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Digital scale

This is the one thing that separates the play-baker from the baker who wants to make good bread.
If you are still baking with a "Little Debbie Baker Set" that you got when you were 5 years old, you don't need a scale.
All others, get a scale.

Some things to consider when you buy a scale.

Easy switch from English to metric.
Good accuracy, especially in the lower end, under 4 ounces / 100 grams.
Tare function, the ability to zero the scale with something on the platform.
A shut-off when the scale hasn't been used for a while, but more than 30 seconds.
Good sealing so flour doesn't get under the contacts.

Here's mine, it's a Terraillon and I don't care for it very much.

The zero shifts, it's not sealed and the accuracy isn't very good.
I have to flip the scale over and insert a BBQ skewer in a very small hole to switch between English and metric.

I'm open to suggestions on a new one.

Bench knives

All bakers need at least one bench knife, preferrably a selection of them. I've got a metal knife, but I use plastic sheetrock knives for working with large batches of dough. Sheetrock knives have several advantages over metal knives.

They're cheap. A full set of 6 will cost well under $10.
They don't rust. They're plastic, how can they? They're plastic.
They're light yet sturdy.
They come in a wide variety of sizes.
You can use them to repair your walls.

Here's a picture.

Parchment paper

This is a treated paper that you can rise doughs on and then bake on. It is non-stick and can be reused. I bought a package of 1000 sheets on the Internet for $70 -- I figure it'll last a long time. Just don't try to bake much above 500 F / 260 C, as the stuff can scorch at very high temps.

Thermometers

I have an oven thermometer and a small probe thermometer. They aren't the highest quality, but they do the trick. If you are really into precision, get an instant read probe thermometer and an infra-red non-contact thermometer. The small probe thermometer is good for checking if bread is done -- I shoot for 190-200 F / 88-93 C internal temperature of the loaves.

Scissors and bowls

Go ahead, laugh.
When I have to divide a dough into several pieces, I take several identical bowls, fill them each with roughly the proper amount of dough, and then use scissors to snip off pieces until the doughs are all the same weight. Because the bowls are the same weight, I can just put them on and off the scale and not worry about it, and I never have to take the doughs out of the bowls until I'm done. This saves a lot of time and aggravation.

Large stand mixer, probably a Kitchen Aid

There is a lot of discussion about which mixer is "the best." I don't pretend to know the answer to this question. Here's my take on it.

There are four contenders here: Kitchen Aid, Bosch, Kenwood and Electrolux. I freely admit I've never used either a Kenwood or Electrolux. I have owned two KAs over the past 40 years and have been interested in the Electrolux since I learned about it a few years ago.

For US bakers, I can dismiss Kenwood out of hand. The stories about non-service and the small installed base make it a non-starter here. Maybe it's different in the UK or Canada, I don't know.

I've used a Bosch mixer a couple of times, and it seems like a decent enough machine. Again, I'd be very concerned about the installed customer base and their support. I've used a lot of Bosch power tools and getting parts can be a problem, even though the tools were made in North Carolina.

The Electrolux is, by all reports, a first-class machine. It's powerful and reliable and can make large batches of dough without breaking. Again, should something go wrong, parts and service might be a problem, but from what I've heard, the thing won't break. It's big and expensive and maybe not a flexible as the KA. But I still want one. I just don't know where I'd put it in my kitchen.

Kitchen Aid. What's to say? It's the standard, like it or not. It requires a bit of maintenance from time to time. The advertising is a bit strange -- What is Flour Power, a hold over from the 60s? Still, it's probably the best mixer for the money for the serious US bread baker. There are reports of machines breaking on first use, or gears stripping, or motors burning up, etc. As with most airplane crashes, these are probably 99% pilot error. (See my discussion on measuring cups of flour.) The bad news is, these things will break if you overload them. The good news is that fixing the stripped gear is pretty easy. If you are a really serious bread baker, there is a KA that is actually a hybrid of civilian and commercial machine, the KW25GO. This is a miniature commercial machine, NSF-certified, and high-capacity, but still with a variable-speed motor, not a gearbox, so the price isn't out of sight. It also has a reasonable footprint, so it won't take over your kitchen. As I said, Kitchen Aid may not be the best, but it's probably the best choice for most US bakers with a normal kitchen.

Automatic tramsmission funnel

More laughs, right? Buy one of these things in an auto supply store and use it to pour water into the heated pan in the oven. It's a safe way to do this, and you won't get, as Johnnie Cash would say, "Scalded to death by the steam."