Hey everybody, I got the honor of being interviewed for the Bake This Book podcast, hosted by Eric Fabin of SourHouse (yes, the folks behind the Goldie starter heater we all know and love). The episode dropped today, and I'm excited to share it with you. This interview was conducted one week before I decided to start Crust & Crumb Academy. I wish I had you all to talk about then. We covered a lot of ground. The early days of baking. How this community came to life. What I've learned from teaching thousands of home bakers. And a few stories I don't think I've told anywhere else. Watch the episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aNNV5BMEQF8?si=HuQebR-MLcs7W5NI 🎁 And Now The Giveaway SourHouse and I are running a giveaway alongside the episode. One winner walks away with: A signed copy of Sourdough for the Rest of Us A pint-size SourHouse Starter Jar A SourHouse Bread Blanket How to enter: 1. Follow @lifeatsourhouse and @bakinggreatbread on Instagram 2. Add a comment to the giveaway post with your favorite tip, insight, or quote from the episode 3. Tag a friend who'd appreciate it That's it. Giveaway closes Thursday, April 23, 2026 at 1:00 PM ET. If you watch the episode, come back here and let me know what hit home for you. Thanks for being part of this community. None of this happens without you. Perfection is not required. Progress is. ~ Henry ⭐🔥

Hi Team C&C, I'm trying to make my first Starter from scratch and after day 4, I keep getting a thick hard layer on top. Does anyone have an idea as to why? I've changed the hydration and even changed the cover on top to both get more air and get less air but the result is the same. I'm using a 1-1-1 ratio when I feed 60-60-60 to make a sourdough starter.

@Matt Burns over at ProveWorth wrote a full piece on the Academy today. The headline: "Crust & Crumb Academy Is How You Should Learn Bread Baking." Here's what got me. He didn't just write about the community. He named members by name. @Priscilla Fuesting. @Tracy Havlik. @Michele Nilson. @Lindsey Christian Your words. Your stories. Your progress. That's what he used to make his case. He got the fermentolyse method right. He got the Recipe Pantry, the Glossary, the Yeast Converter. He got the "read your dough, not just the clock" philosophy. And he closed with the thing that matters most to me: this place exists to help you get better, not to sell you a dream. That 5.0 ProveWorth rating with 55 verified reviews? That's not me. That's you. Every one of you who showed up, shared a bake, asked a real question, or answered one. Read it when you get a minute: https://proveworth.com/blog/best-bread-baking-community And if your name shows up in there, stand up and take a bow. You earned it. Henry ⭐🔥

I’ve been seeing a lot of videos on TikTok especially about plastic bowl scrapers getting frayed on the ends and leeching plastic into the food. Of they’re selling what they say is a better scraper. So it made me think about is what they say true about the plastic bits getting into the food. May I ask, what type of scraper(s) do you have and use most often? What is your opinion on the plastic leeching into the food?

👋 We’ve got a lot of new faces in the Academy this week, and the Saturday bake-along is coming up fast. If you’ve never done one before, here’s what to expect. If you’ve been around a while, this is a good refresher to share with someone you’ve been trying to pull in. Here’s how it works. 📅 The recipe for the week gets announced on Monday, and we post about it throughout the week. Teaching posts, technique breakdowns, reminders, prep tips. By the time Saturday rolls around, you’ve already got everything you need to bake with confidence. 🥖 This week it’s Rustic Italian Ciabatta. 👉 Recipe here: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/rustic-italian-ciabatta ☀️ Saturday morning around 8:00 AM ET, I open a dedicated thread right here in the community feed. That thread becomes the living room for the day. Everyone gathers there. Photos of dough in progress, questions, wins, struggles, troubleshooting, side conversations. All of it happens in one place. 🚫 You don’t need a Zoom link. You don’t need to log in anywhere else. You don’t need to RSVP. You just show up in the feed. You’ve got three ways to participate: 🔥 Bake with us live. Some folks start Friday night, some start midday Saturday. It doesn’t matter when you begin. The group pace gives you a built-in rhythm and you can jump in wherever you are in the process. 🕐 Bake at your own pace. Some members have other commitments and don’t finish until Sunday. Some bake Monday. Doesn’t matter. Post your bake whenever you finish and you’ll still get eyes on it and feedback. 👀 Just watch. A lot of first-timers do this one. Read the thread, watch how people handle each step, see what questions come up, see what the dough looks like at different stages. That’s how you learn the rhythm before you ever touch flour. There’s no minimum participation requirement. 💬 Any questions about how it works, drop them below. No question is too basic. Henry ⭐🔥