With the world changing from the COVID19 pandemic, one thing that has increased in popularity has been bread makers and kits. We recently read that multiple bakeries in the San Francisco Bay Area (where we used to live) pivoted to selling bread making kits after their commercial and retail sales dropped to $0 from this pandemic in March 2020. It’s safe to say these are the business owners that will succeed given their ability to adjust quickly.

After doing a lot of research on both the best bread makers and bread-making kits we found some amazing stats on how many people are getting into it. Recently one of Steve’s favorite publications The Hustle published a post about the insane growth of bread making in the US.

These are all stats and graphs created by The Hustle:

Sourdough vs Banana vs Basic Bread

Amazon searches for yeast

Google searches for “how to make bread”

After researching more about bread making kits and making some ourselves we decided to compile a list of our favorite kits and makers. Now anyone can bake artisan bread from home with a basic kit and simple instructions to weather a storm like COVID19.

Breadsmart Artisan Bread Making Kit – 5 PC Baking Supplies Set – Lame, Scraper, Whisk, Proofing Basket & Cotton Liner

Cost: $55

Breadsmart has a premium quality set to get you rolling in the dough. From the banneton proofing basket with a cotton liner to the scraper, whisk, dual-edged lame and recipe ebook. TRIPLE-LOOPED DANISH DOUGH WHISK: Mix your flour, water, salt, and yeast perfectly with this top-grade stainless steel whisk. It has three sturdy loops and the whisk head runs the entire length of the handle and so won’t bend or break. 3-IN-1 BENCH SCRAPER: This tool scrapes dough from bowls and counters, folds dough during mixing and the sharp edge cuts the dough to desired dimensions. It also features an embossed ruler for measuring the rise of dough during proofing! Very clever. PROOFING BASKET WITH COTTON LINER: This large proofing basket handles family-sized loaves. Made of sturdy BPA-free food-safe plastic, it’s durable and easy to clean. A cotton liner is included for extra sticky doughs, including gluten-free varieties.

Breadsmart

2. Round Banneton Bread Proofing Basket 7 Pack Kit by BOSA

Cost: $39.99

100% Natural Rattan Cane Banneton Proofing Basket – Suitable for proofing all kinds of bread dough. Handmade, dye free and chemicals free. Hold up to 1.5 pounds dough with 9 inches (D) x 3.5 inches (H) size. Well made sturdy ridges can produce spiral ring patterns depth when dough rising, works well with any recipe involving Flour Water Salt and Yeast such as Sourdough Bread, Boules Loaves, Artisan Lahey No-Knead, Tartine Country, Glutenfree recipes. Premium Bread Scoring Lame – 304 stainless steel blades (1+4 replaceable blades) + sturdy stainless steel stick + handcrafted wood handle + leather protective cover. Skillfully designed, fit in good stability, not slip and wobbles, very sharp and slid through the dough more cleanly. Curved blade easy to make perfect loaf cuts. Natural Linen Bread Bag – Green alternative for plastic bread bags. Reusable grocery bag. A premium 100% natural linen with a drawstring design which size is 11″ x 15″. Eco-friendly, unbleached, reusable food Storage. Keep your bread healthier by avoiding plastics that can leach chemicals into your foods.

BOSA bread making kit

These two bread-making kits are extremely well-reviewed and we highly recommend checking them out. Now that we’ve shared our favorite KITS the elephant in the room is that many of you probably already have a bread maker. Might have been a wedding gift or re-gifted birthday gift from years ago sitting in your cabinet somewhere. Regardless if you have one there is no harm in getting some additional supplies (yeast, scraper, bread basket, etc.) given the spike in demand for baking at home.

Now for those that don’t have a bread maker already, there are plenty of amazing bread makers but these two are a couple of the most cost-effective ones we’ve actually tested out over the years.

Oster Expressbake Bread Maker with Gluten-Free Setting

Cost: $85

Up to a 2-pound loaf capacity for larger families with 13 settings for making a variety of breads, dough, jams–even gluten-free bread. The Oster Expressbake has 3 crust color selection options: light, medium, and dark and can bake bread in under an hour 13-hours!

Bread maker

2. Sunbeam Programmable Bread Maker

Cost: $77

Bakes up to a 2 lb loaf of bread in 13 hours with 12 baking settings. There is a great Express Bake cycle to really push loaves out quickly. This little guy has an LED display with nonstick, removable baking pan and most importantly it includes an instruction book with bread recipes!

Sunbeam bread maker

Overall if you are about to buy your first bread-making kit to master the art without an automatic bread maker, learning new skills are important. It’s extremely important to look at the current situation as a learning experience and know that everyone is in the same situation. Adjusting to massive shifts like these in our everyday environment is something that really provides once in a lifetime opportunities.

With that said, we recommend learning with the bread making kits first. Learning new skills like bread making during an economic downturn like the current one can really improve your view on things and build confidence.

“Give a man a fish – he’ll eat for a day.

Teach a man to fish – he’ll eat forever”

Have fun learning how to bake bread with these kits and try to enjoy! 😉

Love,

Scooch and Steve