I've used rice flour, wheat flour and a rice flour:wheat flour 50:50 mix to line banneton cloth, all with success. Has anyone used cracked wheat for this? Would have the advantage of adding texture/flavor and a pleasing appearance to crust? Anyone using anything like this inside banneton lining cloth? Could you please provide a source?
Thank you
As a late addition, and "sitting outside" the dough, the bits of cracked wheat are not going to hydrate. So if the bits are too big, it's not going to be a pleasant eating experience chewing large, hard, sharp bits of wheat berries.
Bran-only bits are going to be thin and fragile, so those will likely not be a problem. Some people dust/sprinkle with bran.
But for middlings and chunks, it could end up like eating chunks of "Grape Nuts(tm)" cereal that have not been soaked in milk.
But as long as particle size is small enough, then yes.
One other concern is that the particles (larger than flour particles) may not stick to the sides of your banneton or liner -- they might just roll down to the center. In that case, if you still want them on the loaf, then ... after you flip the dough out of the banneton egg-wash or water-mist the top of the loaf, and sprinkle on the stuff.
Thank you. I like the idea of bran-coating. We used something like this to line cloth-covered bannetons at San Francisco Baking Institute's Sourdough Bread Artisan II and loaves didn't stick. Have to use the cloth, though.