I want to give you a real update on something I’ve been building, and then I want to tell you about something that happened to me today. The update first. I’ve been heads-down on a new course called From Oven to Market based on my book of the same name. It’s the course I’ve wanted to build for years: how to actually sell the bread you bake. Pricing. Packaging. Booth design. Customer connection. Scaling without burning out. Nine modules, a full recipe library built for selling, an AI tool that turns your story into a real website. The whole thing. It should have been finished last week. It is not finished. Life got in the way the way life does, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. But it is close. Very close. I am in the last stretch and I want you to hear it from me before I start announcing dates. Here is the part I really wanted to share with you today. A box arrived on my doorstep this morning from a member of our community. Carolyn Bajoie runs a cottage bakery in Baton Rouge called NANA’s Old Fashioned Teacakes. She sent me a sample of her work. I want to tell you what that unboxing was like, because it is exactly what I am teaching in the course. White shipping box. Weight in your hands. Open the flap and there is pink crinkle paper folded over the contents, not stuffed, folded. Pull it back and there is the first teacake in a clear sleeve with a white label, a little teapot logo, “NANA’s Old Fashioned Teacakes, Baton Rouge, LA,” phone number right on the label. Lift it out and there are three more stacks underneath, sleeved, tied, labeled. Stacked the way you stack things you are proud of. I had not eaten a single bite when I started writing this. I needed you to understand the experience of the box first, because that is the lesson. Customers eat with their eyes. The first impression is the package. The anticipation is part of the product. Carolyn understands this in her bones. I am going to feature her ( @Carolyn Bajoie ) in the course as a real example of what presentation looks like when somebody takes it seriously. I will also tell you the teacakes themselves are excellent. Soft, lightly sweet, the kind of recipe somebody has been making for years and refuses to change.

We’ve had a lot of new bakers join us in the last few weeks, so I want to take a minute and show you around one of the most important tools we have inside this community. The Recipe Pantry. 🔗 https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com If you haven’t been there yet, this is where every recipe I teach lives. Over 130 of them right now, and we’re adding more every week. It’s free for all of you, and it’s free for anyone you want to share it with. (𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙚 𝙋𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚, 𝙄 𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙥𝙥 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙚, 𝙨𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛𝙛, 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.) 🧺 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 Every kind of bread we work on. Sourdough. Yeasted. Enriched doughs. Flatbreads. Rolls and buns. Holiday breads. Sourdough discard recipes. Quick breads. Pastries. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴’𝘀 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱, 𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. ⚙️ How the recipes are built 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲. ✔️ Dual measurements, both metric and volume on every ingredient ✔️ Full phase breakdowns ✔️ Built-in timers so you don’t have to set them on your phone ✔️ A glossary so when a recipe says “fermentolyse” or “poolish,” you tap the word and learn what it means without leaving the page ✔️ Baker’s percentages calculated automatically ✔️ A scaling tool so you can halve, double, or triple a recipe without having to do the math yourself 🧭 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 Anytime I share a link inside the Academy to a recipe we’re baking or talking about, you can always click the “Browse More” button at the top of that recipe page and you’ll land on the full pantry. 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗯𝘆: 🔎 Bread name 📂 Category🛠 Technique 📈 Difficulty 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁. 👀 Try this right now Open the Pantry. 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵: 👉 “sourdough” 👉 “beginner” 👉 “holiday” 👉 “discard” You’ll get a sense of how much is already in there waiting for you. 📬 New inside the Pantry: Weekly Newsletter

I know it’s late, but I had to have some. The baguette was my excuse.

So soft, so light and airy. You would not think this was whole wheat. https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/whole-wheat-pullman-loaf?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share

I get this question all the time. “Did I kill my starter? ”“What did I do wrong? ”“What is that liquid on top?” That layer is hooch. It shows up when your starter gets hungry. The yeast and bacteria have eaten through their food, and what’s left behind separates out on top. So no, you didn’t kill it. That’s your starter telling you it’s time to feed. You’ve got two options. Stir it back in and you’ll get a stronger, more acidic flavor. Or pour it off if it’s been sitting a while and smells sharp. Either way works. Then feed it. Flour. Water. Give it what it needs. And then the part most people skip. Wait. Let it come back. Let it do what it’s built to do. Your starter is hard to kill. It wants to live in spite of you. And when it comes back, now you’re baking again. That’s the cycle. ~Henry ⭐🔥