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Cati
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#1 Posted : Thursday, February 14, 2013 11:16:07 PM(UTC)
Can anyone give me advice on what type of banneton to buy? I am looking at an Australian website which has German proofing baskets, both spiral types, one type is made from spruce and the other from cane willow.
I was wondering which sort might give me the best chance of achieving the effects seen in the book "Flour Water Salt?
LVautier
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#2 Posted : Friday, February 15, 2013 7:24:35 AM(UTC)

HI Cati,


   Yesterday I was giving his poolish white a try, so I watched some of his youtube videos.  I think it was the video titled baking bread in which he said that a good cane banneton would last forever. I remember reading at The Fresh Lowf that the bannetons should be 'seasoned' with a slurry of rice flour and water painted over the naked cane.  But you should look that up.


   I am from California, but I am living in the Netherlands.  I have been baking breads here off and on for the last couple of years, but some of the bread making accessories are hard to come by and I usually have to experiment.  For instance I found an iron welsh cake griddle and have been using that as a baking stone. So if i continue I am going to invest in getting the right stuff so I can finally figure out what is not working for me.  One of those investments will be bannetons, since someone is now offering them for sale in the NL.


 Good luck.  I hope you post more about baking form the book.  Even though my dough didn't develop correctly i was wonderfully surprised at the amount of flavor from a simpple poolish.


 


Lisa

vickster
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#3 Posted : Friday, February 15, 2013 12:03:25 PM(UTC)

I would be interested to hear from you, Cati, if you find a banneton as I also want to buy one to use with recipes from Flour Water Salt. 

robm
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#4 Posted : Friday, February 15, 2013 11:37:03 PM(UTC)

I'm pretty sure that King Arthur Flour, here in the U.S., sells a ceramic proofing bowl that produces the spiral pattern, too.  You can probably find them on King Arthur's site or on Amazon, but shipping to Australia might be expensive.  I wasn't aware of the wooden ones, but I should think they would work perfectly well, too, and probably produce an even more pronounced spiral pattern than King Arthur's bowl.  

PinchOfSalt
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#5 Posted : Saturday, February 16, 2013 12:19:38 PM(UTC)

I have one of those baskets - made of cane - and I am almost certain I got it from King Arthur, though it was a great many years ago.  I just did a bit of googling and found this


http://www.basicingredie...og/index.php?cPath=64_96


I have never done business with this website - after all it is so far away from me here in Massachussetts, USA - but they are in Australia and they do seem to carry what you need.  If memory serves, the Australian dollar is a bit more expensive than the US dollar, so the prices seem somewhat higher than what I would pay for a banneton here.  On the other hand, they are not exactly cheap anyway, and they last a long, long time.  I hope this helps.


PinchOfSalt


P.S. If you live near a traditional bakery, you might try making friends and asking if they will sell you what they need.  You never know.  

Cati
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#6 Posted : Saturday, February 16, 2013 8:21:23 PM(UTC)
Thanks to all who have taken the time to add posts. I am greatful for all the guidance to sites I hadn't found .
To LVautier- Your suggestions to Ken Forkish's videos was so good. I will be going back there often to check on techniques. Nice to see it done as it clarifies my interpretation of the instructions in the book. So far I have only made his Saturday White Bread . Thought I would start in the least complicated place. It was very easy and produced a good tasty loaf. I was so impressed that I bought two more copies of his book as Christmas presents.

Robm,Vickster and Pinchofsalt thanks to you too. Basic ingerients is based in Queensland and has a very comprehensive list of all things for baking bread. It even has plastic bannetons (though they are same price as the traditional cane)

I have decided to go with Ministry of Bread which is based in my state of Victoria as his prices are cheaper for what appears to be similar German products. His site is on E Bay, so I have ordered one of the spruce and one of the cane. They should arrive during the week and I am looking forward to comparing them. Cati.
Cati
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#7 Posted : Friday, March 1, 2013 10:57:32 PM(UTC)
I bought the two baskets one of willow cane and the cheaper one of wood pulp. Today I tried out the cane one which looked as if it would do a better job. I followed the basic bread recipe in River Cottage Bread Handbook No 3. I had just seen Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on TV making breadmaking look easy so used his method of kneading. But when it came to proofing in the basket I followed Ken Forkish (Flour,Water Salt, Yeast) instruction to put the rounded ball in with the smooth side up.this means that the seam side is the one that gets the spiral pattern on it, so when it is put in the oven and you get the oven spring these joins open out giving you a better effect than if you had put the smooth side of the ball down to get the pattern and then slashed the loaf. I cooked it in a dutch oven, forgot to spray with water but still got a terrific result . Despite worrying that it would be difficult it was really easy. Nothing stuck to the basket. I just followed the instructions which came with the basket- spray with water and sprinkle liberally with flour (I used rye) then tip the excess out.


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