Laila's Holiday Gift Guide (No, there are no Amazon links)

Hi Early Risers,

These items are all smaller purchases; I didn’t want to throw huge price tags at you during a year where many are struggling. I will add a few bigger items at the end that I use daily, but I will mostly share smaller items that can be for a family member, friend, or you can subtly nudge your partner into buying them for you!

• Andrew Janjigian’s (@wordloaf) Sourdough Stirrer
  • You know I use this every single day! Another great option is to Subscribe to his newsletter. He is writing a book right now so he isn’t posting as frequently as he usually does, but even reading archived posts will prove very useful in your baking journey, I have read every one.
• Weck Jars
  • The reason I like these more than other jars is the lid sits so nicely on top- creating enough of a seal that your starter doesn’t get dry, but it also isn’t so tight it can’t breathe and release extra gasses. However, finding this jar online has proven to be very hard so I linked this one instead, they’re very similar to the ones I use when I keep an even tinier starter. Just don’t screw the lid on super tight! (There are a lot of Weck jars on Ama*on… I won’t link it, but you do you, my friend!)
• Bowl Covers from Wildclementine Co.
  • Ali hand makes these in her off time from her full-time job. She is a one woman show, and I have had several of these covers for YEARS and they’ve held up. You can use them for bulk fermentation and for covering the dough when it goes into the fridge, if you like to do that. Size M works well for any bowl that’s fermenting 1-4 loaves, if you’re going to use a truly enormous bowl, I’d go up to a large. She offers the CUTEST prints!
• My favorite Bannetons! I know these can be an investment, but these two options are the best (in my opinion).
  • Rosehill Sourdough- these proofing baskets are the highest quality you’ll find. They wick away surface moisture off your dough, making it really easy to score. I love them!
  • Brod and Taylor- these Bannetons are light weight and made of bamboo. They take up less room than standard proofing baskets/bannetons and you can squeeze them lightly to help the dough release, which is a feature I have never seen with any other type of proofing basket.
• USA Pans!
  • These nonstick pans are the ones that have lasted the longest in my kitchen. Why? Because their nonstick coating is so effective I never have to scrape the pans (causing them to degrade) to get the bread out. They are top of the line!
• Wiremonkey Lames
  • These are the home of the original UFO lame. They’re the best you can buy and they’re hand made from a small business!

A couple of other, non-branded items that I love to keep in my bakery that are great stocking stuffers for the sourdough addict in your life:

• Digital Room Thermometer
• Probe Thermometer
• Bench Knife
• Bowl Scraper
• Spray bottle for water for before folds (just make sure it’s made for food!)

Larger purchases that are SO worth it:

• Brod and Taylor folding proofer (mine is on ALL DAY EVERYDAY!)
• Challenger Breadware pan- I love the long shape and flat bottom- I can bake sandwich loaves in there and demi baguettes!
• Sourdough Home- I also use this daily to keep my starter in 10/10 health.
• Mockmill Grain Mill- This is for those of you who go down the fresh milled flour hole. I mill all of my own whole grains and there is NOTHING like the flavor. It does take a learning curve to get a hang of baking with them, but this mill has worked well for me for the 3+ years that I’ve had it.
• Ooni Halo Pro Spiral Mixer- this thing is pricey but it’s a beast. I am very impressed with it!

That’s what I’ve got for you this year, except one last thing… If you feel the urge to support me in any way, I would love for you to gift someone in your life who bakes a subscription to my Substack (where you’re reading this right now). One of my big goals of 2026 is to post here 1-2 times a week and provide 1-3 recipes a month for paid subscribers. For the cost of one coffee a month, you can contribute to my (and my family’s) livelihood. I’m not sure if you’ve caught my vibes, but I do not like pushing a lot of consumerism on you. I don’t like to constantly ask you to buy things to support me. But I do think I offer a lot through my videos and posts. I am so committed to all of you, my sweet online community, and will do my best to provide thoughtful and interesting articles to you. You can choose to pay upfront for the entire year which gets you a little discount, you can pay once a month for $6, or you can pay a “founding member” payment which gets you the bonus of a built in 1 hour consult with me!

If you’ve read this all, thank you thank you thank you. I cannot express my gratitude enough!

Laila