9 professional bakers dish about their 'desert island' kitchen must-haves

Alright, I'm gonna kick things off with a good ol' half sheet tray (or two — is that cheating?). When it came down to choosing my must-have piece of equipment, the most important factor was versatility, and this kitchen essential has that in spades. 

Its most obvious use is probably baking cookies, but I've also used mine to make cakes (you can cut out layers or make a large sheet cake), homemade Pop Tarts, galettes and roasted vegetables, because savory pastries deserve love too. Oh, and if I'm baking something runny in a pie or cake pan, I always stick one of these babies underneath to catch any drippings — easier to clean the tray than the bottom of my oven! Nordic Ware is durable and has never let me down — plus, it's a No. 1 bestseller, so I'm in pretty good company. 

"Bench scrapers are a favorite, very versatile baking tool that I wish was used more widely by home bakers!" says my former Levain Bakery colleague, Zehra Asghar. "They are great for cutting through soft foods you may be baking, such as butter, dough and marzipan. Bench scrapers usually also have built-in measurements (like a ruler), which can be helpful if you are trying to cut something into a precise inch or centimeter amount. [They] have a wide surface and can also be used to transport ingredients — for example, cut fruit into a pot or pie dish. They create smooth, even surfaces if you are using them to frost a cake. And finally, they can be used to do what their name suggests and scrape — or clean — your bench or work surface!" 

Anna Weinstein, another fellow Levain alum who is currently a pastry cook at MoMA's The Modern, agrees: "I have a lot of favorites, but I think mine is the humble bench scraper. I use it when I'm cutting butter, portioning dough or transporting anything diced from the cutting board to whatever vessel it's going in. It's also handy for cleanup when I'm scraping the flour and dough off the table."

"A plastic bench scraper!" exclaims Erica Pais, the baker behind Paistries. "I use it so much in home baking (learned about it working in a professional kitchen) and my non-baking boyfriend is ALWAYS using it to clean up messes he makes. I use it mainly for making pie and galette dough. It’s a perfect tool because, with those doughs, you want to keep them as cold as possible; so the bench scraper, in a way, acts as my hand. I scrape dough together with it so that my hand doesn’t warm up the butter as quickly. It’s how I can make sure no dough gets left behind on the counter after using the fraisage technique."

"It’s also how I clean up my counter after making those doughs. When I fold the edges of a rolled-out galette dough, I use the scraper to get under the dough and make the fold. It makes for sharp corners that give the galette a kind of funky aesthetic. I’ll use the scraper in savory applications too, within baked goods and just with regular cooking. After chopping vegetables, like onions to be prepped for a savory galette, I use it to scoop them up into a bowl or to scrape them off of a cutting board into a hot pan. I also use it to cut and portion pie dough when I make a big batch."

My friend Daniel Aubry, head baker at Levain Bakery, also swears by "a flexible, nonstick nylon dough scraper," adding, "I think when I'm at work, it's the tool I turn to the most, but also at home."

According to Christina Lower, owner and operator of Bake Bake Philly, "a kitchen scale by Escali" is a non-negotiable. "Creating consistent bakes and measuring accurately requires a good scale. They’re dependable, affordable and have a long life. And you can get them in cute colors." 

How fun is this pink? Another benefit: You won't have to wash a zillion measuring cups and spoons. 

"A small immersion blender is something I use daily for both sweet and savory applications," explains Pastry Chef Abigail Dahan of Provenance restaurant in Philadelphia. "My favorite is the Vitamix brand, which has different speeds but is more expensive, but I have used the KitchenAid brand with great success as well, and it's a lower price point." 

(Psst: I own the KitchenAid and love it for making ultra-luscious whipped cream and smoothing out homemade jam when I don't want it too chunky. Check out my full review for more.)

To finish things off — in the most literal sense — "A mini offset spatula for the win," writes Marissa Touch of Dandelion Bakes. These small yet mighty tools are fab when it comes to frosting cakes, cookies ... anything, really!

Because the blade is placed lower than the handle, it's easier to spread icings and batters in a smooth layer without your hand getting in the way — and since it's so thin, I also like using mine to slide cookies off of my baking sheet and onto a cooling tray.

I sometimes have butterfingers when I bake — literally and figuratively — so I prefer to use metal mixing bowls, which won't shatter if they accidentally go flying off the counter (oops). 

They'll last forever, and they're usually inexpensive. Look for a set that contains different sizes — larger bowls can be used for mixing batters and doughs, while smaller ones are suitable for whisking a few eggs. Plus, if they come with lids like these do, you can store leftovers in them. 

I try to minimize waste in the kitchen as much as possible, which is why these reusable silicone baking mats come in clutch. Not only do they help keep my parchment paper costs to a minimum, they also protect my sheet trays from caked-on gunk. 

The nonstick material is a breeze to clean, and I find that I can still achieve a nice golden brown on the bottoms of my cookies when I use them. 

For recipes that require caramelizing sugar or frying in oil, a candy thermometer is crucial — temperature can make or break the outcome of these types of treats!

This model has a unique curved design that allows it to sit neatly against the side of your pot, and I appreciate that the clip is made of heat-proof silicone rather than plastic — I've had one too many mishaps with the latter melting!