We’re staying on the road we’ve been building together. Baguettes. Pretzel bread. The Foolproof Sourdough Loaf. And this Saturday, we’re going somewhere beautiful. ✨ Poppy seed bread. ✨ Two versions. ✨ One bake-along. 📌 Why two versions? Some of you are deep into sourdough and ready to push hydration. Some of you are still building your starter, or just want to bake bread this weekend without a multi-day commitment. This Saturday, both of you get to bake the same loaf alongside everyone else. 🥖 The Sourdough Version T55 French flour and a touch of wholemeal at 80% hydration. The poppy seeds get folded in during the first coil, which laminates them through the crumb instead of mixing them away. The result is what you see in the photo: ✨ Open ✨ Airy ✨ Flecked with seed ✨ That nutty crunch you only get when the seeds keep their integrity This one teaches you: 🌾 How to handle higher hydration 🌾 How to time bulk fermentation in a warmer kitchen 🌾 Why we use 3.5 sets of coils instead of 4 (Hint: 80% hydration with wholemeal doesn’t want a fourth set. It tightens the crumb.) 📖 Full sourdough recipe in the Recipe Pantry: https://skoo.ly/poppyseed-sourdough 🍞 The Yeasted Version Same flavor. Same beautiful crumb. Simpler timeline. ✅ Same-day bake ✅ No starter required We’ll use the same poppy seed lamination technique with a commercial yeast dough, so you still get that gorgeous seeded crumb without the multi-day fermentation. If you’ve been wanting to bake along but felt like sourdough was a barrier, this is your week. 📌 I’ll have the yeasted version uploaded to the Recipe Pantry by end of day today. Watch for the post. 🛒 What you need to know now: 🌾 Pick up poppy seeds this weekMost grocery stores carry them in the spice aisle. 🌾 If you can find T55 flour, grab it.If not, a strong all-purpose around 11–12% protein works beautifully.(King Arthur AP is the closest match.) 🌾 If you’re baking the sourdough version:Start feeding your starter on a regular schedule this week so it’s lively for Friday night.

Twenty-four hours, twenty-something kitchens, one alkaline bath rule that the room wrote itself before sunrise. Ehsan opened the day from Australia. Joseph fed his loaf to his kids and dropped the caption of the week. Candi pinned the safety note. Matt watched his color go mahogany. Angela pivoted from an over--ferment to two mini boules instead of quitting. Ann walked in scared and walked out with a sourdough pretzel cold-proofing in her fridge. The full breakdown, every name, every photo arc, the scoreboard, the leaderboard, and the teaching moment — all of it is here: 👉 https://deep-kernel-aym7.here.now/ If your name belongs in the roster and isn't, tell me in the comments. I'll add you to the running list. Next Saturday is its own page. Watch the announcement post tonight. Coaching, not judgment. @Candi Brown-McGriff @Ehsan Omara @Joseph Bilodeau @Matt Davies @Robert Caldas @Jill Hart @Laine Hegness @Angela Sides-McKay @Stacey Avraham @Sandy Chong @Ann Snow @Deborah Karaban @Kathee Judd @Patt Stanaway @Colleen Vergara @Judy Lyle @JoAnn Amato @Susie Kendall @Lisa D @Mauvette Bailey @William McNeely @Scott Fisher, Jr. . — Henry ⭐🔥

Started a new YouTube series this week, and I want you to be the first to see it. 🔥 It’s called Baking Through the Seasons, and it’s built around something I see every single year in our community. 🥖 Same flour. 🥖 Same starter. 🥖 Same recipe. Different bread. ☀️ When the kitchen warms up in spring, your starter rises faster.⏱️ Bulk fermentation finishes earlier.🫓 The dough feels softer, stickier, more relaxed than it did a month ago. And most bakers blame the recipe… when really, the room changed. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌱 The first video is live. The Spring Baking Protocol covers the seven adjustments that take you from frustrated to in control when your kitchen starts heating up. I also put together a one-page cheat sheet you can print out and keep next to your scale. It’s the quick-reference version of the whole series. No email opt-in. No signup. Just yours. 📄 Grab the cheat sheet here: https://skoo.ly/spring-baking 🎥 Watch the first video here: https://youtu.be/E5E2sNhgSXE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ☀️ Spring Baking Protocol 🔥 Summer Baking Protocol 🍂 Fall Baking Protocol ❄️ Winter Baking Protocol By the end of the year, you’ll have a full year-round playbook for every kitchen condition you’ll ever face. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 👇 Drop a comment below and tell me which season has given you the most trouble. That’s how I know what to dig deeper on next. ⭐ Perfection is not required. Progress is. Come bake with us. Henry ⭐🔥