Something happens when bakers find their people. The questions get better. The bakes get bolder. The fails become lessons instead of reasons to quit. That's what this community is built for. And it just got a whole lot bigger. We've had an incredible wave of new members join Crust & Crumb Academy over the past few weeks, and I want to make sure every one of you knows you landed in the right place. Whether you've been baking for years or you just burned your first loaf last week, you belong here. Here's how to get started and make the most of what's in front of you: The Recipe Pantry is the first thing you'll see when you walk into the Classroom. It's at pantry.bakinggreatbread.com and it's your home base. Every recipe in there has the science explained, both metric and volume measurements, and troubleshooting built right in. Browse it, bookmark it, use it. That's what it's there for. Check the green checkmark in the top right corner of every module you complete. That little checkmark does two things. It levels up that number next to your name, which puts you on the leaderboard. And it tells me and everyone else in this community that you're serious. You're not just here to scroll. You're here to get better. Check it off. Let us see your progress. Show up on Saturdays. Every Saturday we run a community bake-along. I open the thread at 8 AM ET and we bake together in real time. Post your progress, your problems, your final crumb shot. It's the fastest way to improve and the best way to feel at home here fast. Now here's what we're doing this week and for the next three weeks — and new members, you are walking in at exactly the right time. We just launched a 3-week community curriculum arc called Road to Sourdough. Every week builds on the last. Every skill carries forward. Here's the map: Week 1 — Three Ways to Leaven. Anchor Bake: Naan Bread. We bake naan three ways this week: self-rising (30 minutes), yeasted (1.5 hours), and sourdough with an active levain. This isn't just a flatbread bake. It's a hands-on lesson in how leavening actually works. You'll feel the difference between chemical lift, yeast activity, and wild fermentation — in the same week, with the same dough. Monday night we also launch Start Your Starter. If you've been wanting to begin a sourdough culture from scratch, this is your moment. Your starter begins this week so it's 21 days old and fully ready by the time we need it.

Keep stirring and keep it off the bottom of the pan. You're looking for the consistency of mashed potatoes — thick, smooth, and pulling away from the sides. That's your sweet spot. I just dropped a quick video showing exactly what it looks like. Watch it before your next bake.

After last week's focaccia blew up (521 comments, 19 bakers, 100% completion), we're shifting gears. This Saturday we're baking Henry's Big Gooey Cinnamon Rolls. These aren't regular cinnamon rolls. Three things make them different. First, tangzhong. It's a Japanese technique where you cook a small amount of flour and milk into a paste before adding it to the dough. That paste traps moisture so the rolls stay soft for days, not hours. If you were here for the focaccia, you already understand the concept of adding something wet to dough and letting it transform during baking. Same energy, different bread. Second, the cream pour. Right before these go in the oven, you pour heavy cream over the top. It seeps down between the rolls, caramelizes on the bottom, and creates this gooey, almost sticky-bun layer underneath. Remember the olive oil brine on the focaccia? Same idea. We pour something over dough, and the oven does the rest. Third, the filling. Brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and a secret weapon: cornstarch. It keeps the filling thick and gooey instead of running out during baking. Rolled tight. Cut clean. Twelve big rolls per pan. The kind you pull apart and they stretch with gooey strings of filling. And here's the part I'm really excited about. This recipe has two versions. Yeasted version: Uses instant yeast. Mix it today, refrigerate overnight, bake tomorrow morning. Straightforward and accessible. If you've never made enriched dough before, start here. Sourdough version: Your active starter replaces the yeast entirely. Longer fermentation, deeper flavor, that subtle tang that pairs perfectly with cream cheese frosting. If you've got a healthy starter, this is the one to try. Same recipe page. Same filling. Same cream pour. Same frosting. You just flip the toggle at the top and the ingredients and timing adjust automatically. No matter which version you choose, you're in. Everyone bakes together Saturday. Yeasted version: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/henrys-big-gooey-cinnamon-rolls?variant=yeasted

You've put in the work all week. You watched the lessons. You learned the tangzhong science. You understand why we pour cream over the rolls before they go in the oven. You know what butter, sugar, and eggs do to enriched dough and why it behaves differently from the lean breads you're used to. You've got this. I have every confidence in you. 💪 Let's make the best cinnamon rolls you've ever had. 🧈 First things first. Take your cream cheese, butter, and eggs out of the refrigerator right now. Set them on the counter and let them come to room temperature. If you're like me, you can tuck the cream cheese in your apron pocket to warm it up. I do the same thing with butter and eggs sometimes. I don't advise that because you're one step away from a disaster, but it works. 😂 Room temperature ingredients matter today. Cold butter won't incorporate into enriched dough properly. Cold eggs will tighten everything up. Cold cream cheese in the frosting means lumps that won't smooth out. Get them out now. ✅ I worked through the full recipe last night to make sure every feature in the Recipe Pantry was functioning properly. Timers, scaling, step-by-step, all of it. We have a go for launch. 🔗 Here's the recipe: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/henrys-big-gooey-cinnamon-rolls?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share 📱 Two quick tips before you start: 👨‍🍳 At the top of every recipe page in the Pantry, look at the navigation bar on the right side. You'll see what looks like a little chef's hat. Click it. That keeps your screen awake so it won't fall asleep and go dark while your hands are covered in dough. No more tapping your phone with your elbow. 🌙 Right next to it there's a little crescent moon icon. That toggles between light mode and dark mode. Use whichever is easier on your eyes in your kitchen.