Liners

:)    It all has to do with bread vanity.

Is it possible your liners are for when you are worried your loaf may stick?

Despite seeing videos of other people not having this problem, I continue to have issues with wet doughs sticking to my bannetons.  In such cases, I can either drown the banneton in flour - which results in an obscene and untasty baked flour deposited on the final loaf or I use a tea towel with a good sprinkle of flour instead.   

If anyone has advice on how to have a reasonably wet loaf spend a long time (12h) in a banetton and not stick, I'm all ears.

removing accidental double post.

I spray the inside of the banneton with Pam, then put in some flour and tap it around to coat the inside, just like greasing and flouring a baking pan. No problem with sticking.

Have you tried rice flour, or semolina?

For a long time I had the problem of dough sticking to my cane bannetons - rice flour was definitely the solution. It's a slightly grittier texture and seems to grip the cane much better. I sprayed the banneton lightly with water before dusting it the first time. Now I powder it every third or fourth use and it's totally non-stick. Little or no flour adheres to even very wet dough.

Neil

This quote is taken from this website: "Use liner with brotform for couche-raised like texture, or use brotform alone for beautiful spiral imprints."

I also recently did a nonscientific comparison between lined and unlined loaves.  I found that the loaf proofed in an unlined banneton developed larger and more numerous blisters on the surface during bake.  It is a sample size of one, so I plan to repeat it.  As I understand it, the linen liner is similar to a couche in that it absorbs a slight bit of moisture from the surface.  I'm not sure if the bannetons do that.

-Brad

...problems with brotforms when retarding shaped loaves overnight.  While I use rice flour I don't usually use that much.  Last week I really dusted well with rice flour mixed with white flour and had very good luck retarding all night.

FF

I've found that a light, uniform (shaken out of a pamesean cheese dispenser, through a small sieve) dusting of the banneton (either naked cane or linen lined) AND a light dusting of the top of the newly shaped loaf before flipping it into the banneton, has kept the banneton sticking gremlins well away. Rub the mix gently over the 'good' side of the shaped loaf. No sticking, even with wet doughs (>72%). 

Tom

Use a micro fiber formal dinner napkin- at Walmart for $2 each and 18" square.  Dust as usual whether with half rice flour or 100% wheat flour.  Microfiber wicks moisture away from what it touches.  I usually do an overnight fermentations in the refrigerator, with the basket covered in a large plastic bag- very moist environment with no sticking. 

I much prefer these t0 linen, which all things being equal, has stuck in the past compared to when using my dinner napkin.  Try a side by side with two loaves and you will be convinced that this cheap and easy way works well...

Can I make my own rice flour in a grinder?

Make sure you have the proper rice: sushi rice is coated in talc powder, which is why you rinse it for 10 minutes until the water runs clear before boiling.  If using this rice, clean and dry before grinding.  I did this once without the cleaning and tossed the whole thing after. 

Or: use a conventional rice that is not coated with talc or corn starch and set to finest setting.