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Crust & Crumb Academy

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#1 Sourdough Community on Skool 🍞 Coaching, not judgment. Sourdough, starter, yeasted, enriched & every bread between. ✅ ProveWorth Certified ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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1724 contributions to Crust & Crumb Academy
This Saturday's Bake-Along is CROISSANTS. 🥐
🥐✨ 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 Saturday's Bake-Along is CROISSANTS. 🥐
0 likes • 2m
@Melissa Molaison Melissa, I am so sorry. I’ve been out of the office all day. What recipe are you looking for?
0 likes • 2m
@Sandy Chong thank you so much
USA🥐 Croissant Bake-Along Reminder: Beating the Heat 🥐🔥
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.
USA🥐 Croissant Bake-Along Reminder: Beating the Heat 🥐🔥
Baguette versus French bread
I made the baguette (poolish) recipe 2 days ago and yesterday made the French bread. My French bread was so soft and sticky, and I'm not sure why. That's not my question.. I love in TN and you can cut the air with a knife right now. But, my French Loaves are so soft and delicious. What makes the difference in the hard chewiness of the baguette versus the French bread? Is it just the water? Because it a bit sloppy and I wasn't sure if it would rise in the oven, but I like how soft they turned out. So my guess is the high water content? Family is taking them to church as sandwiches tonight. I just really want to understand the science. I'd love some day to not have to look up recipes but to know generally what I'm doing. Thanks!
2 likes • 6h
Dusty, now you're speaking my language. This is exactly the kind of question that turns a recipe follower into a baker. Here's the thing. It's not just the water, though you're not wrong that water is part of it. Three things drive that hard, chewy baguette versus a soft French loaf. First, crust and gluten. A lean dough baked hot with steam sets up a thin, crackly crust and a chewy interior. That chew comes from strong gluten structure in a lean formula, just flour, water, salt, and yeast. There's nothing in there to soften it, so it stays firm and toothsome. Second, formula. A softer French loaf usually has something extra working in the background, a little fat, milk, or a different flour. Fat coats the gluten strands and tenderizes them. That's what gives you the pillowy crumb your family's taking to church tonight. Third, hydration, and this is where your instinct is right. More water gives you a more open, moist, tender crumb. So yes, the higher water content softened things up. It just works alongside the crust and the formula, not on its own. Now, about that sloppy dough. You said it yourself, you can cut the air with a knife down there right now. That humidity matters. Your flour pulls moisture straight out of the air before you ever add water, so the dough runs wetter and stickier than the recipe reads on paper. Next time, hold back 15 or 20 grams of water at the start and add it only if the dough asks for it. Same bread, less slop. And that goal you mentioned, baking without looking up recipes? You're closer than you think. The day you stop reading water as a number and start reading it as a feel, you've crossed over.
Using whey
Does anyone else make their own yogurt, and use the whey in their bread? I just started making Greek yogurt again, and I always used it the whey in my yeast breads. I will be trying it in my SD, but has anyone used it in their starter? I would think it would be a good thing, like it is in the bread, but I don’t want to risk killing Myrtle. So has anyone used whey , instead of water in their starter?
4 likes • 6h
Donna, whey works great as your liquid. It adds a little protein, a touch of tang, and browns beautifully thanks to the milk sugars. The rule: swap it one for one for the water in your recipe, and watch the crust because it'll color faster, so drop your temp 10 to 15 degrees or tent it if it's racing. It's a smart way to use what you'd otherwise pour out.
Starter Temps
With every changing season we need to pivot with it to ensure the best care for our starters. In the summer months it’s not the humidity that affects our starters, it’s the temperature! Yes, the humidity affects the hydration of our dough by increasing it but that’s not true for the starter. For those of us keeping our starters on the counter, paying closer attention to the ambient temperature can mean the difference between a yeast forward starter or a lactobacillus bacteria forward one which will affect the taste and performance of your starter. If your starter is negatively affected by warmer temperatures that are causing peaks to happen faster and in turn ending up hungry ( thin & watery) before your normal feed time then your breads will tell the story. When this happens you’re creating more lactobacillus bacteria, more acidity, losing wild yeast and threatening the overall health of your starter. Every great loaf begins with the health of your starter. If the temperatures are fluctuating or are now warmer than before then your peak times are varying and can be unpredictable. So my advice to protect the health of your starter, regulate peak times and control the temperature of and around your starter, invest in either a proofing box that has a temperature range as low as 70*f or a sourdough home or a cozy starter jar warmer. OR if you have a space somewhere, anywhere in your home where the temperature constantly stays between 72-80*f, keep it there at all times 0.7cu ft Foldable Dough Proofing Box Heater 100W, Sourdough Starter Warmer with PID Temperature Control & NTC Sensor, 34–122°F Range &1 Min –96 Hrs Timer, Fermentation Box for Sourdough, Yogurt, Natto https://a.co/d/084AHflb Brod & Taylor Sourdough Home https://a.co/d/04ZrzCw0 Cozy Bread® Starter Jar Warmer - Round Warming Mat & Insulation Cylinder | Perfect for Fermenting Sourdough Starter | USA Brand https://a.co/d/0j3TPH0j
2 likes • 6h
Candi, temperature is the dial nobody tells beginners about. Warmer starter (around 78 to 82F) wakes up fast and goes sour quicker. Cooler slows everything and buys you time. Neither is wrong, you just match it to your schedule. If your kitchen swings cold, a proofer or a turned off oven with the light on evens it out. What temp are you running now? Everything on keeping a starter healthy is gathered here: https://bakinggreatbread.com/bread-authority/starter-maintenance
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@henry-hunter-5222
Founder, Baking Great Bread at Home (50K+ members). Cookbook author. Creator of Crust & Crumb Academy.

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Joined Jan 2, 2026