The Bakery at Mom's Hobby Farm: gadgets and stuff

I will freely admit that I am a gadget girl. I love baking 'stuff' and I have a bunch of it. Here are a few of my favorites--things that I have bought or received as gifts that I would buy again in a heartbeat. They are things, big things and small things, that I use all the time or that make baking easier or more fun. In no particular order...

my convection oven

When I had to replace my stove I limped along on one or two working burners until I could afford the stove that I wanted and I got one with a convection oven. My stove has lots of neat features that I really like but the one that I use most for baking is the convection feature. It is a fan that runs when the oven is cooking and I think that it makes for more even browning and I can use three racks instead of two because the fan circulates the warm air around the cooking food helping to cook it more evenly.

my stand mixer

I have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I have the professional 600 version and I really like it. It works hard and has a lot of capacity in the bowl.

my food processor

I have a Cuisinart food processor. I have the 14 cup version and it has been great. Like the mixer it has plenty of power and lots of capacity.

my parchment paper

We use a lot of parchment paper and we buy ours at a restaurant supply store. It comes in pre-cut sheets that fit perfectly in my baking sheets. It only comes in large quantities but we buy a box and split it between family members. The package that we buy has 2000 sheets so it lasts a while and there is plenty to share.

my microplane

I have a microplane and I use it to zest citrus fruit, grate hard cheeses and grate whole nutmeg.

my batter whisk

In addition to my regular whisks I have a batter whisk. It is great for mixing together the wet and dry ingredients for quick breads and muffins.

my batter ladles

My daughter gave me a set of three batter ladles. They are sized for their intended food and that intended food is printed on the ladle handle. So I have one for crepes, one for pancakes and one for waffles. The waffle one fits my round waffle maker. The pancake one makes about a five inch pancake and the crepe one makes about a six inch crepe. And the handles are long so they don't fall into the batter.

my homemade pan coat

I found this recipe on pinterest and it was called 'make your own pam' or something similar. I made up a batch and I really like it. It works well, I spread it on with a brush and get a nice even layer. I use it when I don't use parchment paper. I don't use paper liners for muffins, just the pan coat and they pop right out. I also use it for bread pans and cake pans and no sticking. Just three ingredients and equal parts of each so it couldn't be easier. I keep mine in a plastic jelly jar with a lid, on the shelf next to my other baking supplies. Recipe: whisk together equal parts (I usually use 1/4 cup each) of flour, shortening (Crisco) and vegetable oil. Store in cupboard or refrigerator. It works great.

my bench scraper

A bench scraper is terrific for sectioning off pieces of bread dough into rolls, cutting scone dough into wedges, picking up cut out cookies. It works well to gather together loose flour on the counter or to scrape off dried bits of dough that are stuck to the counter.

my lefse rolling pin, board and cover

This was purchased to use when making lefse but it works great for pie crust and cutout cookies as well. I often use my lefse rolling pin and stockinette when I am making cookies if I want them to be rolled thinly. The ridges in the rolling pin make it easier to get a thin final product. You must use a stockinette (rolling pin cover) on your rolling pin or you will get dough in the ridges.

my cookie sheet rack

I found this kind of by accident at a restaurant supply store--not the same one where the parchment comes from--and bought it on impulse. I think it might have been custom made for a customer that was not picked up because I have looked for another one and not seen anything similar. I love it. It is the right size for my baking sheets and it will hold 13 of them. I also have some plastic trays the same size that fit as well. It is perfect for holding cooling cookies and sheets of cookies waiting to go into the oven. I use the plastic trays to hold frosted cookies while the frosting is still wet or cookies that need multiple steps when they are between steps.