@Sandy Chong has been all over this community, asking smart questions, encouraging other members, and making this place feel alive. That’s exactly the culture we’re building here. Sandy, you don’t just show up. You make the room better when you do. And @Stephanie Noble posted her first loaf this week. First bake. No hesitation. Just came in, baked, and showed her work. That took guts. The loaf looked great, but more importantly, she’s already asking the right questions. Stephanie, that’s how you get better fast. If you see these two in the feed, drop them some love. This community is built by people exactly like this. Keep showing up.

I see it all the time. Someone makes a beautiful sourdough, decides to get creative and add cinnamon, and the loaf comes out flat, dense, and disappointing. They blame their starter. They blame their shaping. They blame the weather. It was the cinnamon. Here's what most people don't know. Cinnamon contains a compound called cinnamaldehyde. It's what makes cinnamon smell incredible. It's also antifungal by nature, which means if it touches your dough too early it starts fighting your yeast. Not a little. A lot. Your fermentation slows down, your gluten development suffers, and by the time you shape that loaf you're already behind. The fix is so simple it almost feels like cheating. ⏰ Add your cinnamon late. Always late. Not during mixing. Not during autolyse. After your gluten is built and your fermentation is already rolling. Fold three. Lamination. That's your window. And before you add it, mix it with a little brown sugar first. The sugar creates a barrier that slows how fast the cinnamaldehyde hits your dough. It also caramelizes in the oven and gives you those gorgeous ribbons of swirl in the crumb. 🎙️ I just dropped a short audio overview walking through exactly how to do this, when to add it, how much to use, and what happens if you get it wrong. If you've ever wanted to make a cinnamon sourdough or you've tried and it didn't go the way you planned, this one is for you. Link is in the classroom. Go listen before you mix tonight. We're baking tonight. We bake tomorrow. Let's go. 🔥 — Henry ⭐🔥

So this morning I went to feed Vitale and realized I was completely out of bread flour. Shocking. I know. I resigned myself to a whole wheat, AP feed, which honestly isn’t the worst thing. Whole wheat is what I call kindling. It wakes a sluggish starter right up. The bran, the extra nutrients, the wild yeast already living in that flour. It does something. I’ve used it to bring starters back from the edge more times than I can count. But then I grabbed the King Arthur AP as the second flour, which works fine. KA AP runs around 11.7% protein, higher than most all-purpose flours, so it pulls some weight. Then I looked closer at what was actually in my cabinet. Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour. I’d forgotten I had it. If I’m being straight with you, I actually like it a little better than King Arthur bread flour. I can’t fully explain why. I just do. I don’t buy it as often because it costs more, but Bob’s Artisan Bread Flour comes in at around 13% protein compared to King Arthur Bread Flour at about 12.7%. Not a huge gap on paper, but that slight difference can mean a little more gluten development, a little more structure, and in my experience, a slightly more extensible dough. Does it make a dramatic difference in your starter? Probably not. But I’ve had good results with it, and today Vitale gets the good stuff. We’ll see how she responds.

If you just joined, this post is for you. You made a good call. This isn't a place where people scroll past pretty loaf photos and feel bad about their own baking. It's a place where people actually get better. That's the whole point. Here's how to get the most out of the Academy right away: Start in the Classroom. Head to the Classroom tab and look for Baker's Fundamentals if you're newer to bread, or Sourdough Starter 101 if sourdough is why you're here. Both are free, both are thorough, and both will save you from the mistakes that trip up most home bakers. Check the Recipe Pantry. Every recipe on the feed references something in the Pantry. It's at pantry.bakinggreatbread.com — interactive recipes with timers, scaling, and step-by-step guidance built in. Bookmark it now. Show up on Saturday. We run a Bake-Along every Saturday. Doesn't matter what level you're at. Show up, bake alongside the group, post your results. That's where most of the real learning happens. Introduce yourself below. Tell us your name, where you're baking from, and one thing you want to get better at. That's it. No wrong answers. The rest of you — you know who you are — drop a reply and make these new folks feel at home. This community runs the way it does because of how you show up for each other. Perfection is not required. Progress is. Glad you're here. — Henry ⭐🔥 @Corry Blanc @Bakingom Great Bread @Joe Klocek @Gaurav Lohani @Aurore Zawadzki @Yasmine Tamang @Vincent Celes @Camilla Lelek @Chris Angotti @Brayan Isaac Poot Domínguez @Icey F @Liz Scavilla @Stéphanie Roy @Trudeke Lieb @Kristyn Dorney @Anthony G. @Elena Maren @Alexia Lorentz @Morgan Richard @Louise Sharps @Linda Arnold @Anna Lorente @Ellen Norris @Donna Harville @Ryan Licata @Briggs John @Anita Evans @Chris Pallister @Geraldine Smith @Daniella Gatus @Dana Fidler @Cassandra Lyon @Ruby Nortey @Jenifer Hubbard @Michelle Marlowe @Steven Chais @Sunnie Ray @Joanne Ward @Art Autonomy @Aleena Sattar @Caitlin Lee @Emma Sinclair @Jennifer Silbert @Kara Gordon @Makenzie Spencer @Hazel D @Fadumo Ali @Laura Badenell @Mimi Broderick @Sylmiréa Moonheart @When Pigs Fly @Sandra Martin @Mike Baker @Deborah Mcfarland @Chay Elliott @Sandy D @Sherry Coop @Michelle McCartney @Ocean Campbell @Nickie Hudson @Lauren Anderson @Jennifer M Owings @Karen B @Sheila Johnson @Des Dreckett @Jobella Bennett @Natasha Durant @Latoyia Brown @Sarah Benaiych @Tina Moore @Coreena Molitor @Helen Young @Ola Ka @Jill Kelly @Teresa Rivers @Lori Mundy @Barbara Tytula @Praveen Ramdial l @Keman Chhetri @Meryem Zaroual @Evonne Darby @Kelly Gardiner @Nicole Caudill @Night Hawk @Tracy Whitaker @Arianna Chapin @Kayleigh Bruno @Stephanie Noble @Jean Braids @Gabby Roberts @Dipti Soni @Jessica Rudin @Octavia Pegues @Jim Flach

Short answer: No. You're actually ahead of the curve. Here's what I want you to do instead. We built a free tool called Starter Sorcerer specifically for this moment. Put in your flour type, your hydration, and your feeding schedule and it will tell you exactly where your starter is and what it needs going into the arc. It takes about two minutes and it's going to save you a lot of guessing over the next three weeks. https://starter-sorcerer.vercel.app/ For those of you just starting your starter — use the app too. Log your Day 1 information and let it track your progress as we go. By the time we hit Week 2, you'll know exactly what you're working with. This arc works whether your starter is brand new or two years old. The recipes meet you where you are. Drop a comment below and tell me where your starter is right now. Day 1, day 7, fully established — let's see what we're working with.