Which Gift Should You Choose?

If they're brand new to sourdough: Start with a banneton, a bread scoring lame, and a beginner's cookbook. That's the core kit and gets them baking confidently.

If they've been baking for a year or more: They probably have the basics. Look at the logbook for tracking bakes, an oven thermometer for accuracy, or specialty items like the couche for shaping baguettes.

If you don't know how serious they are: A bread scoring lame with spare blades is universally useful, looks like a thoughtful and specific gift, and costs under £10. It's almost impossible to get wrong.

If they don't have a starter yet: A sourdough starter kit (or my review of the 150-year-old San Francisco starter) is the perfect gateway gift.

For Shaping And Proofing

A sourdough loaf needs structure during its final rise, which is where shaping kit comes in. Bannetons and proofing cloths support the wet, slack dough that sourdough produces, so it rises upward rather than spreading sideways. These are the items most bakers reach for every single bake.

Banneton Proofing Basket

The single most useful piece of kit for any sourdough baker. I use a 9-inch round banneton for most of my loaves, including my cranberry sourdough and maple syrup rye. The rattan or cane material wicks moisture from the dough surface, which is what gives sourdough that distinctive ringed crust pattern. Dual packs offer better value if your gift recipient bakes more than one loaf at a time.

Linen Proofing Cloth (Couche)

A bakers linen couche is a heavy cloth used to support the final rise of shaped dough, particularly baguettes and batards. The cloth holds the dough's shape between folds and stops it sticking. Less essential than a banneton for round loaves, but a thoughtful gift for anyone making longer-shaped bread or pita and ciabatta style loaves.

Oval Banneton

A different shape from the standard round banneton, used for batard loaves (the elongated oval shape). Worth gifting if the baker already has a round one and is starting to experiment with shapes. Pairs naturally with the couche above.

Proofing Cloth

A simpler alternative to the couche, suitable for covering dough during bulk fermentation and the final proof. Keeps the dough surface from drying out and forming a skin. Cotton or linen work equally well.

For Scoring

Scoring is the controlled cuts a baker makes in the dough surface just before baking. It allows the loaf to expand evenly in the oven instead of bursting unpredictably. Good scoring kit is cheap, makes a big visual difference to finished loaves, and most bakers love trying new patterns.

Bread Scoring Lame

A bread scoring lame is a thin handle that holds a replaceable razor blade for scoring dough. The cuts allow the bread to open neatly and let steam escape under control. I use mine on almost every loaf I bake, including my no-knead sourdough and charcoal sourdough. A solid starter gift for any new baker.

Spare Lame Blades

Replacement blades for the scoring lame. Sharp blades make clean scoring possible, and most bakers don't change theirs often enough. A small, practical add-on to any of the scoring gifts above.

The Wiremonkey Shop also have some funky little blades to help with more detailed scoring. Check out the Wire Monkey lame blades.

For The Workspace

Sourdough is a wet, sticky business. The dough is much slacker than standard bread dough, which means scrapers, spatulas and brushes get heavy use. Most bakers can't have too many of these.

Stainless Steel Dough Scraper

Used for lifting wet dough off the worktop, cutting and portioning loaves, and tidying up afterwards. A metal bench scraper is one of those tools you don't realise you need until you've used one. Variety packs offer different shapes and edges for different jobs.

Silicone Spatula Set

Flexible spatulas are essential for mixing starter, scraping dough out of bowls, and folding wet ingredients without losing any to the side of the container. A multi-coloured set looks good in a kitchen and lets the baker dedicate different ones to starter, dough, and general use.

Silicone Bowl Scraper

A small flexible scraper that fits the curve of a mixing bowl. Particularly useful for high-hydration doughs where every gram matters and the dough sticks to everything. Light, cheap, and used constantly.

Small Silicone Pastry Brush

Useful for brushing flour off shaped dough before scoring, glazing crusts with egg wash or water, or oiling tins for sandwich loaves like my square sandwich bread. Brushes with silicone bristles don't shed the way natural bristle brushes do.

Wooden Flour Scoop

A small, simple tool for portioning flour cleanly from a storage container. More of a "nice to have" than essential, but the wooden flour scoops look charming on a baker's worktop and make decent stocking-filler gifts.

For Learning

Books and logbooks help bakers understand what they're doing and improve over time. Sourdough is a craft that rewards experimentation and record-keeping, so anything that supports that is genuinely useful.

Sourdough Cookbook for Beginners

How To Make Bread is a friendly introduction to sourdough that walks new bakers through their first loaves without being overwhelming. Almost every new baker hits the same problems (flat loaves, dense crumb, sticky dough) and needs reassurance. This book helps.

Classic Sourdoughs Handbook

Classic Sourdoughs is an affordable book full of reliable recipes. Good for someone who has the basics and wants to expand their repertoire beyond the standard country loaf.

Sourdough Baker’s Logbook

A notebook designed for tracking starter feeds, dough timings, hydration percentages, and finished loaf results. Sounds nerdy until you've baked a brilliant loaf and can't remember what you did differently. I keep informal notes myself, but a dedicated bakers logbook makes it easier. Pairs well with my sourdough in the working day post for anyone fitting baking around a busy schedule.

For Storage And Serving

Once the loaf is out of the oven, it needs to be stored properly. Plastic bags soften the crust, paper goes stale fast, and most home bakers struggle with this. The items below handle storage and presentation.

Cotton Drawstring Bread Bag

A breathable storage bread bag solution that keeps the crust from going soft (which plastic bags cause) while protecting the loaf from drying out too quickly. Reusable, washable, and a much better option than a plastic bag. Patterns and styles vary widely.

Cotton Tea Towel

Useful for covering bowls during bulk fermentation, lining a banneton, or wrapping a fresh loaf. Bakers genuinely can't have too many of these tea towels, so a set of three or four makes a practical gift.

Sourdough Themed Tea Towel

The same practical purpose as the cotton tea towels, but with a sourdough design (bread illustrations, starter jokes, baker's slogans). A fun gift for someone who's properly committed to the hobby.

Sourdough Starter Jar

The place to store your sourdough starter. A glass jar with a useful rise gauge on the side will help monitor when a sourdough starter is ready to be used.

Useful Extras

A few items that don't fit the categories above but are genuinely useful for serious bakers.

Oven Thermometer

A simple tool that ensures the oven is actually at the temperature it claims. Place this in the oven hooked on a rack and get an accurate internal oven temperature. Domestic ovens are often 10-20°C out from the temperature they claim. This matters for sourdough because the difference between 220°C and 200°C is a visibly different crust. An oven thermometer hangs from the rack and gives an accurate internal reading. The single most underrated bit of kit on this list.

Lightweight Digital Timer

Sourdough involves a lot of timing: starter feeds, bulk fermentation, stretch and folds every 30 minutes, final proof, bake time. A dedicated timer with multiple independent slots saves constantly resetting your phone. Three-channel timers are ideal. This one has three separate timers you can set.