Bread Dough Proofing in a Basket

For the final proofing you have now some options. You can either place the shaped dough ball on a flour dusted baker's cloth on your countertop, on some parchment paper, or in a lined proofing basket (banneton). For the proofing basket method lay a clean tea towel over the basket. (make sure the tea towel does not smell like detergent as the scent will permeate the dough)

Prepare baskets for bread dough baked in the Fontana wood-fired oven

Dust the tea towel resting over the proofing basket with some rice flour.

Sprinkle flour in covered baskets for bread dough baked in the Fontana wood-burning oven

Place the dough ball upside down into the proofing basket, with the seams facing you.

Place bread dough in basket to be baked in the Fontana wood-burning oven

Once again, dust the part of the dough ball facing you with rice flour. This will prevent the dough from sticking to the tea towel while proofing.

Sprinkle bread dough with flour to be baked in the Fontana wood-fired oven

Carefully cover the dough with the tea towel.

Cover bread dough to be baked in the Fontana wood-burning oven

I also like to place the basket into a sealed bag to prevent drying before allowing the dough to proof. As you can see, for that purpose I simply used a grocery bag. You can now let the dough proof at room temperature for about 45 minutes to one hour and then it is ready to bake.

You can also place the dough into the refrigerator overnight. In this cold environment it will still rise slowly, but additionally also develop great flavors thanks to a longer proofing time. Cold dough is also easier to score before baking.

Cover bread dough in plastic and refrigerate before baking in the wood-fired oven