A Well-Equipped Kitchen
Since the pastry arts can be broken down into various disciplines, such as baking, cake decorating, confections, chocolates, and so on, I’ve listed some basic tools and equipment you will need to get started. If you do any cooking or baking you should already have most of these items. This list includes equipment for all of the disciplines mentioned above. If you’re only interested in baking for example, you would need only a few of the items listed below.
I’ve been doing this for some time and I am still adding to my collection. I started out by buying an item every month or so. You’ll see just how fast your inventory will accumulate. I hope this helps.
Remember, life is as sweet as you make it.
Bowls
One set of stainless steel mixing bowls varying in size.
One set of small bowls for weighing and scaling ingredients. I like to use either glass or silicon bowls.
Containers
Sealed food grade containers for cereals, dried fruits, grains, flours, sugars, and other perishable ingredients
Cutting Boards
At least three different cutting boards to minimize cross contamination in your kitchen
One for breads, cakes, and other pastry
One for fruits and vegetables
One for raw meats, poultry, and seafood
Knives, Forks, and Scissors
3 or 4 inch paring knife – for trimming, peeling, scoring, and slicing
8-inch chef knife – for dicing, chopping, and slicing
10-inch cake knife – for cutting
12-inch serrated slicing knife – for slicing breads and chocolate
Variety of small metal spoons and forks
Light duty scissor – for cutting and slicing smaller items
Heavy-duty scissor – for cutting heavier items
Measuring Devices
Dry measuring cups and spoons
Liquid measuring cups
Scale – for measuring ingredients
Probe thermometer – for accurately checking the temperature of prepared items
Oven thermometer – for accurately checking the oven temperature
Candy Thermometer – for accurately checking temperatures for frying and candy making
Mixers and Whisks
Small and large whisk – for mixing and whipping ingredients
6-quart mixer – to handle bread dough
Pots and Pans
Frying pans – for frying, sautéing
Sauce pans – for deep-frying, poaching, and simmering
Stockpots – for sauces and jams
Roasting pan – for roasting
Sheet pans and cookie sheets
Spoons, Spatulas and Scrapers
Bench scraper – for cutting, moving, and cleaning up work surfaces
Bowl scrapper – for getting every last bit out of your bowl
Large metal spoon – for stirring
Large slotted metal spoon – for stirring and straining
Small silicon spatula – for adding ingredients
Large silicon spatula – for folding
Throw away spoons – for tasting
Large wooden spoon – great for checking thickness of your sauces
Miscellaneous Tools
Brushes – to egg was, glaze, remove access flour, and so on
Cheesecloth – for straining
Cherry pitter – for removing the pits from cherries
Cooling rack – for cooling hot or baked items
Parchment paper – for baking
Peeler – to peel fruits and vegetables
Sieve or Tamis – for sifting flours
Silicon mat – for lining baking pans
Strainer / Chinois – for straining sauces
Artisanal Bread Equipment
Baba molds – for baking baba
Benneton – for shaping certain hard crusted hearth breads
Brioche mold – pan with fluted sides for making brioche
Couche – an untreated natural fiber cloth used to proof dough
Loaf pan / Pullman pan – for making traditional soft crusted breads
Mister – for creating steam in the oven for breads requiring it
Roller cutter – a device used to efficiently and accurately cut shapes out of rolled dough
Docker – a device to prick holes in rolled dough to prevent bubbling
Rolling pin – to roll and shape dough
Cake, Assembling, and Decorating Equipment
Cake board – assorted cardboard bases used as a support for building, assembling, and decorating cakes
Cake comb – a multi faceted tool with serrated teeth of various designs used to decorate the sides of cakes
Cake pans – for baking various cakes shape and sizes
Fondant smoother – a plastic or metal tool used to smooth out rolling fondant
Cake ring – a bottomless stainless steel ring used to assemble, mold, or bake cakes and tarts, also known as an entremets ring.
Decorating tips – stainless steel or plastic tips of various shapes and sizes used in conjunction with a pastry bag to pipe decorations, specialty pastries
Pastry bag – varied sizes and materials used to decorate, fill, and pipe baked goods
Turntable – for frosting and decorating cakes
Silicon Baking Mats – for baking tuile, or cooling sugar, and candy items
Cookie, Pie, and Tart Equipment
Barquette mold – for baking small boat shaped petit four and tartlets
Cutters – made of a variety of materials sizes and shapes for cutting out cookies, fondant, pastillage, tarts, and to decorate tarts, pies, breads, and cakes
