A couple days ago a very well-known bakery in my area posted this on their IG (I cropped the photo to take out identifying info.)

I know, I know, should I be worried? Bummed because they make some awesome loaves.

by TammyTermite

13 Comments

  1. AdPlastic8398

    have they done anything crazy like a charcoal loaf or maybe something like black sesame or poppy seed paste? those things can stain a banneton but wont really affect bread (except allergen xcontamination). maybeeeee buckwheat flour or another dark flour ysed as basket flour could make it look like that. otherwise, though, yeah that looks like mold…

  2. Muted-Organization-8

    Yeah it really looks like it… The above mention of charcoal or any sort of flour is like a last breath of hope but it really doesn’t look like so.

    The top left banneton looks so molded that it’s even getting to the outside of it. The right one looks like a new one.

    you can let the patina of flour form, but if you fail to scrape the excess and keep it dry, mold will prevail inevitably.

  3. Pouringrainbows

    Yeah that should probably be reported to their local health department…

  4. ronnysmom

    Unless they do cocoa or chocolate loaves, this is what you think it is. You might want to call them directly and tell them what you saw and ask them to go and check it out. They probably never let the basket dry out to end up like that.

  5. Tyg-Terrahypt

    I wouldn’t ask the bakery, I’d be contacting the health inspector 😭

  6. birdperson42069

    You could forward the picture to your local Health Department, they will take a Look into it and make sure that you know what you think it is

  7. Alright, hold on though. I made the mistake of putting a buckwheat loaf in a banneton once and it leaves a residue that is ugly as sin. I can’t say that this isn’t mold. But it also looks like buckwheat. But also, nobody bakes with buckwheat. But I struggle to believe a professional bakery would post this if it was mold. But… maybe??

  8. cannavacciuolo420

    I shoot videos/photos for restaurants. You’d be surprised at how many restaurants i stopped eating at because of that/similar stuff. A lot of restaurants just don’t give a fuck

    The latest is a pizzeria, she was portioning the dough from the large dough mass, ehile cutting the dough stretched and hit the floor, this floor had flour, shoe prints, it was dirty. She just threw it back with the big dough mass and kept using it

    Another guy, burger place, made a lot of sandwiches, i saw him smoke, go to to the toilet, greeting multiple people with handshakes, using his dirty ass phone, and i never saw him washing his hands once.

    At a sushi place a guy kept coughing on the rolls, raw salmon kept between layers of tissue paper

    i could go on and on. And this is in Italy, we have strict rules, that should be followed

  9. If you are thinking what I’m thinking, then yes

  10. PronouncedEye-gore

    Of course it is. This push back i keep seeing against cleaning those things is…unsettling.

  11. As an aside, even without the mould, I’m surprised they used this photo on their IG. The bread doesn’t look good at all. This looks like my failed attempts.

  12. Rough_Jury_2346

    You would be amazed at how many well-respected bakeries have this issue and do nothing about it