Paper pulp bowls
So I was researching paper pulp bowls to use as bannetons for another post and came across these. and they got me interested. I know there are actually wood pulp brotforms for bread that has the lines on them like a rattan banneton but those are pricey. These are just to-go boxes that are made from biodegradable paper pulp. They also come with a biodegradable clear lid. I had to get some to try. These would fit nicely in my fridge and i would not have to bag them. My key reason for trying these is my lack of refrigerator space.
Dimensions are 8.7" x 6.7" x 3.1"
They have got a nice shape to them and smooth enough without any weird lines or shapes.
The material on the inside is a very smooth, semi glossy finish, the outside is bumpy paper pulp texture. (which i think might work better for dough)
These are 625g loaves here. you can see there is plenty of room for expansion with the lid on.
These here are 730g loaves. I think i can fit 1kg dough in there and still fit the lid, not sure if it can handle any small expansion for 1kg loaves though. They are labeled as 48oz containers.
They also stack very well. which is great for fitting in the fridge.
I have my first set in the fridge now. i dusted the dough with regular amount of rice flour (light). and they seem to be doing fine in there. the inside texture is smooth so it's not sticking. i think i might be able to get away with little to no dusting on a new bowl. I do plan to reuse these numerous times. I read some reviews which said if you put wet contents in there, it will soak. which is perfect! i do want the container to wick away some of the moisture from the skin of the dough.
Will report back tomorrow on how they fared for an overnight in the fridge.
-James
I look forward to hearing the next report.
That is a super cool discovery James. You can stack your cold retard doughs which I’ve never been able to do so when you have a smallish fridge, it can be hard to find the space for multiple doughs. Your discovery is super clever. I’m interested to see how these work out for you, how well the dough releases, do they wick away enough moisture to form a good skin and how many times you can use them for.
Benny
I'd imagine pretty cheap too! Real wooden bannetons can be stupid expensive sometimes...
gave me the address, please or the link
Ok..i had them in the fridge longer than i intended (15 hours), not sure if that impacted the outcome. but overall, i think it's good!
The covers had lots of condensate under them, which was expected. The bowls themselves held up great. i'd say the outside of them absorbed more moisture than the insides did, probably due to the texture of the outside vs inside.
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Did the dough stick to the bowl? No. well, hardly. in the photo below i tilted the bowl to one side and the dough slides away from it clean (except for one bowl, idk why, there were 2 spots where the dough took a second to pull away from the side).
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Did it wick moisture off the dough? yes. notice in photo above and below that the dough is darker when it contacts the bowl on the side. It is inconsistent though. it seems the sides higher on the bowl dried more.
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How's the shape? little bit boxy. rectangular. i usually give my loafs a tuck before baking, so it's fine. i also tried a few where i just didnt do anything with shaping and just scored and baked. it's fine.
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I didnt reshape the cranberry walnut loaves at all. the plain wheat ones i gave a tuck. They do come out a bit more boxy than from a oval banneton.
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Overall. very good results. my definitely go to if i'm baking more than a few loaves. I still prefer the shape and lines from the rattan bannetons better. and i think those wick moisture better than these.
I had to wipe down the lids. the water doesnt evaporate from them easily. but the bowls dried out on their own fine. and after a single use. almost like new. just some minor cranberry stains.
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These are made and sold by World Centric. Their direct pricing is as good as other pricing i've found online if not better and they just recently started shipping packs of 50 (vs 400 pieces minimum previously).
They're 100% compostable, even the lids and the company has a mission statement to reduce carbon footprint and donate 25% of their proceeds to that cause.
https://store.worldcentric.com/48-oz-fiber-box-pack
https://store.worldcentric.com/lid-pla-20-48-oz-fiber-boxes-clear-pack
So... they're not as cheap as one might think for a paper bowl. but they are a heck lot cheaper than a banneton.
$15.90 for 50 bowls
$16.45 for 50 lids
shipping for me was ~$13, for an extra dollar on shipping my order was 2 x 50 bowls and 1 x 50 lids. plus $5 tax for a total of $67.33 or about 4 rattan bannetons of similar size.
Comes out to be about 45 cents per bowl and per lid.
these shipped from my state (from Oakland, California) so if you're elsewhere, you may have higher shipping.
(Note that they have another version of this bowl with a water proof liner inside "PLA-Lined", which i didn't think would be good for bread proofing)
It will take a long time for me to go through 100 bowls.
I figured i wouldnt need that many lids, but they are actually a very snug fit and i crinkled one pulling it off the bowl. so i think the bowls might out last the lids.
-James
It's a neat idea, but I'm not sure that it actually saves you money. You purchased 100 containers with lids for the price of 4 bannetons, but if you plan on continuing to make bread on an ongoing basis then investing in a few bannetons is cheaper. You could also just use glass bowls you already have and not spend a dime... I understand the stacking argument is compelling, but I don't understand the economic argument.
It was never a question of economy for me. I have a dozen bannetons of various sizes and a number of other bowls I use depending on size and shape. As I explained, the problem I’m trying to solve is refrigerator real estate and the ability to make a large batch of loaves at once. With these now, I can easily hold 36 loaves in my fridge. And if I want to push my luck with the family, 50 loaves.
Just reused the bowls from last time. I put zero dusting into the bowls before loading slightly dusted (rice flour) loaves. comes out clean, saves me a lot of rice flour. the bottom of the bowls seem a bit soft coming out of fridge, but dries up fine. I don't see why i cannot use these bowls indefinitely as long as i dry them out properly after each use.
James it sounds like you’ve come up with a great solution to your problem of how to cold retard dozens of doughs all at once in your residential fridge. I’m happy that this is working out so well for you, it could solve this problem for many other bakers.
Benny
This other thread was what got me looking into these
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/65211/sourdough-scale
Ollie will have his bake next week for 100 loaves and will try to get some of these bowls. He'll let us know how it goes.