One of the things I love most about these bake-alongs is watching people really engage with the process. @Linda Dubuque did exactly that with her naan bake. She ran the fresh yeast version, paid attention to her cooking surface, and adjusted in real time when she noticed the spatula wasn’t creating the air pockets she wanted. Out came the paring knife. Problem solved. She also caught the small things most people miss the first time, turning the dough during rollout, stacking and covering to keep the butter from soaking, weighing her dough pieces so they stayed within a gram of each other, and nailing the butter timing on the flip. And the most important lesson of the day? “Garlic butter is NOT optional.” Her words, not mine. Linda ended up eating three right off the pan and called it dinner. That counts as a win. Bake. Observe. Adjust. Repeat. Nice work, Linda. 🔥

Earlier today I posted in the ProveWorth community answering a simple question — what specifically convinced me to buy something. I told my story. Bread, this academy, what we're building together here. Here's the post: https://www.skool.com/proveworth-4231/what-specifically-convinced-me-to-buy-an-answer-to-matthews-question?p=d6066037 They pinned it. Top of the entire ProveWorth feed. Here's why that matters. ProveWorth is a platform built specifically to help community owners build trust and credibility with potential members. They created what they call a "proof engine" — a system that verifies and showcases real community reviews and ratings so people can make confident decisions before they join. Think of it as the Yelp of online communities. Crust & Crumb Academy holds a perfect 5.0 rating on ProveWorth. We are the number one ranked bread community on Skool. We are the number one rated community on all of Skool. Top 1% of every community on the entire platform across every category and topic. Every one of those ratings came from real members who took the time to say this place is worth it. Not a marketing claim. Not a badge we bought. Earned, one baker at a time. And now ProveWorth pinned our story to the top of their entire community feed. 459 members over there — most of them community builders and entrepreneurs — are seeing Crust & Crumb Academy right now. I say this not to brag but to make a point. When you show up authentically, tell your real story, and build something genuinely worth belonging to, people notice. We've had a big day. Pinterest rebuilt from the ground up. ProveWorth recognition. And @Jill Hart finally got me to do what she's been telling me to do for months.

You can't remember it all at once. Watch your dough temperature, mind the hydration, don't overwork it, fold every 30 minutes, preshape before you shape, score at the right angle, steam the oven, don't peek too early. The only way you learn to read your dough is by getting your hands in it, over and over again.

"Trust the process and quit rushing things just because they don't come together right away." Jean pulled her Rosemary Garlic Parmesan loaf out of the oven and even her husband noticed the difference. Not dense. Not heavy. Open crumb. The kind of bread she'd been chasing. The breakthrough? She measured by weight, followed the recipe, and when the dough seemed like it didn't want to come together, she fought the urge to add extra water. She waited. And everything clicked. She also turned her sourdough discard into noodles for chicken soup. That's the sourdough life right there. Jean's takeaway for all of us: The dough knows what it's doing. Give it time. 👇 When has patience paid off in your baking? Or when did impatience teach you a hard lesson? Drop your story below. @Jean Kursave