I have been using the wood pulp oblong proofing basket for about 10 months and mostly love it except as of late. It has become clogged with I presume dough and the proofed loaf sticks to it like crazy dispight dusting heavily. I have tried to brush it with hard brush but that seems mostly inefective. I read that you can put them in the oven for a bit to ‘sterilize’. Will this help to clean it up? I suspect it shouldn’t be washed in water. Or do they simply have a useful life and it is near the end?
I rinse mine after each use with hot running water and a stiff dish brush, then lay them on top of the stove and use the heat from the oven to dry them. So far they’re holding up fine & I’ve been doing this for several years now.
Never tried putting them in the oven…
Sorry - I just realized you’re talking about the wood pulp baskets, not the others. Please disregard my earlier post.
I have the same question about cleaning proofing baskets and it just occurred to me to look here. The only solution I’ve come up with so far is similar to Bart’s: I blast them out under the spray nozzle in the kitchen sink and sometimes use a brush, but I don’t want to disturb the wood fibers of the basket either. Then I put them out on my deck in the warm weather. I’ve tried using my garden hose with the strongest setting on my garden nozzle.
Any other suggestions???
I had been wondering about the same thing. My baskets were so caked with spray oils and wheat bran that they seemed impossible to clean. Then the other night I left them out on the deck and when I woke up I discovered that it had rained and there was about an inch of water in each basket. To my surprise, when I scrubbed them with a vegetable brush the gunk loosened easily and now they are pretty free of all that accumulated stuff you put on the baskets to enable the dough to fall out.
So just put water in them and let them sit all night. Then I put them in a very low temp oven for awhile.
Hi, I am using only some rice flour, very little in fact, just a dusting. Dough comes out easily. I let them dry on the counter then shake or brush them out. Works like a charm!
Happy baking Barbara
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Is it not posible to use linen liners on these as w the traditional proofing baskets?
When I used the silicon sponge to rub it for many times, it did remove much of the residue. Is it possible to clean it with sponge brush that can penetrate through the basket and brush the spray oils and wheat bran? I have a set of baby bottle brush, so I am considering to use it to clean.
Try to soak with vinegar and hot water and then use a dish scrubber for cleaning. Vinegar work great for every wooden stuff. For example, if you apply vinegar with a kitchen scrubber and then use it to wipe off the stain suck on wooden tableware or furniture, you will be able to remove the stain without effort!