September 27, 2021 - 10:29pm
Big fail
I didn't line my bannetton with a cloth and thought i had dusted it with enough flour but apparently i didn't so when i turned the dough onto my parchment there was alot of stretching as i was trying to pull the dough out which was stuck to the bannetton. Along with my crappy scoring I had crappy oven spring 😩. Sorry i just had to vent
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Try rice flour; non-gluten, and won't stick.
Sorry to hear that LL, I used to have that happen until I started to use rice flour. Â Rice flour and a cloth liner is even better but rice flour alone has been good.
Thanks, I heard about rice flour. Â
I had 2 loaves. The first one i shook it like crazy to get it out of the banneton and it was stretched alot on its way out , the second one, i teased it out more gently . Interestingly , the first loaf had better oven spring but a more dense crumb and a more open crumb just at the 2 ends (probably the least deflated parts), The 2nd loaf was kinda flatter , uneven oven spring, but had a really nice open crumb throughout.Â
My scoring was disastrous even with my new curved lame. I thought this is it. I have a lame, i can do this. I've watched so many videos. But I can't score a nice ear to save my life. Â
Hey LL! Well, not a fail exactly if you learned something from it ;-). Everyone on this site has probably had the same experiences, including myself. A couple hints to share (also from learning the hard way): 1) if you didn't already, it's always a good idea to 'season' the bannetons when you first get them (mist with water then sprinkle with rice flour and leave out to dry on the counter for several days). Also, flouring the loaf liberally before going in always helps--you can always brush off the excess later, just before baking. I agree with the other comments about rice flour--haven't had any issues since using it. 2) Part of my routine now, if at all possible, is to cold proof the loaves for at least four hours if not overnight. I've read about others popping the dough and bannetons in the freezer for 30 minutes right before baking. Both will help with firming up the loaf and making scoring much, much easier. 3) I use simple four-cornered razor blades now (after trying multiple lames); I set it in a small dish with water, making sure it is nice and wet, and re-dip if necessary for additional scoring. All these things seem to help. If you continue to have problems anyway, your dough hydration might simply be too high. Best of luck, and Happy Baking!
This.
You will never go back. Best wishes. Dave
Thanks everyone. The freezer idea sounds great! I wish I knew that before baking those stuck loaves. I do retard the loaves for about 12 hours before baking but with a high hydration dough , after removing it from the bannetton it's still hard to score. So the freezer might do the trick. When you use the razor, are you cutting with just the corners of the blade or the length of the blade? The only time I've had decent ears is by fluke only. This bannetton problem won't happen to me again because I will go back to using a cloth liner. I didn't this time because I had washed the liners and they still smelled like bleach. I love the lines created by the bannettons when you proof without a cloth, but I put ice cubes in the DO at the start of the bake so the lines don't stay anyway. Â
Not sure how cold your fridge is, but 12 hours of a cold retard should result in a pretty easy-to-score loaf, unless it is excessively high hydration or your fridge is not that cold. I've never had issues with that long of a cold retard.Â
To answer your question, yes, I just use the corners of the razor blade but check to make sure it is sharp before using; I also dunk it in water just before use.Â
I've never used the linen/cloth liners for the bannetons--the use of rice flour in the banneton and AP flour on the outside of the loaves (before placement in the banneton) does the trick for me. I also love those lines left on the loaves from the cane bannetons! ;-).Â
I'm curious about your comment regarding the ice cubes inside the DO. If you are using a DO you shouldn't need to add any ice to the inside as the whole idea of the DO is that it traps the moisture escaping from the dough as steam, resulting in better oven spring and a crisp crust. I would think you might end up with some unwanted moisture at the bottom of your loaves from ice placed so closely to them during the initial bake.Â
Let us know if your process tweaks are successful!
i think it was harder to score this time because my dough deflated from being pulled out of the stuck bannetton. My scoring although never ideal, was never this bad before. Â
i find that the ice cubes gives me lots and lots of those blisters on my crust . It makes it look like it was deep fried. I will go back to no ice cubes to see if it really makes a difference. It would be nice to make it more simple and less chance of burning myself with the hot DO if I don't have to throw ice cubes in.  But you're right. The spots where the ice cubes were placed even though there's parchment between it , don't brown as much as the rest of the crust.Â
thanks for your tips