The Best Bread Basket | 2023

An unexpected craft emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether they were motivated by boredom or an inability to find bread in grocery stores, consumers turned to bread making. Sourdough was particularly popular due to a yeast shortage since sourdough doesn’t need that particular ingredient.

Whether you discovered bread making in 2020, or you’re ready to develop the talent now, there are a few tools you’ll need for the task. There are multiple stages to making bread. They are:

• Gathering ingredients
• Mixing ingredients
• Fermenting (rising) the bread
• Shaping
• Baking
• Cooling (proofing)
• Final shaping
• Final proofing

Obviously, the most essential tool to bread making is the oven. You probably already have one of those, though. You’ll also need a bread pan and a good surface for mixing and kneading your dough. Some bakers swear by a digital scale, which lets you measure ingredients like flour to ensure you’re following weight-based recipes to the letter.

The cooling portion of bread making is just as essential as the other phases. During proofing, bread doesn’t just cool. It also continues to rise, taking its final shape. This process requires the right environment to get the results you want from your baked goods.

Many bakeries use a basket called a banneton for the proofing part of bread making. These baskets are bowl-shaped and usually about 9 inches in diameter, giving plenty of room for a loaf of sourdough to take shape. Traditional bannetons have spiral-like rings on the sides, and those rings imprint on the side of your bread to give it an artisan effect.

The surface of your banneton plays a role in how your bread turns out. If you like a crispy exterior, you’ll want a basket that wicks moisture from the bread while it cools. Many bannetons also come with a linen liner to help with this moisture-wicking process.

• Traditionally, bread has been proofed at room temperature. But this can be a problem if your house tends to be chilly or the weather outside is extra cold. For that, some bakers use an oven. The oven is simply a storage place for the bread. You won’t be turning it on. You’ll put a glass bowl of boiling water on the bottom rack and the dough on the middle or top rack.
• Knowing when your bread is fully proofed can be a challenge. Proofed dough will look full and puffy, having grown to twice its original size. Press on the dough and make sure it leaves an indent behind.
• Underproofing can be a problem, but so can overproofing. Too much time in the proofing stage can cause bread to collapse.
• Some slow the proofing process down by leaving it in the refrigerator, where the chill allows you to let your dough proof while you sleep. Make sure the loaf reaches room temperature before you slide it into the refrigerator.
• Scoring your bread allows you to give it a decorative effect. You’ll want to wait until after you proof the bread to make the cuts. Otherwise, the bread will gush through the scored areas.
• If you’re concerned about chemicals, look for a bread basket made from natural rattan with no chemicals involved.
• Odors can also be a concern with bread baskets. You won’t want anything to taint the taste of your bread. Look for a proofing basket that promises to keep things odorless.
• Some proofing baskets come with other tools that can help you with your baking ventures. A scoring lame will help you create those artistic sorts of lines on your bread once it’s finished scoring. Scrapers will help you clean up your work area when you’re finished. A cleaning brush will finish the job.