A lot of you came from Facebook. I run Baking Great Bread at Home over there, 40,000+ members, and I love that community. But I want to be honest about something. On Facebook, you often get one of two things: criticism without substance or compliments without critique. Someone posts a loaf and the comments are either "Beautiful!" when there's clearly something going on, or unhelpful jabs that don't teach you anything. People mean well. They're trying to be kind. But kindness without honesty doesn't make you a better baker. This is a different place. Crust & Crumb Academy is exactly that: an academy. This is where you come to hone your skills and get better. That means when you ask for feedback, you're going to get it. Real feedback. Specific feedback. The kind that actually helps you improve. I'll always be kind. I'll always be encouraging. But you're not going to get empty platitudes from me. If I see something in your crumb, your shaping, your scoring, I'm going to tell you what it is and how to fix it. That's what coaches do. And I want you to do the same for each other. When someone posts a bake and asks for critique, give them something useful. Tell them what you see. Ask questions. Share what's worked for you. That's how we all get better. This is a teaching environment. We're not here to collect compliments. We're here to make better bakers. Perfection is not required. But growth is the goal. Let's get to work. ~Henry

This is it. We're making Japanese Milk Bread today. If you've never worked with tangzhong before, today's the day you learn why this technique changes everything. We cook a small portion of flour and milk into a paste before it goes into the dough. That paste traps moisture and keeps this bread impossibly soft for days. It's the reason Japanese bakery bread feels like a cloud and your regular sandwich loaf doesn't. This dough is enriched: butter, eggs, milk, sugar. It's going to feel different from lean doughs. Softer. Stickier. Richer. Don't panic and don't add extra flour. Trust the process. The stand mixer does the heavy lifting here, and the dough will come together. 📱 Recipe Pantry Tip: At the top of every recipe page, look for the little chef's hat icon on the right side of the nav bar. Click it. That keeps your screen awake so you're not tapping your phone with floury elbows. The crescent moon next to it toggles dark mode if your kitchen is bright. 🔗 The Recipe: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread?variant=yeasted Before you start: - Take your butter, eggs, and milk out of the fridge NOW. Room temperature ingredients matter today. - Make your tangzhong first. It needs to cool before it goes into the dough. If you made it last night, even better. - Clear your counter. You'll need space for shaping. Post your questions, your progress photos, your tangzhong shots, your shaped loaves, your finished bread. Everything goes here so we can all learn from each other. I'm here all day, start to finish. Whether you're mixing right now or pulling your loaf out tonight, this thread stays open. Let's see those milk breads. 👇