What to Do When Dough Clings to Your Banneton

Making bread is a popular pastime for a variety of reasons. It’s enjoyable to learn how to make several sorts of bread in order to broaden your baking skills.

It would also be quite lovely to be able to create delicious handmade bread for your family to enjoy. If you’re just getting started with shaped loaves of bread, you’re probably using a banneton.

While using a circular proofing basket is not difficult, some individuals have difficulty with the procedure. For example, the dough may adhere to the banneton.

This may make the whole procedure much more complex than necessary. Continue reading to find out how to deal with dough that is clinging to the banneton so that you can easily form loaves of bread during proving.

There Are Multiple Reasons Why This Can Happen

In general, there isn’t just one reason why the dough sticks like way. You may not be able to find out what the issue is until you’ve exhausted all possible solutions.

These are all of the many things that may go wrong and cause the dough to get stuck when proving. After you’ve learned more about what might go wrong, you should be able to figure out what’s going on while you’re attempting to form bread loaves.

Your Proofing Basket Needs to Be Treated or Seasoned

One of the most prevalent issues with proofing baskets is that they are not treated. If you are using a fresh one, you may notice that it has not yet been treated or seasoned.

Is your bamboo basket made of bamboo? This is a relatively common material used to produce these goods, and you’ll notice that dough will sometimes get caught on the ridges of the basket.

Fortunately, you can make things simpler by treating the basket. This procedure is also known as conditioning the basket or seasoning the basket.

It is advised to spray the basket with tap water. Before going on to the following step, fill a spray bottle with tap water and thoroughly wet the basket.

After that, sprinkle it with flour before tilting the proofing basket to remove any extra flour. There will now be a coating of flour present, making it simpler to complete your task.

The day before you use the proofing basket for the first time, experts suggest doing this treatment step. If you neglected to do this, do it now and it will help you break things in.

You may need to repeat this step one more time to completely break in the banneton. Following that, it should be ready to use and you should just have to dust it with flour rather of going through the whole treatment procedure.

Have You Been Forgetting to Dust the Proofing Basket?

It’s a regular error for folks to forget to dust the proofing basket. You could be in a hurry and want to finish proving the dough as soon as possible.

In your rush, you may forget to dust the basket with flour as directed. This causes the dough to stick, making it difficult to get the greatest outcomes.

Slow things down a little bit so you can properly follow the procedure. While baking or cooking, it’s typically advisable not to proceed too quickly since that’s the quickest way to make errors.

If you remember to dust everything well before beginning to prove the dough, you won’t have to worry about sticking. This might be the straightforward answer to the vexing issue you’ve been looking for.

Those who are unfamiliar with the dusting procedure should avoid using too much flour. When you go too far, you might really have a detrimental influence.

The whole basket must be coated, however heavy layers of flour are not required. After you’re done dusting, there should be a thin film of dust all over the basket.

You may make this process simpler by holding the basket up as you sprinkle it with flour. This lets you to avoid missing spots and should make it clear whether you need additional flour in certain areas.

You Didn’t Allow the Dough to Rest Properly

Did you know that once the dough has been proofed, it has to rest? Those who are new to making shaped loaves of bread may not realize this is necessary.

The dough may be sticking because you are not resting it. You’re making things more difficult for yourself by attempting to remove the sticky dough from the basket.

Things will move more smoothly if you let the dough rest in the basket for 10 to 15 minutes. Resting will cause the dough to shrink somewhat and become slightly drier.

The fact that the dough is highly wet contributes to its stickiness. A short period of relaxation is generally sufficient to correct this.

Waiting for the dough to rest shouldn’t be too difficult. It will save you time in the long run since you won’t have to struggle with the dough to get it out of the basket.

Try to be patient and wait 10 or fifteen minutes to allow everything to settle. Instead of feeling like you have to struggle with the dough, you should have a lot simpler time removing things.

Does the Type of Flour That You Use Play a Role?

Some folks on the internet will tell you that using particular kinds of flour may make your sticking problems worse. Does this imply that you should always strive to utilize a certain sort of flour for this task?

