I’m late to this party, but this is one of my favorite types of questions! My first thought after reading your question was: mixing bowl, wooden spoon, covered baker (cast iron dutch oven or the combo baker is inexpensive and very effective).
Then I saw Melissa and bengoshi’s lists. My 2 cents based on my experience, start slow with “stuff”. For example, I have tried the Danish dough whisk twice and prefer a wooden spoon along with a silicone spatula to scrape bow and spoon. Bread bakers swear by the whisk, it just doesn’t work for me
I do think a bench knife and a silicone bowl scraper and the shower cap type reusable bag covers are great and no matter what you will use those.
Kitchen scale!!! If you are not weighing for baking, this is the time to start. Even though accuracy is not as crucial with these bread recipes, it helps as you are learning and experimenting to measure by weight. AND, when you get to playing with different flours, if a recipe says 300 grams of ap white and you want to try some whole grain in there, if you keep your total to 300 grams, you will generally be fine with a substitution.
I didn’t have a banneton until recently and only because I bought a clay oblong baker and wanted an oblong something for shaping. Prior, I used a mixing bowl or often a foil bread pan stretched into an oval. ( I got the clay baker as I liked the shape for me vs a big round).
Tips: start slow with something like the no knead on this site. And white flour. And instant yeast. Get comfortable with handling the wet dough and rising/baking times. AND what you like. Experiment with some flour substitutions in that basic recipe. Commercial yeast will take one variable out of the process. When you are comfortable with the doughs and the process, try sourdough. I made my starter from flour and water and time per an article on thekitchn before I found Breadtopia. I still feed and maintain per that article, 3 years later.
Still - as you have time, read the thread(s) here about starters …. lots of different thoughts and experiences and you can choose what seems best for your situation. FWIW, I live in Northwest Montana, cool house (62-66F), low humidity. My flour-water starter does great.
There are so many great videos and recipe tutorials on this site. As you gain experience and confidence, so many things to try. But I encourage a simple start in both tools and recipes.
My best tip: Have fun!!!