I baked sourdough baguette for dinner. I still have to practice scoring the baguette. I want to see my scoring beautiful like a pros 🤣 Also, I wanted to get rid of my discard, so I made a blueberries cobbler. It turned out better than I think. 😃

Okay… I FINALLY understand the super soft airy dough texture I’ve been seeing from some bakers online. 😳 This was a Tangzhong Hybrid Sourdough experiment using: - active sourdough starter - a tiny pinch of yeast for insurance - tangzhong - honey - butter …and WOW this dough behaved completely differently than my usual sourdoughs. At first I thought I ruined it because the dough felt:☁️ fluffy☁️ marshmallowy☁️ super airy☁️ way softer than what I’m used to But after trusting the fermentation process and resisting the urge to keep adding flour… this dough came ALIVE. Biggest things I learned from this bake: ✨ highly fermented dough can feel VERY soft and airy ✨ tangzhong changes the texture dramatically ✨ freezer-chilling before scoring REALLY helps softer doughs ✨ some bakery-style loaves are much softer/higher hydration than they appear online I made: 🪿 one sandwich loaf 🪿 one artisan boule Recipe: - 500g bread flour - 325g water - 100g active starter - 25g honey - 30g butter - 10g salt - tiny pinch instant yeast Tangzhong: - 25g flour - 125g water Quick process:Made tangzhong first → mixed shaggy dough → rested 10 mins → added butter/salt → mixed until smooth and elastic → stretch & folds during bulk → shaped at about 75–80% rise → overnight cold proof → baked the next morning. I baked the pan loaf first and it was difficult to score. The blade kept catching and almost getting “eaten” by the dough. Then the score disappeared during the first 15 minutes of baking! 😭 I even tried rescoring (which I learned NOT to do late in the bake 🤦‍♀️). It created more of a trough than the ear I was hoping for. Before baking the boule, I put it in the freezer for 10 minutes before scoring and it worked MUCH better. That short freezer rest helped firm up the skin so the blade glided more cleanly. I don’t think I would do this bake again, but overall I’m happy because of what I learned. I learned I like the original sourdough recipe a lot better. ☺️ And I can’t wait to try tangzhong again in more recipes.

So satisfied with 7 minutes scoring technique 🙂 Today baked Sourdough country loaf, and Henry’s foolproof loaf🥰

Today was my first real English muffin practice day and I learned SO much. 🪿✨ I intentionally chose a simpler same-day recipe instead of the more complicated 2-day versions the group all did yesterday because I mainly wanted to learn the FEEL and process first without turning it into an overwhelming project. Plus… I wanted to see if I could still get a good result with a more flexible “real life” version. 😅 I also: - ran out of bread flour and had to use AP flour - used discard + instant yeast instead of active starter - skipped the milk powder because I didn’t have any on hand And surprisingly… they still turned out GREAT. 👏 Things I learned today: • what the dough should feel like after proofing before rolling out • ideal thickness for the dough sheet if using biscuit cutters • preferred muffin size and cutter size • how much they should puff before cooking • griddle > skillet for consistency • covering them while cooking creates an awesome little steam chamber • 300° griddle temp worked perfectly for me • about 4–5 mins per side was my sweet spot • bigger muffins shaped from smooth dough balls (like mini pizza doughs) turned out WAY better than the cut biscuit-cutter versions Next time I’ll probably weigh and shape all the dough into balls instead of cutting them. I also learned that prepping my station ahead of time helped a ton: - lightly floured work area - semolina/parchment proofing box - pre-measured dough area - metal pan ready for steaming The biggest surprise?The “scrap dough” muffins from the cutter weren’t nearly as nice as the ones shaped from smooth dough balls and pressed into the ring mold. The smooth dough balls gave me taller, puffier, more bakery-style muffins. The crumb texture ended up soft, fluffy, fully cooked, and honestly better than I expected considering I used AP flour and discard. It was more of a soft bakery-style English muffin texture versus the super holey commercial kind. I’m guessing if I do the group’s overnight ferment version next time AND use bread flour, I’ll probably get:

I first saw crust and crumb academy on YouTube. In February you were doing the zebra bread. I thought that was amazing (except for the pink, I am not into pink) and wondered if I could make it. That is when I found you on Skool. I watched for a little bit, and joined when the baguettes were being done. I jumped in on the pretzel loaf, I had made 5 or 6 loaves of that already and felt confident to make them. Well this weekend along with the English muffins I decided to try the zebra bread. I did 2 loaves. The first one came out, but layers were a bit mixed. So I tried again and it came out with stronger layers. I enjoyed the challenge and I do appreciate this community. I never thought I could make sourdough bread, now look at what I am learning. Thank you @Henry Hunter .