Well, here we are. Bake day. And it landed on the Fourth of July, so let’s make something beautiful today. 🇺🇸 Most of you have your dough or your butter blocks resting in the fridge right now, which means the hard part is behind you. Today’s the payoff. We shape, we proof, we bake. Here’s the game plan: 🥐 Pull your dough, roll it out long, cut your triangles, and shape ⏳ Proof until puffy and jiggly. This is the make-or-break step, so don’t rush it. French folks, you’re looking at a couple hours. Sourdough, yours runs longer, 3 to 5, so be patient with it. 🔥 Egg wash, then bake to a deep mahogany. Pale is underbaked. Let that color build. Now, two things about the heat. 🎇 First, the real one. This heat wave across the country is dangerous, not just uncomfortable. Drink your water, stay cool, and check on the older folks and neighbors around you. Your bread can wait. You come first. Take care of yourselves out there. 🇺🇸 Second, that same heat is sitting in your kitchen. Your final proof has to stay under 78F or the butter melts and weeps out before the croissants ever hit the oven. Find the coolest room in the house. If your kitchen’s running warm, the fridge is still your friend, use it to hold the proof steady. Keep a close eye today, because in this heat they can over-proof faster than you’d think. This thread is home base all day. 🎆 Post your progress right here. Your shaped croissants, your proof, your first tray out of the oven, your crumb shots when you cut in. And if you hit a snag, butter leaking, dough fighting you, proof looking off, drop it in the comments and I’ll walk you through it. I’m around all day. Let’s bake, everybody. 🇺🇸🥐 Perfection is not required. Progress is. Henry ⭐🔥🇺🇸

🥐✨ This Weekend We Laminate ✨🥐 Alright, you all asked for it... so we're doing it. Now before anybody panics, I want you to think about where you've already been. This isn't some giant leap. It's simply the next step on a staircase you've already been climbing. 🧈 Remember Brioche Week? That's where you learned to handle butter. Adding it one piece at a time. Watching for the break. Keeping it cool so it works with the dough instead of against it. That was your foundation. 🥮 Then came Babka. You learned that cold, firm butter holds its shape, while warm butter melts into the dough and ruins your layers. Classic Sourdough Croissant: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/sourdough-croissants Yeasted Croissant: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/classic-french-croissants Keep the butter cold. Keep the layers distinct. Sound familiar? That's lamination in plain clothes. 🦓 Then there was Zebra Bread. Stack. Fold. Roll. Repeat. Every fold multiplied the layers. Chill before you roll. Go easy on the flour. Roll it with confidence. You've already done those movements with your own hands. ✨ Croissants are simply all three of those skills coming together. 🥐 Butter control from brioche. 🥐 Cold butter creating layers from babka. 🥐 Fold-and-roll technique from zebra bread. You're not starting from scratch. You're putting together things you already know. ❤️ We're gonna go slow, one fold at a time, and I'll walk you through every single step. 🛒 Before Saturday, gather a few things: 🧈 Good butter. The higher the butterfat, the better. European-style if you can find it. 🌡️ A cool kitchen, if you've got one... and a little patience. ⚖️ Your digital scale, because we're weighing everything. Bring your questions. Bring your nerves. Bring your butter. By Saturday afternoon you'll be holding something flaky, buttery, and golden that you made with your own two hands.

This beautiful tribute was done by my friend Sophie. https://www.instagram.com/sourdough_sophie?igsh=ZHkxaWoyZjA1amQ3

Sliced into my cinnamon swirl again today for French toast. My goodness!

4th of July weekend edition Croissants tomorrow, and I won’t sugarcoat it. A big chunk of the country is sitting under a heat advisory right now, so this bake starts on hard mode before we even touch butter. Lamination is a cold-weather craft, and your kitchen is working against you. That’s fine. We plan around it. ❄️ Here’s the rule for tomorrow: Cold butter. Cold dough. Cold hands. Heat is the enemy of every layer you’re trying to build. A few things that will save your bake: 🧊 Clear a shelf in the fridge tonight Don’t wait until your dough is warming on the counter to go shuffling jars around. Make the space now so when it’s time to chill, you just slide it in and walk away. 🧈 Learn the bend test Your butter block should bend, not break. Pull it from the fridge a few minutes early and press it. If it cracks and shatters, it’s too cold and will tear right through your dough. If it’s greasy and soft, it’s too warm and will squeeze out the sides. You want it pliable and cool, like cold modeling clay. ⚠️ Watch for the warning signs If the butter starts to grease out, if it tears through the dough, if the layers smear instead of staying distinct, or if the dough goes slack and sticky, stop. That’s your dough telling you it’s too warm. Wrap it, chill everything 20 minutes, and come back. You are laminating, not fighting. 🥶 The fridge is your friend. The freezer is not. I know the instinct in this heat is to slam everything in the freezer to catch up fast. Don’t. The freezer chills the outside hard while the center stays soft, so you get uneven dough that behaves worse, not better. The refrigerator cools it evenly all the way through. Slower is the whole point. ⏱️ Plan your rests Build extra chill breaks into your day tomorrow. In this weather you’ll need more of them, and that’s not a failure. That’s smart baking. Keep your folds square, keep your rolling even, and don’t chase perfection on your first batch. We’re all learning this one together. 📸 Drop your questions below and I’ll answer through the morning.