After last week's focaccia blew up (521 comments, 19 bakers, 100% completion), we're shifting gears. This Saturday we're baking Henry's Big Gooey Cinnamon Rolls. These aren't regular cinnamon rolls. Three things make them different. First, tangzhong. It's a Japanese technique where you cook a small amount of flour and milk into a paste before adding it to the dough. That paste traps moisture so the rolls stay soft for days, not hours. If you were here for the focaccia, you already understand the concept of adding something wet to dough and letting it transform during baking. Same energy, different bread. Second, the cream pour. Right before these go in the oven, you pour heavy cream over the top. It seeps down between the rolls, caramelizes on the bottom, and creates this gooey, almost sticky-bun layer underneath. Remember the olive oil brine on the focaccia? Same idea. We pour something over dough, and the oven does the rest. Third, the filling. Brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and a secret weapon: cornstarch. It keeps the filling thick and gooey instead of running out during baking. Rolled tight. Cut clean. Twelve big rolls per pan. The kind you pull apart and they stretch with gooey strings of filling. And here's the part I'm really excited about. This recipe has two versions. Yeasted version: Uses instant yeast. Mix it today, refrigerate overnight, bake tomorrow morning. Straightforward and accessible. If you've never made enriched dough before, start here. Sourdough version: Your active starter replaces the yeast entirely. Longer fermentation, deeper flavor, that subtle tang that pairs perfectly with cream cheese frosting. If you've got a healthy starter, this is the one to try. Same recipe page. Same filling. Same cream pour. Same frosting. You just flip the toggle at the top and the ingredients and timing adjust automatically. No matter which version you choose, you're in. Everyone bakes together Saturday. Yeasted version: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/henrys-big-gooey-cinnamon-rolls?variant=yeasted

We've had a wave of new members join Crust & Crumb Academy over the last few weeks, and I want to make sure every one of you knows three things right out of the gate. 1. You're in the right place. It doesn't matter if you've never baked a loaf in your life or if you've been at this for years. This community was built for people who want to get better. Not perfect. Better. We don't have crumb police here. Nobody is going to judge your first attempt or your fiftieth. Post the ugly bakes. Post the beautiful ones. Ask the questions you think are too basic. They're not. 2. Here's how to get started. Head to the Classroom tab. That's where you'll find structured lessons covering everything from sourdough fundamentals to shaping, scoring, fermentation, and beyond. Work through them at your own pace Then click the check mark in the upper right hand corner to indicate you've completed it. That will earn you points that could be valuable down the road. Jump into the Community feed. Introduce yourself. Tell us what you're baking, what you're struggling with, or what brought you here. This is where the real learning happens, bakers helping bakers in real time. Mark your calendar for Saturday. Every week we run a bake-along where the whole community takes on one recipe together. I post the recipe and plan early in the week so you have time to ask questions and prepare. Last Saturday, 19 bakers tackled Ligurian-Style Focaccia with a saltwater brine. 521 comments. Every single person who started, finished. You don't have to be ready. You just have to show up. 3. Grab your free resources. Download your free copy of "Sourdough for the Rest of Us" It's a great starting point whether you're brand new to sourdough or just want a solid reference to keep nearby. Even if sourdough isn't your thing yet, it covers fundamentals that apply to everything you'll bake.

Saturday Bake-Along: Let’s Get After It 🍞 The Full Story of Our Ligurian-Style Focaccia Bake-Along February 14, 2026 | Crust & Crumb Academy Six days ago, I posted a challenge: Ligurian-Style Focaccia with a saltwater brine. A technique most of you had never tried. Dough wetter than you’re used to. A brine poured over dimpled dough that sounds wrong until you taste how right it is. Within hours, the responses started rolling in. "I'm in, Henry." That was Linda Glantz. Then Tracy Havlik: "I'm most definitely in for this bake!" Colleen Vergara saw the word "brine" and responded with a single emoji: 🤯. Donna Angelo echoed it and added, "And I'm in." One by one, thirteen of you committed before you’d even measured your flour. And then you showed up. All of you. 521 comments across two threads. 19 bakers posting photos and progress. 7 days of questions, preparation, and real-time baking. 100% completion rate. Every single person who started this bake finished with focaccia on their counter. Let me tell you how it went down. The Week Before: Building the Foundation The questions started immediately, and they were good ones. Not "can I skip steps" questions. Real, thoughtful questions from bakers who wanted to understand the why. Leigh Skowronski asked about choosing quality olive oil. Michele Nilson shared that she buys from a specialty shop where the oil is never older than six months, imported from Italy. Tracy wanted to know: metal pan or ceramic? I broke it down. Ceramic heats up slower and doesn't give you that initial contact heat on the bottom. Instead of the oil frying the bottom into a crispy crust, the dough is steaming against the surface. That’s why it sticks. Metal or cast iron. That’s what you want. Sandy Chong asked about adding garlic. Colleen jumped in: "I put minced garlic on top when I dimple." The group debated whether raw garlic would burn. Consensus: press it into the dimples with oil protection and you’re golden. Sandy also raised an important health question about the brine and blood pressure. I did the math for everyone. Per slice, you’re looking at roughly a quarter to a third of a gram of salt from the brine alone. About the same as store-bought sandwich bread. You can always skip the Maldon on top if you’re salt-sensitive.