What Is A Banneton?

A banneton is a basket used to help bread dough rise shapely in the final rise. It is particularly useful to hold shapes in wetter dough such as sourdough and artisan loaves. Without it, dough can flatten out as it rises which doesn’t make a tall loaf.

The main difference between a banneton and a bread pan is that the bread is not baked in a banneton.

Instead, it is used to just maintain a rigid shape while rising, and prevent it from spreading out too much. When finished proofing, it is turned out of the container and baked.

Bannetons can be different shapes which dictate what style of bread is made. The two most common are round bannetons for boules/cobs and oval bannetons for batards (oblong shape).

Types Of Banneton
The main types of bannetons are:

Cane banneton – a traditional spiral of cane which gives a nice imprint to the crust.
Wicker basket – a woven basket that is usually covered in a linen cloth.
Brotform – a proofing basket from Germany that is made from compressed wood fiber.

Bannetons can be made of different materials but all use wood as their source. Wood draws moisture from the dough surface, and avoids it sticking when turned out. Materials such as glass or plastic cause sticking as the moisture has no where to go.

So whether you call them bannetons (French), brotforms (German) or proofing baskets (English), they all do a similar job in helping the dough rise upwards.