Banneton size
Hi, I recently bought a banneton specified to be for up to 750g of dough. As it turns out, it is quite a bit bigger than I expected. It measures 22x8cm (external dimensions). I'm now looking to buy a smaller size, but am unsure which would be best suited for my typical dough weight. My normal recipe weighs around 660g, sometimes a bit more, or a bit less, depending on hydration. I use 400g of flour. The proved dough still has about ~4cm of space left before it reaches to top of the banneton. I would ideally like it to be just under the top, maybe by 1cm at most.
The seller I bought my original banneton from has 2 sizes which are for smaller amounts, one being 21x7cm, specified for 500g of dough. That doesn't seem right to me, as it is only 1cm smaller in each dimension compared to my current banneton which is significantly bigger than I want. The other size doesn't have any description as to the dough weight it is appropriate for, but measures 18x9cm. This seems to be to be more appropriate, but I don't know how to measure/calculate if it will accomodate my bread. I am willing to reduce the recipe to 375g flour if necessary, but I'm not willing to increase the size of my bread, as we don't eat it fast enough and it goes stale (even if I cut it into quarters and freeze the rest, we usually don't go through the quarter piece fast enough).
Is my (admittedly rather poor) mental math just wrong, and would the 21x7cm size be exactly what I want?
I have two types of Banneton - a 22cm dia x 8cm deep Round and a 24cm long x 16cm wide x 8cm deep Oval. I use both types and my standard dough weight is 500g for each loaf (600g flour and 400g water which makes two loaves) - give or take a bit. With the Oval one, I prove until the top of the dough is just level with top of the banneton when viewed horizontally - with the Round banneton the top of the dough is usually level with the second ring from the top of the banneton in the same time period (so the round one is slightly bigger than the oval). This method gives a good 85% proving and allows for some oven spring. I will say that I prefer the Oval banneton as the dough doesn't tend to spread as much when it is decanted onto the baking stone.
I hope this helps you to decide
Cheers
It sounds like you're letting the dough proof more than me. I was worried that it would overproof if I let it rise any more, but next time I'll try letting it rise higher before baking, since your loaves are slightly smaller than mine and you don't have a problem letting them rise that high. Thanks!
Better to slightly under proof than over proof. You can do the poke test to see, and keep and eye on it.
Hi,
I'm very much a sourdough bread virgin. I'm cultivating a starter with wild yeast and making a mix of 100g starter+200g strong bread-flour + filtered water ,leaving to "sponge " overnight, In the a.m. adding the other 200g and salt and kneading... So far so good, then I transfer to the (20 cm x 9 cm) banneton to oven-prove, which is fine, Then I ease the well risen dough onto my cold 28cm clay cloche and it spreads out to resemble a fat pancake! Am I transfering the dough at the wrong time? or is there something I can do to keep the loaf from spreading and resembling some "blob" from a 1950's Sci-fi film?
It's a bit difficult to tell your recipe (as far as how much water), but it sounds like the dough rises okay the first time. This is generally called 'bulk fermenting'. Doing this in the oven (I assume you do this with the light on or some other source of slight warmth) means a fairly quick rise. For a sourdough I prefer a slow, cool rise, even overnight in the fridge. This seems to develop a stronger dough. The step you're missing is to then shape the dough. This requires a little manipulation of the fermented dough. There are various techniques - check out Ken Forkish's excellent video on shaping. Note that he uses very wet dough. Yours might be more firm, but it's hard to tell as I don't know how much water you used. Also note that if he tried to bake this dough at this point, after the bulk ferment, it would indeed form a puddle!
Once the loaves are shaped they're usually left to rise again; this stage is called 'proofing'. Often this is done in a floured basket to help the dough keep its shape. You can check if they are ready to bake with the poke test - poke a floured finger or knuckle into the dough ball. If it springs back immediately, they're not ready. If the dent stays there fully, they are over-proofed. But if the dent springs back slowly and incompletely, they're ready to bake.
Hope this helps!
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I am BRAND NEW at sourdough baking. I have a 5 qt Lodge dutch oven and ordered a 10 inch Banneton proffing basket, but it is too big. Would an 8, 8.5, or 9 inch one be better?
Hi, I have a round banneton 22cm h8.5cm and a oval banneton 26x16x6.5 and both are specified for 1 kg dough. However, most of the time, my dough goes over the top of them.
Which dought weight would you recommend for these bannetons?
Thanks
Boris