April 18, 2012 - 1:30pm
Cleaning cane bannetons
Today for the first time ever I found some bannetons in a thrift store, $3.50 each! I bought the best two but even they have dried dough/ flour? and what looks suspiciously like mildew spots. Would it be safe to wash them, and how can I get rid of the little "freckles"? Any advice will be gratefully received, A.
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in warm water with a plastic scrubber. Towel dry and put in a 250F oven for 1 hour or until completely dry. It works great. Mine had mold on them when I first started baking and didn't know how to clean them properly. The first time I cleaned as stated above it killed the mold and it hasn't returned. Now I only clean them this way after 20 or so uses. I just scrape them down with a wooden skewer between everyday use.
indiesicle, thank you for the speedy reply. I think I could gently scrape off the worst of the dried on stuff but it's good to know that I can wash them - and dry them carefully, A.
Hope it helps :D
If you are not going to use them very often, then when you do use them and after you put the bread in the oven, take them outside (less mess) and brush the insides with a stiff brush to get the damp flour off and let dry first without stacking to avoide any new molds. Mine are usually OK to put away just after the bread comes out of the oven.
Hi pjkobulnicky, once I have got rid of the mold spots I will follow your directions, thank you, A.
Scrub the baskets clean with soap, water and a scrub brush removing all caked on flour and mold/mildew and rinse well. Spray the baskets with a Clorox and water spray and leave to dry in bright sunlight [or dry slowly indooors]. After they're dry rinse thouroughly with clear running water - set out to dry in sunlight before using [or dry in 250 dF oven].
Wild-Yeast
Wild-Yeast, I'm glad you offered the 250* oven alternative - not much sun to be seen here, just torrential rain. Thanks for your suggestion, A.
Very interesting thread; thanks all. I have been using my bannetons for over a year and up to this point the dough has never stuck to them. I always rub a combo of rice and bread flour onto them, but lately the loaves have been partially sticking when I invert them over the stone/clay baker. I have never washed them to clean them but have always brushed off the flour with a stiff vegetable brush and left them to dry before putting them away. Is this the time to give 'em a good scrubbing and sunbath?
Joyful
Pick a nice sunny day for the event...,
Wild-Yeast
Thank you Wild-Yeast. We've been having lots of those days lately. There's no mold on the bannetons, but maybe a little mild dish soap and then a rinse, non?
A mild soap scrub and rinse is appropriate if you're fairly certain that there's no problem with mold or fungus. Strong sunlight [UV light] is enough to keep any colonies present under control.
C'est ce que je ferais..., Wild-Yeast
I use the hotest water and just spray the banneton with a hard spray and all the flour comes out and the hot water kills mold and then I dry it and I've never seen mold. I hear that soap leaves a perfume odor which is hard to get out and you don't want that in your breads.
Stuart's right. We use only unscented soaps.
While on the subject the following site has information on mold remediation using hydrogen peroxide here.
Wild-Yeast
soak with vinegar and hang out to dry.
Some stains from mildew will never come out because they are stains. So if stains remain, it doesn't mean the mold is active.
Thank you, Wild-Yeast, Stuart, and Mini. I think the hot water and the UV rays should do it (don't have scentless soap but will check it out). There's absolutely no mold, just the beginning of sticking, even with the rice/bread flour rub. Today's cloudy, but there's plenty of sunshine ahead. --Joy
I bake 2 or 5 times a week and have been using bannetons for about 7 years. the clorox and water works well for me. The trick is to keep them clean and you won't have a problem and they will last for a long time.
That said...If all else fails and the spots are too big, or they get chipped or cracked inside; this is what my wife does when I can't use them anymore.
Gee, I don't know whether to laugh or cry!
That photo represents over $100 worth of bannetons.
Poilane, apparently, used moldy bannetons and said that's the way it should be.
Pardon the culinary blasphemy I'm about to commit, but the French don't know everything about food. They also claim you should never, ever wash a pan you use to make omelettes.
Sometimes, "the way it should be" isn't the way it should be. Just sayin.
On the other hand, in this country people go a bit overboard with sterility.
N/T
After Life: The Strange Science of Decay
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012w66t
(I was holding a pillow to my face the entire hour, as if I could smell the smells he was smelling!)
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The most depressing part of the program came at the end: everything had decayed, absolutely everything but the white flour and the Chips Ahoy cookies. All the forces of decay over weeks and weeks of time could do nothing to white flour.
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If you don't live in the UK, I guess the copyright police can't stop you from downloading the program here (it's a torrent file): http://kat.ph/bbc-after-life-the-strange-science-of-decay-x264-aac-hdtv-t6045694.html
...but I'd pay 2x more for used bannetons/brotforms than I would for new ones. (Ditto for used ski boots).
As for the mold, I'm with Jacques Pépin re: chicken bacteria: "That chicken is going into a 400 F oven for 90 minutes. If bacteria survive that, then they deserve to live!"
Thank you for posting this, I just found some mildew/mold spots on both of mine.
nails/staples will make dark spots through the cane that may look like mould, so double check.
When my cane basket is very dry, I can see light between the the canes.
I have no way of course to how where my latest Amazon purchase came from. I assume the worst and think China. Regardless, I am looking for way to sterilize before I use it. I'm not talking about "conditioning" it. I want to wash it with dish soap to get rid of God only knows what is on the surface BEFORE I use it for the first time.
I was thinking to wash with soap and hot water, rinse thoroughly and then place in a warm oven to dry. I may not kill everything and maybe there is even chemicals on it. This really creeps me out. I have an old banneton which works great but I can't recall how I cleaned it before using it. Maybe I didn't but these days ....
Anybody try to do what I want to do?
to dry. You can always toss them into a hot oven, just don't burn them up. A go over with full steam from a hot iron can also kill stuff after washing. Use the steam zapper button. Then dry well.
You can also mist the banetton (stay away from open flames) with distilled, high proof liquids like whiskey, rum, vodka, gin but those are better sipped on while waiting for the banettons to dry.
I think you are onto something!! Thanks.