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See why.The Best Bannetons
For the best-looking bread, put your dough in a (proofing) basket.
By Published Nov. 5, 2021
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Our favorite round and oval bannetons and their corresponding round and oval liners are made by Breadtopia. These rattan bannetons and cotton liners sometimes take a few uses to acquire the “seasoning” that allows them to release dough easily, but we ultimately prefer them because they allow us to decorate the bread in different ways. If the Breadtopia models are out of stock, we also recommend the similar (albeit more expensive) round banneton and liner set by the King Arthr Baking Company. We also like the wood pulp bannetons from Flourside. You don’t need a liner to use these bannetons—the wettest doughs released effortlessly, even on the first use, making them especially easy to use. If you want more of a blank canvas for scoring, however, you’ll need to buy a separate liner; without it, you’ll always see the imprint of the bannetons’ textured surface.
A banneton—sometimes called a proofing basket or brotform—is essentially a basket that holds bread dough and helps give it structure as it proofs. Technically, nobody needs a banneton. As we note in our Almost No-Knead Sourdough Bread 2.0 and Classic Sourdough Bread (Pain au Levain) recipes, you can simply proof bread in a colander lined with a dish towel. But if you’re baking a loaf a week, it might be time to free up that colander and invest in a banneton. A banneton allows you to give your bread a wider variety of decorative looks.
You can use a banneton on its own, dusted with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. When you do this, the weave or textured surface of the banneton will imprint upon the dough, leaving a decorative pattern when the loaf is baked.
You can also use most bannetons with a cloth liner, sold separately or sometimes sold in a set with the banneton. The liner helps prevent your dough from sticking to the basket when you try to turn it out for baking—a frustrating problem that can deform or flatten your painstakingly prepared bread. (“There’s nothing worse,” said Andrea Geary, deputy food editor at Cook’s Illustrated.) The liner isn’t just an insurance policy against sticking dough, either; it also keeps the surface of your dough smooth, allowing your scoring pattern to shine.
For this testing, we started with round bannetons measuring about 9 inches in diameter. Bannetons of this shape and size are the most commonly available type, and they’re best for proofing loaves weighing up to a kilogram, which most of our recipes make. Where applicable, we also tested the manufacturers’ corresponding liners. The bannetons came in different materials (rattan, plastic, wood pulp, and wicker), as did the liners (cotton and linen). After we’d foun...
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Recommended
- Release: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Cleanup: 2 stars out of 3.
When properly dusted with flour, this inexpensive rattan banneton released lower-hydration doughs well. Its corresponding cotton liner was great for proofing higher-hydration doughs, ensuring that they didn’t stick. Over time, both the banneton and the liner built up “seasoning” that made them release dough more easily than they did at first, too. As with any equipment made from natural materials, it does require a little extra care, but we think it’s worth it. Used without the liner, the banneton imprints an attractive coil pattern on the dough; used with it, you get a blank canvas to show off your scoring.
- Release: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Cleanup: 2 stars out of 3.
Like its round sibling, this oval rattan banneton was great for proofing stiffer, lower-hydration doughs. When coupled with its cotton liner and properly seasoned, it easily released wetter, higher-hydration doughs. Both became more seasoned and nonstick over time. As with any natural-fiber equipment, the banneton and liner do require a little care, but we think they’re worth that effort. Between the bare banneton, which gives your bread a nice coiled pattern, and the banneton paired with the liner, which provides a clean slate for scoring, you have two great decorating options.
Liner Available for Purchase at: breadtopia.com
- Release: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Cleanup: 2 stars out of 3.
This rattan banneton and cotton liner set performed very similarly to our winner, though it costs nearly twice as much. The floured banneton released lower-hydration doughs easily and imprinted attractive coils on the finished bread. The liner helped ensure an easy release with wetter, higher-hydration doughs and gave us a clean slate to do our most fancy scoring patterns. As with our other winners, you’ll just need to put a little care into keeping both banneton and liner clean and mold-free because they’re made from natural fibers.
- Release: 3 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Cleanup: 2 stars out of 3.
We were amazed at how effortlessly doughs of all hydration levels released from this wood pulp banneton, no seasoning necessary. Like all natural-fiber equipment, this banneton requires some care to maintain, but we think it’s a great option for bakers who work with especially high-hydration doughs and are concerned about sticking. The only issue: Because you never need a liner with this banneton, your finished bread will always have the grid-like imprint of the banneton, which limits your decorative options and can distract from any fancy scoring patterns you might like to do.
- Release: 3 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Cleanup: 2 stars out of 3.
The oval version of our favorite easy-to-use banneton performed just as well as its round sibling, releasing even the wettest doughs easily, with no sticking. If you work with high-hydration doughs and prefer an oval loaf, this is a fantastic option. As with any natural-fiber equipment, you’ll need to give it a bit more care, but we think this is a small price to pay. Just be mindful that as with the round version, your finished bread will always have the imprint of the banneton, which can distract from any fancy scoring patterns you might like to do.
- Release: 2 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Cleanup: 2.5 stars out of 3.
This plastic banneton was especially easy to clean—it can even be washed in the dishwasher. Unlike natural-fiber bannetons, it dries quickly, so it will never develop mold. But because it’s made of slick plastic, dough stuck to it mercilessly, even when we did our best to coat the basket-like slats with flour. If you spring for this banneton, you’ll need to use the manufacturer’s linen liner, limiting your decorative options—because you can’t use the banneton on its own, you’ll never be able to get a nice spiral-shaped imprint from its slats. The linen liner itself, though, is excellent, releasing doughs of different hydration levels well, especially after it had gained some seasoning.
Liner Available for Purchase at: tmbbaking.com
- Release: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Cleanup: 2 stars out of 3.
The linen liner came permanently attached to its wicker banneton, making both the liner and the banneton a little trickier to clean—we were never quite sure that the banneton was clean under the liner. Because we always had to use the liner, our decorative options were slightly more limited—there’s no way to get that pretty imprint from the banneton on its own. But otherwise this set performed very well, especially after the liner had built up a good layer of seasoning, releasing doughs of different hydration levels easily.
Reviews you can trust
Reviews you can trust
The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing. We stand behind our winners so much that we even put our seal of approval on them.
Miye Bromberg
Miye is a senior editor for ATK Reviews. She covers booze, blades, and gadgets of questionable value.
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