Plastic vs. Wicker Bannetons

[DanM]

I was wondering if there is a difference between plastic and wicker bannetons. While wicker is traditional, plastic is more sanitary and durable.

Dan

[heidih]

Without having tried the plastic I would wonder if the difference in breathability could affect things. I am interested to hear about people's experiences.

[HungryC]

I use natural material bannetons, and they don't exactly seem unsanitary. Flour easily brushes off, and any slightly stuck dough flakes off once dry. I usually give mine a good brushing with stiff brush before storing upside down where they'll get good air circulation. Have never tried plastic, so I can't compare the performance of the two.

[Mjx]

From a practical standpoint, I'm wondering whether dough wouldn't stick more to the plastic ones than the willow ones, since the plastic surface seems like it wouldn't hold the flour so well. Since bread is baked long and hot, I don't think the sanitation is a huge issue (and I'm a bit of a germ freak), and they don't get treated that roughly, I imagine even the willow ones last a decent stretch of time.

From an aesthetic standpoint, I confess I find the idea of a plastic banneton sort of depressing and self-defeating, since the willow ones are so nice to look at and work with, and part of the pleasure of using a banneton has to do with a sense of tradition (that might just be me, of course). I only have one, which is actually too big to use (birthday present from my boyfriend, who simply cannot resist the largest size of most things), but I love using it, even though the loaves I make in them are inevitably are gigantic and flattish, because they collapse under the weight of their ridiculously large volume. I'm planning on getting a more realistically sized one soon.

[dougal]

I was wondering if there is a difference between plastic and wicker bannetons. While wicker is traditional, plastic is more sanitary and durable.

The linen-lined wicker bannetons that I have do produce a very different (drier) dough surface. Before, I'd have thought that the dough was 'skinning', but actually, it does give a better baked crust and shape.

Sanitary? I put them on a high shelf over the oven to thoroughly dry after use. No bad mould. No real evidence of improving the kitchen population of sourdough-type yeasts and bacteria either. The baskets don't get washed, ever. Just occasionally dusted and brushed around (by hand) with a spoonful of rye flour - anything that doesn't get held in the cloth gets dumped.

Durability? Unless I do something like accidentally standing on them, they look like they'll last longer than me!