Great British Bake Off Best Home Cook Baking Tips Tools

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We asked our favorite bakers from across the pond for the baking tools they rely on in the kitchen. Want to make Mary Berry proud? Add these tools to your at-home baking arsenal.

KitchenAid Mixer

“My KitchenAid mixer. Alternatively, a spatula and a bowl works. Always handy if no electricity, assuming one can cope without electricity.”

—Selasi Gbormittah

“My electric whisk is really precious to me. I have a few stand mixers and blenders, but my cheap hand whisk is what I can’t do without. It’s quick, easy to use, clean—and does the basic whisking for all sorts of bakes for me.”

—Chetna Makan

Solid Silicone Spatula

“It’s definitely the thing I use the most in my kitchen—scraping out bowls, spreading butter icing, flipping eggs, stirring, and swatting away those uninvited hands that try to get in the bowl to taste whatever I’m making. Just make sure it’s not one with a removable handle, which can snap off during a stirring frenzy.”

—Jane Beedle

Microplanes

“I found these in Williams Sonoma about eight years ago, while visiting my sister in the US. They had a zester offer, so I bought 10 and gave them away to my baker friends. I use mine daily for grating and zesting everything from nutmeg to cheese.”

—Val Stones

Tried-and-True Round Baking Tins

The real secret to being able to bake is knowing how to use your tools.

“I have a set of four thin, shallow, round, 8-inch baking tins. I’ve had them for years. Whenever I think of making a cake, that is the first thing that comes out of the cupboard. I know exactly how much cake mix to put in each tin, and exactly how long it takes to bake it—which makes it really easy.”

—Chetna Makan

Steel Balloon Whisk

“I use it to fluff up and mix flour for cakes. I find it much better than a sieve, and it requires less washing up. Not many lumps survive a good whisk.”

—Jane Beedle

Digital Electronic Scales

The experts agree: Baking comes down to an exact science.

“I develop recipes, and I need to be accurate in the amount of each ingredient. There’s no way I can reproduce a bake if I don’t know the exact ingredients. Have you noticed that not one baker on Bakeoff is a thrower-in of ingredients?”

—Val Stones

A Slicer

“If you really want to wow the likes of Paul Hollywood, a slicer is crucial to dividing pastry equally—even though it reminds me of Edward Scissorhands.”

—Selasi Gbormittah

Chakla Belan

If baking pita, naan, or any flat breads is on your wish list, don’t go without this Indian necessity.

“I have all sorts of flat breads all the time in our meals, and this chakla belan comes out almost every day for doing all sorts of rolling. It’s so easy to use, and makes the tedious rolling fun.”

—Chetna Makan

Silicone Baking Mats

“I have around 20 of these—some with printed circles on them as guides for macaroons and meringues. They save so much time, and can be used over and over again for many years.”

—Val Stones