All the professionals use them, but what are they? Curious?

This is a Brotform Basket.

Some of the baskets come with a natural cloth liner.  It will depend on how moist your dough is if you decide to use one or not. Usually, the moister artisan bread is raised in the breadbasket with the well-floured cloth liner. These baskets are ideal for home use or bread shops.  Make sure you use only Brotform baskets that are made of natural rattan and comply with EU food standards.

The first time you use the basket, lightly mist it with water and sprinkle it generously with flour.

After unmolding the bread (see the tutorial below), clean the basket with a stiff brush and store it in a clean dry area. Periodically you may hand wash with warm water and keep dry after cleaning, but it is not necessary to wash after each use. For the recipe below, we used an 8-inch round basket mold.

4 Ingredient Make-Ahead No-Knead Artisan Bread

6 cups Organic Grains Bread Flour 
2 1/2 cups water, lukewarm
1 tsp. Sea salt
2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast

Directions: Mix the ingredients in a large bowl just until there are no dry patches. Cover and let rise at room temperature about 2 hours or until doubled in size, then refrigerate for at least two hours or up to 5 days (longer storage enhances the flavor). When you’re ready, shape dough as desired, forming two loaves. Place rounded side down into a well-floured 8 inch Brotform rattan proofing basket.  Allow rising covered about 1 hour until doubled.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Carefully unmold bread by inverting the basket onto a baking stone (or parchment paper on a bread peel to transfer to the hot oven).

Cut (slash) with a sharp knife or scissors.

Transfer to the oven. Bake 35-40 minutes until golden brown (at least 195°F internal temperature).

Cool completely before slicing.