I had the same problem the first time I used mine. I now spray mine with pan release and then coat it very well with flour. When you flip it over you have to be very gentle with it. If it sticks at all it may cause the loaf to deflate. Also, if you are flipping it onto a cold stone you may want to cover the banneton with the stone and then flip it .

Hi Papajohn - it could be that your dough was overproofed or that you were too rough when inverting the brotform (bannetons are baskets containing a linen liner).  

I also wonder if perhaps the dough stuck and that was part of the reason for the collapse.   Try using rice flour, making sure you fill the areas between the coils. Rice flour, or a 50-50 mix of rice and AP flour, is awesome for brotforms.

When the dough is about 85 percent proofed (and your oven and stone are preheated), place a sheet of parchment over the top of the basket, then place your peel over the parchment and invert the basket so that it's upside down, resting on your peel.  

Gently remove the basket and you'll find your round will be resting on the parchment, ready to be scored and loaded into the oven.  

Hope this helps.

If I just shaped the dough and let it rise in the floured banneton, the lines did not appear. If I shaped the dough, let it rise in the floured banneton, covered it with plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge overnight, it came out great like this:

Hi, PapaJohn.

No fancy tricks, sprays or refrigeration should be necessary to get the flour lines from the brotform onto your boule.

Heavy flouring isn't necessary. Do use a 50/50 mix of AP and Rice flour. Put a couple tablespoons or three into the basket. Rub it round and round until all the spaces between the coils are filled in. You can even turn the basket over and dump the excess flour, if you want.

Gently place the formed boule, seam-side up, in the brotform and cover with plastic or a kitchen towel. Proof the boule, but don't over proof. You got some good suggestions for transferring it to the peel, but you can also just hold the brotform in one hand and use the palm of your other hand to catch it and ease it onto the peel as you turn the brotform over.

You can do it!

David

Papajohn,

Lindy and Davids advice is right on. Once you get the white rice flour blend working you will be confident that you won't have a sticking disaster every time you turn out the dough. Then you can start playing with the amount of flour you leave on the dough. Davids beautiful boules above have very little flour remaining from the form. fventura20's loaf has quite a bit of surface flour. I like the contrast of just a little flour so it doesn't inhibit the crust getting a caramel color. I use a 2 inch dry brush to apply the rice flour mix to the banetton or brotform and again after the dough has been turned out I go around and remove areas with heavy flour with the brush. It sounds like you are on track turning out a perfect loaf of artisan bread.

Eric

Sorry for taking so long to thank you all.  I did it!  They were beautiful.  The overnight in the fridge was the best idea.  They didn't know that I turned them over.  Experimenting with some new ideas too.

Thanks again,

Papajohn