Great British Baking Show Kitchen Timer

Every season the tent is laden with the chirps of kitchen timers. Perhaps no more than during bread week. When things are going into the oven the background is nothing but chirp, chirp, chirp.

Every season the bakers have been provided with as many timers they need, and every season they have been some iteration of Salter Digital Kitchen Timers (Amazon - UK). The newest iteration is the "Big Button Timer."

This timer has a very large display for the numbers, when you're across the kitchen this is incredibly nice. It can be set up to 99 minutes and 59 seconds. So if you're baking anything longer than 1 second short of 1 hour and 40 minutes, this may not be for you. But I'd be hard pressed to find any bake in the tent that has taken this long.

The Salter Big Button Digital Kitchen Timer (Amazon - UK), as its name implies has 2 small buttons for setting the time. Erm, wait, what?... Oh yea, and one large button to start/stop. The back of the timer is magnetic, which means they can be stuck all over your fridge, hood, or oven to keep track of various bakes / timings.

Perhaps the easiest to identify trait of these timers is the one large button, which sits in a rounded off corner. Its a nice little design touch to an otherwise fairly mundane piece of kitchen equipment.

The only downside here is that it takes LR44 batteries. Which I do not have on hand. It comes with one, but that one will inevitably die. If there were only some place to get them... ah yes. The internet.

It is worth noting that the kitchen timers have changed from season to season. They've alway been Salter, even when they taped over the label with that really cool metallic tape, they were still Salter... I wonder what that tape was?... I smell a metallic tape blog post brewing!

First, I'll use the timer on the microwave, as long as I'm not cooking anything in it. Second, I'll set the timer on my watch. And lastly, on my phone. Normally this gets me through the baking and cooking that's underway. But if you're looking for a solution that does not involve every time piece in your life helping with your bakes, perhaps its time for a kitchen timer.

The Salter timers are nice for a couple reasons. The first is that they have a large read out, the second is that they have a little stand and are magnetic. This means you can put them next to what you're cooking. I'm pretty sure you would not forget that when the microwave timer goes off as opposed to your phone that means you should remove the cakes... but if you have someone helping you they may pull the mouse from the fridge... now you have sloppy mouse and burnt cakes. Having the timer on the thing that needs to be done is a huge help if someone is helping you out.

But other than that do you need kitchen timers? In today's mostly digital kitchen, if you have a phone, probably not. But they can't hurt either. And if they look nice, make you happy, or your life easier - go for it!

My first post was on the Salter digital scales way back in January 2021. It came down to a choice between a Salter scale or a Taylor scale with the heavy and light scales on it. I went with the Salter because that's what they use on Bake off. Well they did... now they use the Taylor Scale, so when they changed at least I could easily identify it. In retrospect, I think I would have gotten better use out of the Taylor, in that it has the smaller scale for things like measuring salt and yeast. When you want 7 grams and your increment of measure is 1 gram... well you're gonna be like 14% off one way or the other.

That said, what's the best kitchen timer for your use cases? If you want the tried and true Great British Baking Show Digital Timers, the Salter Big Button Digital Kitchen Timers (Amazon - UK) are the way to go! Do it - you'll be happy!

But if you're in the US you're going to pay a premium to get your hands on the timer, even through Amazon. So is a £14 worth $56? In short, no, the dollar has not fallen that far, and Brexit did the pound no favors.

So what are some other great options? Well lets think what we want:

• Physical buttons - because trying to manage touch screens or rotate cases with club fingers from dredging, or sticky chocolate fingers from... well dipping your fingers in the chocolate batter (duh)... is not going to go well. You want to be able to inelegantly mash large buttons with your knuckles, because who has time to wash their hands when the bake is in!?
• Stands and Magnets - to stick those timers where you want them!
• Large displays - no one wants to be squinting to read the timer from the couch if its stuck on the fridge.

And thankfully companies make them in the US and sell them at Walmart and on Amazon! If you need something name-brand-y - the Taylor Digital Timer fits the bill, though in my opinion does not look great.

If you're willing to take a gamble on a no name brand with Photoshopped Amazon images AOUCE digital timers fit the bill. They come in a few fun colors, look nicer than the Taylor timers, have a ton of good reviews, and come in a 2 pack for like $7. No need to break the bank here for a fairly simple tool.