January 8, 2022 - 3:42pm
banneton dried out bread out during 18 hr retard.
Normally I use the cloth liner in my baskets while proofing and never have issues. This time I wanted the spiral design so I took the liner out and placed dough directly in the banneton.
Two problems occurred which I seek advice on..
- The wood of the banneton dried out the top of dough/loaf a little, creating a skin.
- The dough was stuck inside to the banneton, but I was able to carefully peel out.
I dusted the banneton with flour to prevent sticking and achieve the spiral design. I covered dough directly (bottom of loaf) with slightly greased saran wrap and then placed the entire banneton w/dough inside a large plastic ziplock before placing into fridge for 18 hrs.
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First, regarding drying, you may need to express more air from the ziplock bag as you close it. The stiffness of the plastic can make this a bit challenging. Less air in the bag = less drying. Alternatively, you might want to use a different type of bag that is more flexible.
Second, regarding sticking, rice flour works best for releasing the dough from the banneton. Some use only rice flour, some use a 50/50 blend of rice flour and AP flour.
In spite of the difficulties, you achieved a pretty loaf.
Paul
Is the method for an 18 hour proof after forming from somewhere else? A cookbook or website?
Have you considered doing the 18 hour step during bulk, with a shorter more normal-length proof?
Hi BK! So, if you have always used the linen liner and this was the first time you used the cane banneton, you may have missed a crucial step for baking directly in the banneton, which is seasoning, but this takes a couple days. Once I started doing this to my bannetons, I've rarely had any ssues with sticking. Here's a couple things which should help:
1. Lightly spray the inside of the banneton with water, then liberally dust with flour or a 50/50 combination of rice flour and regular flour. Don't use brown rice flour as it is stickier. Tip the banneton over, lightly tap out the excess and then let it dry completely (with the light dusting of flour inside) for a couple days. This works on new bannetons. If you've already used it, you need to scrub it out with a stiff brush then you can do the seasoning.
2. Use some rice flour to dust the banneton before putting the dough inside...a 50/50 mix of white rice flour and regular flour is good. Rice flour helps to keep the dough from sticking. Some folks use 100% rice flour but if you have a lot of it left on your loaf after baking it can be a little gritty so you would want to brush it off, which could take off some of the stripes you are going for.
3. You could try a shorter cold retard.
4. Dusting the loaf liberally with flour before placing in the banneton can help prevent sticking. I have a special brush I use on the dough right before scoring to take the excess flour off before baking.
I'm confused a bit by the mention of greased plastic wrap. Where did you use this in the process? I confess I haven't read of anyone using this as part of the cold retard process before. Was it beneath the dough, between the dough and the banneton or was is just covering the top, between the dough and the Ziploc bag? You shouldn't need to use this unless there is some special trick or process that I'm not understanding.
Despite your reported issues, it looks like you baked a nice loaf there!