Good morning, bakers. Today's the day. Two tracks, same destination: Yeasted with Poolish — if you started your poolish last night, you're on the dinner-ready timeline. Sourdough — longer build, deeper flavor. Worth the wait. Both recipes finish with the alkaline bath, that mahogany crust, and the snap that makes a pretzel loaf a pretzel loaf. Drop in the thread: - Where you are in the process - Photos as you go (poolish, dough, shaped, boiled, baked, sliced) - Questions, anytime. No question is too small. - Wins. Fails. Everything in between. Quick reminders: - Bread sling or parchment makes the boil-to-oven transfer way easier - Everything topping goes on right after the boil while the surface is wet, not after the bake - 4.7L water, 120g baking soda, rolling boil before you dunk - Watch the crust color, you want deep mahogany, not just brown Adjust to fit your kitchen: If the alkaline bath feels like a lot, or your pot's not big enough, or you're juggling one Dutch oven and trying to make it all work, split the dough into two smaller loaves. Smaller loaves are easier to handle in the bath, easier to bake, and just as tasty. Bake time will come down a bit, so watch the color and the internal temp. Adjust to the situation you're in. The recipe works for you, not the other way around. Both recipes are in the Recipe Pantry. Full video walk-through is on YouTube if you need a refresher. Let's bake. Perfection is not required. Progress is. ~ Henry ⭐🔥

Tomorrow is Pretzel Loaf Bake-Along day, and if you're on the yeasted poolish track, tonight is prep night. Here's what to do before bed. Your poolish is a 1:1:1 mix. Equal parts flour and water, plus a tiny pinch of instant yeast. About 0.1% of your flour weight. That's barely an eighth of a teaspoon for a typical batch. Mix it, cover it loosely, and let it sit at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours. By morning, it should be bubbly, slightly domed, and just starting to dip in the middle. The smell will be sweet, yeasty, almost like fresh beer. If it's flat in the morning, it either needs more time or a warmer spot. Don't panic. Move it somewhere warmer and check again in an hour. Sourdough track bakers, build your levain tonight on your normal timing. If your starter's been a little sluggish this week, give it the strongest feeding you've given it all week. You want it climbing the jar by morning. Both tracks meet at the same dough stage tomorrow morning. From there, we're all baking together. Get your tools out tonight too. Bench scraper, scale, banneton, lame, bread sling parchment, slotted spider or pancake spatula as backup, butter ready to melt, everything seasoning in a bowl, Maldon salt nearby. The bath happens fast. You don't want to be hunting for tools when there's hot alkaline water on the stove. Read the cheat sheet one more time before you turn in. It's pinned at the top of the thread. Drop any last questions below. I'm watching the thread tonight. Yeasted recipe with a poolish: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/yeasted-pretzel-loaf-poolish?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share Sourdough recipe: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/sourdough-pretzel-loaf?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share

You know the seeded sandwich bread that costs seven dollars at the grocery store? The one with all the seeds pressed into the crust, the slightly sweet flavor, and the "1 gram of sugar per slice" label? I've been working on a home-baker version, and it's now in the Recipe Pantry. Here's what makes this one different from most copycat attempts I've seen: It uses apple juice concentrate as the sweetener. That's the trick the big bakeries use to hit "1g sugar per slice" without it tasting like cardboard. Honey works, but it tastes like honey. Apple juice concentrate gives you that clean, lightly sweet, fruity note you can't fake with anything else. Three preferments do the heavy lifting overnight. A poolish for flavor. A cracked wheat soaker so the grain isn't gritty. A seed soaker so the seeds don't steal water from your dough during the bake. All three get mixed at the same time the night before. About five minutes of work on day one. Seven seeds and grains in the dough: rolled oats, sunflower, pumpkin, tri-color quinoa, whole flax, ground flax, plus a mixed seed coating pressed into the crust. The coating is what makes this look like a real bakery loaf when you slice it. The structure trick is vital wheat gluten. Two tablespoons per loaf. Without it, this much whole wheat flour plus this much seed mass turns into a brick. Don't skip it. Hydration runs 78%. Total flour is 500g. Bakes in a standard 9 by 5 inch loaf pan. No Dutch oven needed. This is an intermediate recipe because of the multi-day timeline and the high hydration, but if you've made a poolish before, you can handle it. Recipe Pantry link: https://skoo.ly/seeded-power-loaf Bake it this weekend and post your slice in the comments. I want to see how the crust comes out on yours. Perfection is not required. Progress is. Henry ⭐🔥

@Donna Angelo just crossed 𝟭𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 in the Academy and I want to make sure that doesn't go unacknowledged. Ten thousand points doesn't happen by accident. It means you've been here, you've been consistent, and you've been giving as much as you've been taking. That's exactly the kind of member that makes this community what it is. Donna, thank you. The community is better because you're in it. Everyone give her some love in the comments.

Some of you are pretzel-loaf prepping, sure. But I know there's a sourdough boule in someone's banneton right now. Somebody's testing a new focaccia. Somebody's grandkids requested chocolate chip cookies for the third time this week and you said yes. Tell me what else is in your kitchen this week. Drop your vote. Then tell me in the comments what you're actually baking. Recipes, photos, plans for the weekend, all welcome. Henry ⭐🔥