Last week you boiled bread. This week you're going the other direction entirely. A bagel is dense, chewy, thick-skinned, and low hydration. A bánh mì is the opposite of all four. Paper-thin crust that shatters when you squeeze it. Interior so light it tears instead of chews. Same shape family as a baguette, completely different animal. Two recipes are live in the Pantry. Vietnamese Bánh Mì Baguette. Overnight poolish, bake the next afternoon. Sourdough Vietnamese Bánh Mì. Your starter doing the lifting, day and a half start to finish. Sourdough: https://recipepantry.app/recipes/sourdough-vietnamese-banh-mi Yeasted: https://recipepantry.app/recipes/vietnamese-banh-mi-baguette Same 63% hydration, same 2% salt, same 5% sugar, same 144-gram roll. The only thing that changes between them is what's doing the leavening. Bake them a week apart and you'll taste exactly what your starter contributes, because nothing else moved. Now here's the part I want you to pay attention to. Both recipes call for white rice flour, about 10 percent of the total flour. Rice flour builds no gluten at all. You're putting it in there specifically so it gets in the way of the gluten network. A slightly broken network is what gives you that cottony, tearable crumb instead of chew. Every other flour in your kitchen got picked for what it can do. This one got picked for what it can't. There's also a pinch of ascorbic acid, which is vitamin C. Optional, but do it. Vietnamese bakeries use commercial dough conditioner and this is the home version. A crushed vitamin C tablet works. It tightens the gluten, holds more gas, and gives you a crisper crust. Costs about four dollars for a jar that'll last you years. One more thing, and this is the real reason I picked this week. A bánh mì roll is 8 inches, not 16. If baguettes have been sitting on your someday list because a full-length loaf looks like a professional's job, start here. Every bit of the shaping carries over.

A few weeks back a lot of you were asking about mills. Which one to buy. Whether it's worth the money. How to know you're not making an expensive mistake. I told you to hold off for a minute because I was working on something. Here it is. Crust & Crumb Academy is now partnered with NutriMill. Starting today you get 20% off with our link and code: Link: https://nutrimill.com/Academy26 Code: ACADEMY26 That covers their grain mills, Bosch mixers, and Magimix products. And that's just the front end of it. This fall we're running a giveaway, and one of their mills is the prize. I'm not giving you dates yet because we're still building it out, but it's happening. It's also the first piece of a bigger fall campaign heading into the holidays, with more partners and more to give away. Grain is part of it. A few other things are too. More on all of that soon. Here's the piece I'm most excited about, and it has nothing to do with a discount. NutriMill is sending me their top mill and their top Bosch mixer, and they want The Mill App calibrated to their machines. So when you tell our tool what you're milling on, the numbers it hands back are measured on that hardware instead of estimated. Grams of berries, how much more water the dough needs, how the timing shifts. Dialed in to the actual machine. That's what I've been chasing since I built the thing. If you've been sitting on your hands waiting on me, thank you for the patience. The code works now. Henry⭐🔥 Affiliate links support this community at no extra cost to you.

If you've ever pulled a pan of bagels out of the oven and they came out flat, dense, or wrinkled like a raisin, you're exactly who this one's for. This whole bake-along started because of a troubleshooting post from Leigh Skowronski. She ran into the wall a lot of us hit the first few times, and instead of quietly giving up, she asked. That question is why we're all here today. So thank you, Leigh. Here's what we're covering: - Mixing a stiff dough and why bagels aren't just round bread - Shaping so the hole doesn't close up on you - The boil, and what baking soda or malt actually does in that water - Getting that chew and shine everyone's after What to have ready: - Bread flour (high protein is your friend here) - Your starter, fed and lively, if you're going the sourdough route - A wide pot for boiling - A sheet pan and parchment - Barley malt syrup if you have it, honey works in a pinch The recipe lives in the Recipe Pantry so you can pull it up while we bake. If you're finding value in what we're building here, consider leaving us a review. It takes about 3 minutes and helps more than you know. It allows other bakers to find us and keeps us in the number one position among certified communities on Skool. Thank you. https://proveworth.com/communityprofile?slug=crust-crumb-academy Post your photos in the thread today, the ugly ones too. That's how we all learn. Perfection is not required. Progress is. ~ Henry ⭐🔥