Thoughts on use of bannetons and bread shape
Hi friends,
I baked 80/20 mainly white loaves letting it go to 50% rise in bulk based on the recent thread discussing the difference between a 30% and 50% rise and considering the thoughts from Trevor and Maurizio....I realized that I probably was more a 50%ish baker.....as it happens but also experimented with 30% rise in the past...
If you go 50% rise then this also affects retarding and 2nd proof and Trevor mentions this actually in his book at the very end....reading it yet again afresh....
Now, there is not that much difference in weight between the two of them but I am intrigued what different shape I get with the 25CM cane banneton (used with a cloth) and the 33Cm long pulp Brotform used just with rice flour.
Some people on IG say that the Brotform can dry the dough out more and decrease chance of blisters...not sure what I think about this...
Does anyone have a preference in shape and type of banneton...I quite like the Laurel and Hardy on my bench! :D Kat
Oh, sadly no crumb shot as I gave both away!
Comments
I always had the impression that when using cloth would dry the dough very much, but I really do not know, I use wood bannetons with rice flour, I had never thought about the humidity that the dough loses while it is in the banneton, now I wonder what would be the better fermentation basket. One more thing to learn, the list only grows and the will to learn too, luckily we have the TFL!
:)
one thing you consider understood and another rises it's head...then the thing that you thought is sorted...creeps up again...and so it goes on.... :D
I have gone to using silcone loaf pans for doing my baking. For the final rise, instead of using a banneton, I shape my bread and then into the loaf pan.
The bread will not have the free form shape, but I find it great for sandwiches and toasting as you have a more even shape loaf.
The silcone loaf pan are excellent when making a rolled loaf such as a apple-cinnamon bread, cheese bread, or a poppy seed bread.
I should think about some loaves made in pans...another thing to put on the list...thank you for sharing... Kat
My absolute favorite are professional wicker banneton with sewn in linen lining. They only need a small amount of rice flour and release high hydration doughs beautifully. They are also more than double the price of a cane banneton and almost triple the price of wood fiber or plastic. That is the price difference where I am, in any case. I recently had to get some new ones and ended up with wood fiber with simple removable liner. The liner isn't linen, so not quite as elegant as the wicker with linen, but it does release high hydration well without the need to use much flour. I don't know about drying out since most of my breads have a shaped over night chilled retard. The banneton go in the fridge with plastic, so I don't get any drying out. Plenty of blistering...
and as I needed more oval bannetons I did actually find some wicker for a reasonable price here:
https://www.meilleurduchef.com/en/shop/bakery/bakery-equipment/banneton/dec-lined-wicker-banneton-oval-28-cm.html
They are probably not the superfancy ones but looked nice and I thought worth a try....
I have not quite decided whether I like a bit rounder and shorter batard or a more elongated batard....and shall experiment a bit more with dough size and the forms that I've got now which is a bit of a muddled up selection of different sizes......
baskets of various sizes and shapes at Goodwill for $6 and have been using them for the past 6 years to make great bread. My favorite one that I hardly ever use except for Holiday time is a star shaped one. The thing t remember is that silicon pans are only rated to 452 F and if you pre-heat your oven up to 500 F like me then who knows what will happen - after opening the door and turning the oven down to 450 F to bake with the cold dough in the pan may make the worry about too high a temperature a moot point.
I think a couche drys out the skin and make scoring much easier and actually promotes blisters especially if the dough is also retarded. Lower hydration and whole grains mute blisters. The dryer skin helps to trap the escaping water vapor right under the skin causing more and larger blisters.
Happy baking
and I shall keep experimenting........I found a good bargain on wicker ones with cloth in it on a web site...so different shapes coming up! :D Kat