I bought one those small DOs that are perfect for soup bowls and small boules. Tried the recipe that came with the DO. Dough was 75 hydration. S & F’s were good. Dough too wet to score so no ear but it did split on the side. Tiny bubble on the loaves. Slight crunch when slicing. Crumb OK. Chewy and tastes good

Help Us Grow Our YouTube Channel We're building something over on YouTube, and we'd love your support. Right now, there's educational content, baking tutorials, and every Thursday night at 9pm CST / 10pm EST, Dave and I go live with Counter Culture. All of that lives on the channel, and there's more coming. Subscribing helps us reach more bakers and grow this community beyond just Facebook. It takes two seconds, and it makes a real difference. Click here and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@henryhunterjr Thanks for being part of this. —Henry

Ever wonder why some recipes call for softened butter and others say melted? It’s not random. They do different things in your dough. Softened Butter When you work softened butter into dough, you’re trapping tiny air pockets. Those pockets give you a finer, more tender crumb. The fat coats flour proteins evenly, which softens gluten development without making things weak. That’s why enriched breads like brioche and challah want softened butter added in stages. You’re building structure and richness at the same time. Melted butter acts more like oil. It spreads fast, coats everything quickly, but you don’t get that air incorporation. The crumb comes out denser and moister. That’s not a flaw, it’s just a different result. Melted butter works well in flatbreads, some focaccias, or anything where you want richness without a lot of lift. Quick Rule of Thumb Want a light, airy, tender crumb? Go softened. Want moisture and richness without fussing over incorporation? Go melted. Neither is better. They’re just different tools. Knowing when to reach for each one gives you more control over your final loaf.

I want to tell you about my book, Sourdough for the Rest of Us. I'm not trying to sell you anything. I gave this book away free for a year. Amazon just won't let me price it lower than about $6.08 It started as an answer to a question in this group. That answer became a blog post. The blog post became a newsletter. The newsletter became a handbook. And then it became this book. It's everything I wish I knew when I started. Not because I'm a baking genius. I've just messed up enough loaves to know where to step and where not to. Bread isn't mystical. I'm not a guru. It's been around for thousands of years and it belongs to all of us. I just wrote it down. If you don't have a copy, here's the link. Read it. It'll help. 📚 https://a.co/d/cYaNTlK

Can't sleep. Won't sleep. Not when the tools are getting better. Here's what just went live in the Recipe Pantry: Every technique section is now a doorway. Reading about Poolish in a recipe? You'll see: - 🎥 Watch the video - 🎓 Take the course - 📚 Read the definition Same for Levain. Autolyse. Coil folds. Scoring. Shaping. All of it. Click "Watch" and you're on YouTube learning the technique. Click "Course" and you're in the Academy going deeper. Click "Glossary" and you get the definition in plain English. No more dead ends. No more "I read the recipe but I don't understand WHY." The ecosystem now talks to itself: Recipe Pantry ↔ Crust & Crumb Glossary ↔ Academy Courses ↔ YouTube Videos You can start anywhere and go as deep as you want. Why this matters: Before: You followed a recipe. You got stuck on a term. You Googled it. You got 47 different answers. You guessed. Now: You follow a recipe. You see a technique you don't understand. You click one button. You learn it. You come back. You finish the bake. That's it. That's the update. 28+ recipes and growing. 132 glossary terms. 8 courses. All connected. Back to building. — Henry P.S. The Pantry is free. The Glossary is free. The Academy is free. No catch. Just better tools for better bread. 🔗 Recipe Pantry: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com 🔗 Academy: https://www.skool.com/crust-crumb-academy-7621