Her name is Patt Stanaway. She’s 75 years old, a retired special education teacher from Michigan, and she’s been a member of this community since January 5th. In two months, she’s made 170 contributions to this community. Her activity grid is solid green. She shows up every single day. Last week she took the Crust & Crumb Kids Academy pizza recipe from the Recipe Pantry into a classroom of children in Detroit. Here’s part of what she wrote me: “Today they thought kneading the dough was the best ever. At first, they were so gentle and I said no, put your body into it. Every five minutes they wanted to touch the dough to do the poke test. When one kid poked his dough he said look, it was ready. Pure joy when they saw their pizza. Was it perfect? Nope. But everyone said they loved everyone’s pizzas. The kids ate one piece and wanted to take the rest home to show it off.” She also wrote this, and I want to be honest with you — it humbled me: “At times I thought to myself, what would Henry do? You are a great teacher and I see your passion. I could see you getting to these kids’ level and guiding their hands, explaining the whys.” Patt — you didn’t need me in that room. You had it. Thirty-plus years of special education teaching, a lifetime of knowing how children learn, and the instinct to let a kid put his whole body into kneading dough and figure out the poke test for himself. That’s not my method. That’s yours. But I’ll tell you what that message meant to me. When I added the Crust & Crumb Kids Academy section to the Recipe Pantry, I was thinking about our members who bake with their grandchildren on weekends. I wasn’t thinking about a retired special ed teacher carrying these recipes into a Detroit classroom and watching a kid take his pizza home to show it off. That’s bigger than what I imagined. That’s what this community can do when the right person picks it up and runs with it. The Crust & Crumb Kids Academy section lives at pantry.bakinggreatbread.com. Personal Pan Pizza, Soft Pretzels, and Bread in a Bag are there right now.

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