🎬 Saturday Bake Along. 🌾 The dough you said scared you to death. 🔥 By Sunday morning, you'd baked it anyway. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟰 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲. Our Saturday recap is growing and getting better, just like all of you. More bakers. More stories. More dough that got picked up and finished. So I built it a home of its own. Pull up a chair. Read it through. Find your story. Let me know what you think of the new format — I want to hear from you. 👉 https://calm-osprey-9ekj.here.now/ If you baked and you're not in the roster, drop a comment and I'll add you. I read every one. If you were unable to join us yesterday, I invite you to get started with us this week. Coaching, not judgment. — Henry ⭐🔥 @Andrea Walker · @Ann Snow · @Angela Sides-McKay · @Candi Brown-McGriff · @Cheryl Odden · @Chris Pallister · @Colleen Vergara · @Deborah Karaban · @Donna Angelo · @Ehsan Omara · @Gaylord Foreman · @Gwen Roach · @Heather Lattanzio · @JoAnn Amato · @Joseph Bilodeau · @Judy Lyle · @Kathee Judd · @Linda Glantz · @Linda Gregory · @Marilee Berry · @Matt Davies · @Mauvette Bailey · @Michel Jodoin · @Michele Nilson · @Patt Stanaway · @Priscilla Fuesting · @Rhonda Talamo · @Robert Caldas · @Ruby Dack · @Sandy Chong · @Stacey Avraham · @Susie Kendall · @Ted Machart · @Tracy Havlik

🍞 THIS SATURDAY: Rustic Italian Ciabatta After babka week nearly broke the comment counter and marbling bread had everyone turning dough into art, we're going back to basics. Sort of. This Saturday we're baking a proper Rustic Italian Ciabatta. Lean dough, 80% hydration, built on an overnight poolish. No shaping. No scoring. Just a wet, bubbly dough that gets poured onto a floured counter, cut in half, and baked into two crackly-crusted slippers with the kind of open, honeycomb crumb that makes olive oil sing. Here's why this one matters: It teaches hydration confidence. If 80% hydration makes you nervous, this is exactly the dough you need to bake. You can't hurt it by treating it gently. You can only hurt it by over-handling. It teaches preferments. The poolish is 5 minutes of work Friday night and it does 80% of the flavor work while you sleep. Once you understand what a poolish does for ciabatta, you'll start using them in other breads too. It teaches minimal intervention. Every week we've been talking about building tension, scoring, shaping, stretching. Ciabatta is the counterpoint. Sometimes the best shaping is no shaping at all. Three paths to pick from: (check the toggle in the recipe) 🥖 Yeasted with Poolish (classic, beginner-friendly) 🌾 Sourdough with Levain (for my starter folks) 🧀 Inclusions welcome (olives, roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, rosemary, whatever you've got) Recipe is in the Recipe Pantry now. Friday night we mix the poolish. Saturday morning we bake. https://skoo.ly/rustic-ciabatta I'll be in the kitchen and in the thread all day. Perfection is not required. Progress is. Henry ⭐🔥

Ciabatta breakfast sandwich for dinner.

Two versions, same bread family: Yeasted with poolish. Big open crumb, ready to bake tomorrow afternoon. Mix the poolish tonight: 150g flour, 150g water, a pinch (0.5g) of instant yeast. Whisk, cover, leave on the counter. 12 to 16 hours at room temp and you’ll wake up to a bubbly, domed preferment. Sourdough with levain. Deeper flavor, better keeping, adds 2–3 hours tomorrow. Feed your starter tonight, or build a small levain before bed: 10g ripe starter, 50g flour, 50g water. Float test in the morning confirms it. Both one-sheets are live in the Pantry now. Same structure, same 80% hydration, same no-shape, no-score slipper loaves. Pick your path. I’m back from being out of town this morning, so I’m here. Questions about timing, flour, starter strength, whether your kitchen is too cold, whether to do both — drop them below. I’ll be in the thread all afternoon. Recipe: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/rustic-italian-ciabatta Perfection is not required. Progress is. Henry ⭐🔥

Saturday morning in kitchen Buttermilk biscuits waiting for oven to preheat