Made David Palmer's Enriched SD wheat bread... Turned out great!!

One of the things I used to struggle with was figuring out how to move a finished bread from point A to point B without destroying it. Star bread especially, with those twisted points, you don’t want to just toss it on a plate and hope for the best. I found these corrugated cake boards at Walmart and they changed everything. You slide your star bread right onto a 14-inch round board and it stays firm. Take it to a dinner party, bring it to a friend’s house, set it on the table as a centerpiece. It travels clean and it looks professional when it arrives. I just ordered another pack so they’d be here in time for Saturday. If you’re planning to bake this weekend, grab a pack now so you’re ready: https://www.walmart.com/ip/24107722 They’re cheap, they’re sturdy, and when you wrap the whole thing in cellophane with a ribbon, people will think you spent $40 at a bakery. You’re welcome.

Over the years I've answered thousands of questions from bakers and researched thousands more. That's actually how all my books were born. I didn't set out to be an author. Someone would ask a question, I'd write a thorough answer, that answer would become a blog post, the blog post would grow into a pamphlet or a video, and eventually it would become a book. That's just how it works when you teach from real questions. So I've decided to collect these into a series: Baker's Fundamentals. These are the things bakers need to know that just don't get talked about or taught in most classrooms. The stuff that sits between the recipe and the result. Here's my recipe: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/no-gap-cinnamon-swirl-bread?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share This is Video #2 in the series. If you've ever sliced into a cinnamon swirl loaf and found a cave where the filling used to be, this one's for you. It's not your recipe. It's a technique problem, and it has five mechanical fixes. In this video I cover: - Why dry cinnamon sugar on bare dough creates steam pockets that blow your layers apart - Why a loose roll traps air that expands violently in the oven - Why overproofing is the silent killer of swirl bread - The five fixes that prevent separation every single time - My complete foolproof cinnamon swirl recipe with the fixes built in All of the videos I put together for you live on YouTube so it's easier for me to share them with you here. If you watch this and think it's helpful, please like and subscribe to the channel. That helps us create more of these videos and brings bakers like you to our community. 👉 https://youtu.be/4D7FNlg6E54 The PDF with the full breakdown and cheat sheet is attached below. Drop a comment if you've fought the swirl gap before. I know I'm not the only one.

Last week you made Japanese Milk Bread. The week before that, cinnamon rolls. Both of those bakes taught you something specific: how to handle enriched dough. How butter, eggs, and milk change everything about how dough feels, how it ferments, and how it bakes. This week, we’re putting all of that to work. We’re making Star Bread. If you’ve never seen one, picture this: a soft, buttery, filled bread shaped into a beautiful twisted star pattern that looks like it came out of a professional bakery. It’s the kind of bread people set in the center of a table and just stare at before they tear into it. Here’s the thing. It looks complicated. It’s not. If you made milk bread last week, you already have the hands for this. The dough is familiar. The technique is new, but I’ll walk you through every fold, every cut, every twist. Here’s how the week breaks down: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/henrys-savory-star-bread?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share Tuesday - We talk about laminating fillings into enriched dough. What works, what doesn’t, and why your filling choice matters more than you think. Wednesday - The geometry of star bread. I’ll break down the shaping method so it makes sense before you ever touch dough. Circles, stacking, cutting, twisting. We’ll cover it all. Thursday - Filling options and flavor combinations. Sweet, savory, and a few you haven’t thought of yet. Friday - Prep day. Get your dough made, your filling ready, and your workspace set. We go live Saturday morning. Saturday - Bake-along. You know the drill. I’m here all day. Yeasted and sourdough versions will both be available on the Recipe Pantry. A few weeks ago, some of you had never made enriched dough. Now you’ve done cinnamon rolls and milk bread. Star bread is the next step, and it’s the one that’s going to make people ask “you made that?” when they see it on your counter.

We just spent the week breaking down Japanese Milk Bread, from the tangzhong to the final pull-apart. Now let's see what stuck. I put together a quick quiz to test your knowledge. No grades, no judgment. Just a fun way to see how much you picked up and maybe learn something you missed. Take the quiz here: https://bread-quiz-master.lovable.app/quiz/japanese-milk-bread- Drop your score in the comments. No shame in getting a few wrong. That's how we learn. Perfection is not required. Progress is. 🍞