I can't wait to try this!

[schmamy]

Storage container - I bought a 5-quart container of ice cream :shifty When we're done eating it, I'm going to use that


:haha

wish I had space in our freezer for a 5-qt container of ice cream--I'd TOTALLY do that! :haha

speaking of not having a scale/using the grapefruit analogy...I've only gotten three loaves, not four, the last two batches I've done. And I'm NOT making the loaves very big :no The loaf I made on Wednesday was only like 8 generous slices. What gives?

[katiekind]

I use:

--a set of two 14-cup containers I bought at Walmart for $3.00

--a wooden spoon to mix the dough

--a small cookie sheet to rest the dough on before baking -- and personally I just set bread & cookie sheet in the oven on the baking stone--cuz I don't have a peel.

--a baking stone that cost $20 and lives permanently in my oven now and has been fabulous for bread AND everything else I have baked comes out better, too.

--a cooling rack...this will not take up much space in your kitchen, and is a cooking staple. You'll use it for cookies, etc, for the rest of your life.

--a metal pan to put water in lives on the lower shelf of my oven -- I don't have a broiler pan so I used a metal pan that I already had.


I have to say I've been making the basic "5-minute" bread recipe almost daily since I first learned about it. My husband and I never get tired of it. It is so easy, so delicious and always seems special.