How to Choose the Right Bulka Basket Size

Choose a banneton by the baked weight of the loaf you bake, not by guessing at a diameter. Bulka baskets are named by baked bread weight, and your dough will weigh more than that, since it loses moisture in the oven.

Key takeaways

• Bulka baskets are named by baked loaf weight (500g, 750g, 1kg), not dough or flour weight.
• Dough loses moisture during baking, so your shaped dough weighs roughly 10 to 20% more than the baked loaf weight, depending on your flour and hydration.
• Round and oval baskets come in the same weight tiers; the choice is about the loaf shape you want, not capacity.
• Any recipe can be scaled up or down to fit the banneton you have.
• Texture (smooth, groove, or waffle) presses into the dough during proofing, then softens as the dough expands further in the oven; flour sitting in the grooves is what keeps the pattern visible on the baked crust. It doesn't change how much dough the basket holds.

Not sure which basket to choose? Three steps

1. Know your bread or dough weight. Our baskets are named by baked bread weight: 500g (550 to 650g dough), 750g (800 to 900g dough), 1kg (1.1 to 1.2kg dough).
2. Choose round for a boule or oval for a batard.
3. Check that your baking vessel can fit your proofed loaf.

The Bulka size range at a glance

Dough weighs more than the loaf it bakes into, because baking drives off moisture. Exactly how much more depends on your flour and hydration, typically 10 to 20%, which is why each size below is given as a baked-loaf weight with an approximate dough-weight range:

Don't have a recipe sized for your basket? Any recipe can be scaled up or down to fit the banneton you have, and the math is simple:

1. Add up the weight of every ingredient in your current recipe (flour, water, starter, salt, and so on) to get its total dough weight.
2. Divide your basket's target dough weight by that total. That's your scaling factor.
3. Multiply every ingredient by that same factor.

For example, if your usual recipe makes 900g of dough and you want to fill a basket that takes 650g, your scaling factor is 650 ÷ 900 ≈ 0.72. Multiply each ingredient by 0.72, and your hydration and salt percentages stay exactly the same, just at a smaller scale.

A separate maple wood pulp line, made in the USA, adds two more sizes: a 750g oval and a 900g round. Material differences between the spruce and maple lines are covered in a separate article.

Round or oval shape

Round and oval baskets at the same weight hold the same amount of dough, so the choice between them is about the loaf shape you want, not which one "fits more." Round gives you a boule; oval gives you a batard-style loaf.

Texture: smooth, groove, and waffle

Texture is a separate choice from size. A groove or waffle basket presses its pattern into the dough's surface while it proofs. As the dough expands further in the oven, that imprint tends to stretch and soften, so what actually keeps the pattern visible on the baked crust is the flour sitting in the grooves, which marks the crust even as the dough's own indentation relaxes:

Smooth. No grooves to soften or lose, for a clean, uninterrupted crust, which makes it the better choice if you want to do intricate hand-scoring.

Groove. Concentric ring grooves press into the dough while it proofs, and the rings stay visible on the baked crust where flour has settled into them.

Waffle. A crosshatch pattern presses in the same way; the flour sitting in the crosshatch grooves is what keeps the lattice visible after baking.

None of the three change how much dough the basket holds; they only change what the crust looks like.

Choosing your Bulka banneton

Start with the loaf you actually bake most, not the biggest basket on offer. Weigh your usual shaped dough, match it to the weight above, and choose round or oval by the shape you want. Browse the current range of Bulka bannetons.