The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Banneton/Frame/Pan Help

BreadBrad88's picture
BreadBrad88

Banneton/Frame/Pan Help

Hello, first post here!

Just started a new job at a place without much in the way of helpful baker equipment. They have nice connected bread pans, but nothing that has a width of more than 5 inches. The owner assumes I can crank out much wider (than 5 inches) bread, specifically for them to be able to make deli sandwiches, without him having to buy anything new. I've worked in an artisan bakery before that had these huge bannetons that held the 3 lb Levains used for sandwiches, and another place I worked used these rectangular metal frames that you'd put on perforated sheet pans, and had a width of probably at least 8 inches. I spent a good amount of time on the internet today and could not find any bread pans with a width higher than 5 inches, could not find any large bannetons, and was also out of luck trying to find any metal frames. I've hit a wall in trying to figure out this problem, and tomorrow I'm going to experiment using a metal sheet pan with about a 2 inch depth, to mimic the frame mentioned above. Does anyone know where I can get my hands on larger bannetons or metal frames? Or any other solution to creating a wide sandwich style bread? Would it be a waste of time to try it without any support before it goes into the oven? Thanks!

mariana's picture
mariana

Is 6" wide good enough?

USA pan and Nordic ware make those.

BreadBrad88's picture
BreadBrad88

The guy wants at least 7 inches. I appreciate the info though!

islandbakery's picture
islandbakery

I think the metal frames you are looking for are pan extenders. They fit inside a sheet pan in order to use that pan for baking a cake. I'm pretty sure they come in various sizes. For example if you were to get quarter sheet pan extenders you could fit four on a full sheet pan which would likely give you the dimensions you are looking for.

Moe C's picture
Moe C

IB's suggestion of "pan extender" was a big help. Something like this?

These come in different divisions and different heights--2", 3", 5", etc. There were also adjustable sizes.

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/2469/pan-extenders.html

and,     https://mfgtray.com/food-service/pan-extenders/

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

IslandBakery has it right.  A quick google search for "pan extender" turned up several options.  The Web Restaurant Store, for example, offers many variations, where this one seemed closest to what you might want.  Check it out if interested.

 Edit:  Moe C got there first!

Good luck on the new gig
OldWoodenSpoon

Moe C's picture
Moe C

As for giant bannetons, perhaps you could ask your former employers where they got theirs.