Round Banneton Proofing Basket Set (White Scraper)

A bit of preface, I am far from a bread expert nor am I much of an accomplished baker. I just enjoy baking and I like eating bread. I learned how to make bread from the highly-recommended book FLOUR, WATER, SALT, YEAST by Ken Forkish. In that book he recommends buying a "proofing basket" or banneton to use for your final rise. For about an entire year I made bread without it (because it seemed so unnecessary and silly to me). Only when the banneton was on sale for, like $5 off or something, did I decide to buy it. I shouldn't have waited so long. There is very little to it. It's just a wooden coiled basket with an elastic linen cover. It's very tight and well-made. I didn't find any pieces of rogue wood or splinters. The elastic linen cover seems like perfectly good quality and fits great. It's a bit snug, but I'm sure that's by design. I've sometimes struggled to get a good proof on my breads before. I think my problem often came down to using the wrong type of container to proof in. I'd generally use a stainless mixing bowl that was too wide for the bread. It would then spread out laterally instead of rising vertically. It's not a problem with this banneton; my very first attempt proofed my white bread BEAUTIFULLY and tall. I liberally flour-dusted in the inside of the basket and stuck the elastic linen cloth on like a shower cap. In about an hour my bread had doubled and was pushing the linen cover up. I didn't get large exaggerated lines on the loaf, but that's something I really don't care about. I just want my bread to turn out well and taste good. Overall, great success! I'm actually looking forward to making more bread now that I have all the proper tools at my disposal. Oh yeah, it came with a bonus plastic bench scraper! I was going to buy one anyway but now I don't have to!

I would rate the product as excellent, as the included banneton and accessories are pretty much standard and exactly what you would expect, with no defects. It is fairly sturdy, about as well made as you would expect one to be, and in my opinion is a good value for the price. I probably would not have written a review, but a person from Bread Bosses (the manufacturer) contacted me directly by email to follow up and ask how the product is going for me, for a review, and if there is any way they could help with the new product. I think that is fine customer service, and a I appreciate the follow up. So far, I have made one sourdough loaf in it (only received it about a week ago after a very short turnaround, supply, ship time). The included scraper is great and works very well. If I were going to suggest one thing, it would be for them to include a small, short manual to describe how best to use tha banneton. For example, rice flour works best to coat the banneton with, not regular flour, as the very sticky dough starts to form gluten bonds with normal wheat flour. This caused sticking that somewhat damaged the loaf, and I would have loved to have known that before having to look on the internet. It cleaned easily enough, for what that's worth. Also, they include a cloth with it that I had no idea what its use is. I looked it up on Youtube, and some bakers like to use this instead of the bottom of the banneton so that they can sketch custom shapes into the proofing loaf (which will be the top of the cooked loaf). Again, I would have had no idea had I not checked on Youtube. Perhaps this is common knowledge among bakers. I will also note that they seem to have good customer support that would answer such questions. I do not think this area for constructive criticism affects that quality of the item, however, which I found to be quite good, and met my expectations and needs very well.

Quality made item, easy to clean, durable and works great for my sourdough. Would highly recommend!

I bought this back in 2016, but it has seen a LOT more use since quarantine started and I really got into bread making. It does seem a little cheap as the joint areas are not lined up well and I am a little scared of splinters when I wash it after use. I also leave it out to dry for a long time because I'm worried about a potential mold problem, but I have yet to see any mold and there has yet to be any major splinter issues so far. The basket itself is lovely for bread although the lines you see on the bread are from the excess flour I use to line the basket as opposed to impressions from the basket itself. The flour is a little hard to wash off from the basket due to the grooves, but I suppose that's an unavoidable problem if you want this kind of basket. I repurpose the cloth lining to cover the dough when it's rising in the basket and it fits very snuggly so it takes a little finagling to get it to work, but I like it. The dough comes out pretty nicely if you flour it properly and it works perfectly for a single round loaf.

This is exactly what I expected it to be, new as I am to sourdough baking. Did it make a master baker out of me overnight? No. Is it foolproof? Also, no. But when you figure out your dough and rising does it help you make beautiful loaves? Yes! I’ve baked with it half a dozen times, and after a few failures I think I’ve gotten the hang of it. It seems well made, I don’t have any problems with fraying or unraveling. I use the cloth to cover it when not in use so I don’t know how it works as a liner. The size seems decent - any bigger and I think the dough would become hard to handle and turn out. I’ve easily made 700-800g loaves with room to spare. The flour patterns on the loaf really make my bread look super fancy! Some hints - I use a small spray bottle to mist it, then dust liberally with 50/50 rice/AP flour. I use my fingers to really fill in the cracks so the dough doesn’t get stuck. I do this before and after use - like seasoning a pan. For an overnight rise, covering it with a produce bag rubber banded closed helps maintain the moisture in the dough - I live somewhere with single digit humidity and the basket just dries out way too fast otherwise. Also, putting a small square of parchment over the dough while it rises helps to keep it from sticking to the bag/towel covering it, and it helps when turning the dough out. If the dough doesn’t reach the lip of the basket, you can hold your hand over the dough as you tip it over, so it doesn’t PLOP and plfffffft. I’ve shared some photos of successful bakes I’ve had lately. Don’t give up, keep on trying!

