The hallowed return of The Great British Bake Off is nearly upon us – there are likely just weeks to go before we’re all sitting back another season of the gentle but politely fierce baking competition.
Just like every year, millions of viewers will watch it, wondering whether they could copy some of the tasty recipes at home.
A sweet animated trailer for the new series has dropped – featuring presenters Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding as bees, navigating their way to the baking tent – so expect plenty of innovative bakes, soggy bottoms and dastardly technical challenges on the horizon.
We set date for the 15th series to kick off, but the past four seasons of the show have all begun in September, so we likely don’t have too long to wait.
Kitchen tech has come a long way in the last decade or so, and baking is no exception to that. If you wanted to pick up some new devices to help you whip up cakes, cookies and more with less effort, there are plenty of gadgets that can help you become a star baker…
A digital scale
One area where the digital revolution shouldn’t be ignored is in weighing. Any aspiring or accomplished cook will know the importance of measurements while baking, and the only way to truly know the exact amounts you’re adding to your mix is to use a high-quality digital scale.
Thankfully, these don’t have to be extraordinarily expensive – they’re widely available and often very reasonably priced. If you are willing to spend a little more than most, though, the Oxo Stainless Steel Scale (£44, reduced from £55, available from John Lewis) is brilliant – its display can be pulled out so it’s still visible under bigger bowls and containers, which is the sort of design feature we really love.
A top-class stand mixer…
A stand mixer is a must-have for anyone who wants to avoid baking the old-fashioned way, where every bit of kneading is by hand and things can get exhausting quickly. Mixers help you get doughs and batters ready way more easily – and while they’re renowned for revolutionising how you bake, but they also come with sometimes chunky price tags.
However, any baker will tell you that a proper stand mixer is well worth the investment, and will last you for years to come. It’s on the pricey side, but you can’t beat the quality of Bosch’s CreationLine Stand Mixer & Built-In Scale (£399 from Argos).
… Or a great hand mixer
Of course, we don’t all have the budget or the counter space to accommodate a stand mixer of the quality that we’d like, and there’s no shame in that.
A big bowl and a decent hand mixer can make up for that with room to spare, even if it’ll take a little more time and effort to work with. As with so many household gadgets, KitchenAid is a market leader, and its Nine-Speed Hand Mixer is the one to get if you can. It costs £139 direct, but is worth it for quality and longevity – and is still more affordable than a high-class stand mixer.
A good immersion blender
It might not seem like the most obviously baking-flavoured tool in your kitchen arsenal, but once you remember how many treats are iced, cream-filled or laced with ganache, you’ll realise how useful a good immersion blender can be.
This will save your arms and get your fillings ready in record-breaking time, with the added benefit of being useful for all sorts of other types of cooking, too. One well-liked affordable option is the Bosch CleverMixx (available for £36 from AO), which is small, simple and easy to use: everything you’d want in a kitchen gadget.
An oven thermometer
Just like a pitmaster needs a good meat probe, every baker will benefit from having an oven thermometer on hand.
Rather than guessing based on a dial, a proper oven thermometer will give you a super-accurate reading to make sure that you know exactly how long your baked goods should stay in for. There are loads of these on the market, and the Taylor Pro Oven Thermometer is a great choice at just £8.99 through Lakeland.