To be honest, the sort of flour you use should have little effect on the outcome. The dough should not stick as long as you use flour and dust the banneton as directed.

The characteristics of various varieties of flour will vary somewhat. Certain flours absorb moisture faster than others, yet they all work to achieve the same result.

Dusting your proofing basket with all-purpose flour, cake flour, or any other sort of flour will work. If you’re having trouble getting items to come out of the basket, there’s probably another issue.

You shouldn’t have to be concerned about if the flour in your cupboard is impeding your progress. To have a better experience, try to concentrate on the items that are genuinely known to create sticking troubles.

Can You Use Other Materials Besides Flour for Dusting?

Another issue that comes up often when people mention sticky dough during the proving process is the use of additional materials for dusting. Theoretically, different moisture-absorbing substances should be conceivable.

You could sprinkle a proofing basket with cornmeal or rolled oats if you wanted to. Although this may work, it is not always preferable to utilize flour.

Other components will not be able to operate as effectively as flour in this regard. These additional components may also have an effect on the flavor of the bread.

If you wish to make an influence on the taste, it is sometimes acceptable to incorporate different ingredients. Unfortunately, it is not always foreseeable, and most recipes do not account for circumstances such as these.

If you want to get consistent results while baking bread, keep to utilizing flour for dusting. In the end of the day, though, the decision is yours.

Dry Your Basket Before Using it

Little mistakes may sometimes cause issues throughout the proofreading process. For example, you may have opted to begin proving dough and unknowingly began using a moist proofing basket.

When a proving basket becomes too damp, dough is more likely to adhere to it. This is why it is critical to verify that the basket is thoroughly dry before proceeding.

Make it a practice to examine your basket before beginning to prove the dough. This will help you to assess whether everything is in order and avoid dealing with bothersome situations like sticking.

Always strive to provide enough time for the item to dry after washing it. Preferably, you should put it in the oven to dry out.

Some people even leave proofing baskets outdoors for up to 24 hours to dry. Don’t expect to be able to wash and dry a basket in a couple of minutes.

When washing a basket, it is recommended to do it one day before you want to use it. If you keep this in mind, you will have a lot better experience moving ahead.

Are You Using a Good Banneton?

Lastly, you may not be utilizing a banneton at all. While proofing bread, some people attempt to utilize any old basket.

This is a mistake since a random basket cannot perform the same function as a proofing basket. The baskets you purchase for proofing are specifically designed for this purpose.

It shouldn’t surprise you if the dough adheres to a basket that wasn’t intended for that purpose. Trying to proof dough in an old basket from storage is just not a good idea.

This is due to the fact that woven baskets often contain big gaps, and dough may get caught in these spaces. If you attempt to utilize a basket that isn’t designed for this activity, you’ll just make things worse.

Fortunately, proofing baskets are fairly inexpensive. You’ll be able to get one for a reasonable price at practically any department shop in your neighborhood.

Final Thoughts

Knowing why dough adheres to a banneton will make it easier to find out how to avoid this issue. You’ve now discussed the numerous factors that contribute to stuck dough.

Sometimes the solution is as easy as purchasing an actual proofing basket. When it comes to proofing dough, you can’t simply use any old basket you have lying around.

At times, you’ll need to treat a fresh basket so that nothing sticks to it. The method of treating a basket is simple, but you must remember to do it or you will continue to have problems with the dough.

It’s also possible that you didn’t dust the basket before proving the dough. Dusting is an essential step that must not be overlooked if everything is to run well.

Resting the dough after it has been proofed is also highly recommended. Waiting 10 or 15 minutes for the dough to rest may make it much simpler to take from the basket.

If you’ve been encountering these problems when attempting to prove the dough, don’t give up. You now have the necessary information to turn things around.

Making bread should be quite rewarding, and it may even be soothing once you get the hang of it. You may have been frustrated by how things went with proofreading the first few times, but now that you know what went wrong, those feelings will fade.

Moving ahead, have fun proving dough and preparing bread. As long as you don’t attempt to hurry things, you’re unlikely to make any more errors in the future.