I was ready to call it quits SEVERAL times with this one. From beginning to end, literally. After all the trouble I faced, I stared down already shaped loaves that looked flat and dead. I had come too far to give up at this point so I scored it (should’ve done it deeper but I was scared to) and popped it into the oven. She isn’t perfect but she persevered. Somewhat proud of my first baguette. Overall this failure felt like a small success. I didn’t include the picture of the other one because it was shaped like an amoeba. But anyways, Here are all of my goof ups: 1.) AP Flour (oops I did it again) 2.) Dough ripped on last coil (probably because of the first goof up) 3.) No Baking Stone 4.) No Parchment Paper 5.) Put oven at 500° and put a painted bread loaf dish filled with water in there (Alexa play Fire by the Ohio Players) while nothing caught on fire the paint did burn and emit fumes and smoke but I did replace the dish with a regular one 6.) Was afraid of what happened at no.5 so I baked my baguette on 475° the entire time 7.) Couldn’t keep my eyes off the bread so I ended up cleaning the kitchen AFTERWARDS instead of while it was baking. Went to sleep late. The bread was still hot when I took these photos so forgive the less than fancy setup.

Listen to what Jayla wrote about her first baguette. "I was ready to call it quits SEVERAL times with this one. I stared down flat, lifeless loaves. But I had come too far to quit. I scored it, popped it in the oven, and she came out not perfect, but she persevered. Somewhat proud of my first baguette. Overall this failure felt like a small success." Read that last line again. "This failure felt like a small success." That's the sentence I want every baker in this community to write down somewhere they can see it. @Jayla Weaver used AP flour instead of bread flour. Her dough ripped on the last coil. She didn't have a baking stone or parchment paper. She put a painted dish in a 500-degree oven and got smoke. She baked at 475 the whole time because she was rattled. She stayed up too late watching the oven. And she finished the bake. That's a baker. Not someone who got every variable right. Not someone who had the perfect setup. Someone who hit seven obstacles in a row and pulled a baguette out of the oven anyway. That's the only kind of baker who ever gets good at this. The rest quit at obstacle number two and tell themselves they're not cut out for it. The first baguette is supposed to be hard. You're not supposed to nail it. What you're supposed to do is exactly what Jayla did. Show up, take the punches, score the dough even when you're scared, and learn something you can carry into the next bake. Jayla, you're going to look back at this loaf in a year and laugh at how much progress you've made. But this one matters. This is the bake that proved you don't quit when it gets hard. Every loaf after this one is built on that. Welcome to the community, the real one. Where bakers come not to get likes, but to get better. Perfection is not required. Progress is. — Henry ⭐🔥

🎬 Saturday Bake Along. 🌾 The dough you said scared you to death. 🔥 By Sunday morning, you'd baked it anyway. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟰 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲. Our Saturday recap is growing and getting better, just like all of you. More bakers. More stories. More dough that got picked up and finished. So I built it a home of its own. Pull up a chair. Read it through. Find your story. Let me know what you think of the new format — I want to hear from you. 👉 https://calm-osprey-9ekj.here.now/ If you baked and you're not in the roster, drop a comment and I'll add you. I read every one. If you were unable to join us yesterday, I invite you to get started with us this week. Coaching, not judgment. — Henry ⭐🔥 @Andrea Walker · @Ann Snow · @Angela Sides-McKay · @Candi Brown-McGriff · @Cheryl Odden · @Chris Pallister · @Colleen Vergara · @Deborah Karaban · @Donna Angelo · @Ehsan Omara · @Gaylord Foreman · @Gwen Roach · @Heather Lattanzio · @JoAnn Amato · @Joseph Bilodeau · @Judy Lyle · @Kathee Judd · @Linda Glantz · @Linda Gregory · @Marilee Berry · @Matt Davies · @Mauvette Bailey · @Michel Jodoin · @Michele Nilson · @Patt Stanaway · @Priscilla Fuesting · @Rhonda Talamo · @Robert Caldas · @Ruby Dack · @Sandy Chong · @Stacey Avraham · @Susie Kendall · @Ted Machart · @Tracy Havlik

Ohhh where do I begin? This past week was so hectic/chaotic, my babka almost didn’t come to pass. But Lo and behold, here we are. I was anxious, excited, and absolutely determined. We all need a break from the day to day nonsense. And sometimes we find that break in bread (I mean bread and break are even almost spelled the same way). Making this was my break and I enjoyed myself BUT.. Can I just say I was SO SAD with the presentation?! My tight twist came out beautifully in the oven and I brushed my top with syrup and left for a while & returned to THAT. A giant hole. I had been running through every step in my brain of what I could’ve done wrong when I realized my mistake. I took my fist and punched it. Yes… yes I did. With all the frustration of the week I took it out on my babka. Never again. Maybe it’s because I’m young and haven’t figured out a good way to handle things yet. But moral of the story… Don’t punch your babka dough people. I kinda felt like that punch was going to come back to bite me but I went through with rolling it out and up anyways. I should’ve been patient and just let it proof again. I also subbed AP Flour for Bread Flour because at the last minute I noticed I didn’t have Bread Flour. Typically that’s something I have on hand but it wasn’t a huge deal. Just got a good arm workout trying to knead and make sure my gluten was doing its thang. Dunno if that helped aid in my presentation failure or not. Thank you to everyone who gave me tips, I had a lot of fun in the process. And it tasted SO GOOD. I just wish it was as cute as I wanted it to be. Welp! Sending this baby off to the nieces and nephews! They don’t care about presentation! 😂 Ps: I was stingy with the cinnamon filling and shouldn’t have been. Note to self; add more filling than you think you need. Sorry for the late update. If you all don’t mind I’ll be heading back to bed!

We all get more email than we know what to do with. Most of it is noise. Sales pitches. Pop-ups. Three paragraphs of fluff before you get to anything useful. You know the drill. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁. 🍞 It goes out once a week. Short. Clean. Useful. You get actionable recipes right up front. No digging. No scrolling. The idea is simple: 👉 Give you something worth baking this week 👉 Deliver it straight to your inbox No spam. No pop-ups. No catches. 🚫 And if I’m being honest… it looks good too. If you’re not on the list, or not sure if you are, take a look at the latest issue and jump in here: 🔗 https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/newsletter/4a09ef72-a3a6-401a-974d-fa1d86857cd8 We’ll make sure you get the next one. Henry ⭐🔥