About Proof & Crumb
Who writes Proof & Crumb, how we research sourdough equipment, and how the site is funded.
Proof & Crumb is an independent, research-based guide to sourdough and bread-baking equipment for UK home bakers.
Why this site exists
Most sourdough advice online is written for American kitchens: cups instead of grams, flour brands you can't buy here, and assumptions about warm, stable room temperatures. British home bakers face different questions. Which UK flours behave like the ones in the famous recipe books? Will a pot fit in a compact UK oven? How do you get a starter going when the kitchen is 16°C in January?
How we research
We want to be completely clear about our method:
- We do not hands-on test products and we never claim to. There are no invented test results, scores, quotes or review counts on this site.
- We start from what the bread needs – heat retention, steam, dough support, accuracy – and turn that into checkable criteria such as dimensions, materials, temperature ratings and capacity.
- We then shortlist products listed on Amazon UK whose published specifications meet those criteria, and we explain the trade-offs in our own words.
- Every product link is checked on amazon.co.uk when a guide is written or updated, and the check date is shown at the top of each guide. Listings that disappear are removed.
- We don't show prices, because they change constantly. Always check the current price and the seller before buying.
If a guide gets something wrong, please tell us via the contact page and we'll correct it.
How the site is funded
Proof & Crumb is funded by affiliate commissions. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Affiliate links are labelled Ad wherever they appear, and buying through them costs you nothing extra. Commissions never decide which products are included – see our affiliate disclosure for detail.
Sister site
For gift ideas across the whole year – Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day and more – see our sister site, The Gifting Year.
Photo credits
Every photo on Proof & Crumb is a real photograph from Unsplash, downloaded and served from this site. The Unsplash License allows commercial use without attribution, but we credit photographers anyway. Photos next to products are illustrative category photos, not images of the listed products. We don't use Amazon product images.
- Rustic sourdough loaves and dough proving in round cane bannetons on a flour-dusted wooden table – photo by Abdul Raheem Kannath on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A scored, flour-dusted sourdough boule on a wooden board – photo by Sergio Arze on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- Hands shaping a ball of dough on a flour-dusted bench – photo by Skyler Ewing on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- Shaped dough proving in two oval cane bannetons – photo by Diego Arenas de Rodrigo on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A dark, well-scored sourdough loaf baked in a black cast-iron pot – photo by Arturrro on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A glass jar of bubbly sourdough starter beside a sliced loaf – photo by Margaret Jaszowska on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A sourdough loaf wrapped in a linen cloth on a dark table – photo by Vicky Ng on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- An open recipe book on a kitchen table – photo by James Lee on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A razor blade lame scoring a floured loaf – photo by Diego Arenas de Rodrigo on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A digital kitchen scale weighing ingredients in a bowl – photo by Arwen on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- Dough rising slowly in a bowl – photo by Tijana Drinic on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A heap of bread flour with ears of wheat on a wooden board – photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- Hands scoring shaped loaves before baking – photo by DDP on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A scored loaf sitting on baking paper inside a Dutch oven – photo by Cozinha à la Carte on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- Round cane bannetons with their spiral coils, beside a loaf and ears of wheat – photo by Abdul Raheem Kannath on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- The open crumb of a sourdough loaf cut in half – photo by Ben Lei on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- Two scored sourdough loaves cooling on a wire rack – photo by Food Photographer | Jennifer Pallian on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- Hands shaping a smooth dough ball on a floured bench – photo by Skyler Ewing on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A baker dividing dough with a bench scraper – photo by Llio Angharad on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- Slicing a crusty loaf with a serrated bread knife – photo by Rosalie Gdy on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- Dark rye and seeded loaves with ears of wheat – photo by Wesual Click on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- Flour being sifted over a bowl in a home kitchen – photo by Hamideh Jafari on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- Looking down at the bubbly surface of an active sourdough starter – photo by fuseviews on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A sourdough loaf baking in a hot oven – photo by Scott Brayley on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A loaf with a wheat-ear scoring pattern – photo by Tommaso Urli on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A bowl of flour on a dark background – photo by Roman Matveev on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A bread knife beside a crusty loaf – photo by snap wander on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A round loaf cooling on a wire rack – photo by David Todd McCarty on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A double-edged blade resting on floured dough – photo by Diego Arenas de Rodrigo on Unsplash (Unsplash License)
- A small digital scale on a wooden worktop – photo by User_Pascal on Unsplash (Unsplash License)