I have to be honest – I had never heard of this before I saw it mentioned on a few Youtube videos!
A banneton (in the bottom (left) of the picture) is like a wicker basket that can have a cloth inlay, and it gives your bread a really nice corrugated effect whilst also helping to dry out the surface to give a better crust. Can’t say that my first trial was a success – the dough was too sticky and as a result, the cloth was covered in bits of dough which were very painful to try and remove with scrubbing! It takes a bit of practice since you really need the right consistency dough, but anyone with the bread passion will get there, eventually!