I bought this Banneton Proofing Bread Kit and have got to say how pleased I am. First I broke it in exactly how their video shows which is a very important first step. I love baking bread because I know exactly what’s in my bread and really cannot stand the flavor of big brand prepackaged breads loaded with preservatives. Having the right tools just makes it that much easier to make a perfect loaf and proofing my bread in the Banneton is quick and easy , my loaves rise beautifully and with the Banneton perfectly seasoned the dough comes out with no problem. I am now getting into making more sourdough breads and this is where a Banneton really helps as it shapes the loaves perfectly. These Bannetons are very high quality but don’t break the bank to own. From my experience so far I believe these will last me years and that is with constant use. I bake an average of five loaves of bread a week for my wife and I. Now I am getting requests from neighbors, who tend to end up at my door, when they smell my bread baking. Bread Bosses also send you great tips on bread baking which shows how much they care about their customers and the satisfaction they get from using their products. I highly recommend these Bannetons and I know I will definitely be purchasing all the different sizes they offer. Thank you Bread Bosses for such a great product.

This Banneton with the liner (and the bowl scraper) has gotten a lot of use for sourdough over the past few months. I bought two to accommodate recipes that make two loaves of sourdough. Good news is that I'm very happy that they're working very very well for me. Bad new... none... I love sourdough. On a side note, the sourdough freezes very well and defrosts to a great loaf that you wouldn't guess had spent a month in the freezer. I'm too much of a coward to use it without the liner... which is a very good fit. Beyond getting more of a pattern to the bread, I don't see any reason for not using the liner. "Seasoned" with a little rice flour initially, the proofed dough (I'm cold "fermenting" in the fridge overnight) has always released easily. I switched to AP and bread flour for subsequent treatments with the same results. I recently tried the Bannetons with my own hybrid (novice experiment) bread recipe that is a cross between traditional sourdough and a Colonial Anadama bread. Anadama is pretty high in sugars (6 TBSP molasses) and fat ( 3 TBSP butter). No problems with releasing the dough from the banneton after an overnight ferment/proof in the fridge. Maybe someday I'll have enough courage to season the Bannetons without the liner and go for a sourdough that has a a little more design too it. For now, a couple of razor cut in the top make it look sexy enough for me. Short and sweet now...this has been a very good value for the money in my kitchen. I'm really not asking that much of it, so I expect it will last a while.

I decided to try may hand at making sourdough since it is hard to find where I now live (South Padre Island, TX) and I had become used to having it around from when I lived in Seattle. The process was daunting when I first read the recipes, but I was determined. I also had a hankering for some good clam chowder and you really need a proper dipping/sopping bread to fully enjoy. Turns out the process isn't so much arduous as just a bit time consuming, with a lot of the time spent waiting for ingredients to "do their thing". So, what has this to do with Banneton proofing baskets. Well it turns our that having the proper tools really does make a big difference. I tried the colander with a dish towel trick and it just didn't compare to using a proofing basket built specifically for the job. While my first loaf wasn't terrible (the colander/dish towel version), I found the proofing portion of the process went much more smoothly with a true proofing basket; easier to set up and then to deal with going from proofing to baking. I actually went on to purchase the oblong basket as well for some variety. The people at Banneton also went out of their way to offer help and guidance and I knew had my back if things didn't go as planned. They really want to support the bread making community it seems, though I'm quite sure that I don't qualify for that circle just yet as this was my first foray into this particular cooking art. I've included photos of first and second loaves below, though I must admit that the second (using the Banneton basket) looks better partly because I backed off on the baking time, but mostly because the dough was easier to deal with and helps to shape it a lot better. BTW: the clam chowder was delicious and much more enjoyable with the proper bread.

The basket worked well and resulted in great bread.

Good use

It’s exactly what I wanted.

Very good quality!

the quality of this product is so rough and does not worth the money at all , the 2 huge cut line make and tons of split end , kindly avoid