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How the banneton size calculator works
The basket is a mold
Proofing baskets shape the loaf's final geometry: a dough too small for its basket spreads flat (no side support), and a dough too big erupts over the rim or splits in the oven. The fit bands — 700 g in an 8-inch, 750–1,100 g in a 9-inch, up to 1,500 g in a 10-inch — are the standard the baking community converged on.
The reverse direction
Most bakers own one basket and scale recipes to it: the calculator's flour and water readout runs the scaling — divide your basket's dough band by (1 + hydration + salt%) and the recipe follows the basket instead of the basket chasing recipes.
Basket practice
- Rice flour the basket before the cold proof — rice flour does not hydrate and glue the way wheat flour does.
- Cold proof in the basket (12–18 hrs fridge): the dough firms, the basket shapes, the slash behaves.
- Round vs oval: oval bannetons bake into sandwich-friendly loaves; rounds are the boule default. Same sizing bands, longer baskets run +100 g.