We had two of our grandchildren to stay over the weekend and we were asked to have a screen-free visit. I showed the how to make a basic loaf of bread. They are 10 and six and were completely blown away by the whole experience: the way the dough changes and evolves, they kept saying things like ‘but it’s now smooth and stretch, how did that happen?’ ‘wow it’s, grown so much, how?’ ‘Look how jiggly it is’ They learned the window-pane test. I deliberately started to test two early so they could see the gradual change to the dough passing the test. ‘Grandad, that oven is really hot, won’t it burn?’ Why are you putting steam in there?’ all the right questions. When their bread emerged from the oven,I have never see two such proud children. They loved every second and today was spent with them looking for reasons to eat more bread. They took photos throughout and the older girl is going todo a short presentation at school tomorrow on how they made some real bread. They were both bubbling over with excitement, and no iPads in sight for once. Change will be slow but I really enjoyed watching their fascination and joy in the process. This weekend really felt like the start of a quiet revolution. Just two children with their eyes open, but it’s a small step forward. I have already been booked to do it again next weekend!

I made 1.5x recipe from the Recipe Pantry and baked them in my pizza oven. Some are getting gifted, but I’m holding a pita w/ lemon hummus in my hand while typing. Fantastic chew and seriously delicious! The video is 1 min, but worth watching.

This one is for @JoAnn Amato since we have a shared love for giardiniera! Took my focaccia and folded in giardiniera and Italian beef along with a little bit of mozzarella and Parmesan. Once ready to bake, topped very generously with pizza sauce, pepperoni, more Italian beef and giardiniera, and some mozzarella 🤌🏻 bon appetit!!

I have just read Henry's book, ‘The Loaf and the Lie’. It chimed with me because, in the U.K., we have our own, home-grown version of this crime against food, and I have had a bee in my bonnet about it. It is called the Chorleywood Baking Process and it was developed in the early 1960s by scientists at the British Baking Industry Research Association. They originally hoped that it would enable small, independent bakers to compete with industrial giants. However, the CBP enables the use of cheaper, lower protein wheat and it was seized upon by the factory owners and lead to the near eradication of small bakers in the U.K. The Chorleywood Baking Process is described as a high-speed, no-time, dough system that combines dough mixing and development in a rapid 2-5 minute process. It uses industrial, closed ultra-high-speed mixers to modify dough protein structure, improve gas retention, and reduce fermentation time, while incorporating dough conditioners and additional yeast. Sounds delicious, right? Around 80% of bread in the U.K. uses this process, including supermarket sourdough (seriously). The resulting product has been aggressively marketed using fake claims of healthiness, nostalgia and bringing families together, convincing people that this what bread is. The reality is tasteless, devoid of texture and almost impossible to spread with butter (fake, over-processed butter substitutes are more compatible unsurprisingly). Everything that Henry said about bred is mirrored in the supermarket “bread’ prevalent in the U.K. it scores highly purely because it is cheap, easily available and keeps longer than real bread. The good news is that the U.K. is slowly waking up to the hidden health costs of ultra-processed, industrial, ’faux foods’. The main things slowing the rejection of UPF are cost, accessibility and convenience.

Hey friends, I want to take a moment to talk about safety in this community and how we talk to each other here. My goal is simple: keep Crust & Crumb Academy a safe place to learn, share, and grow without anyone feeling pressured, cornered, or pulled into something they didn't sign up for. Lately I've seen some behavior that raises red flags for me, and I want you to know what I'm looking at so you can recognize it too. 🔒 Our Clear Rule All coaching, support, and conversation should stay inside this community or on the official channels I clearly label and link. No member should be asking you to move the conversation to WhatsApp, Telegram, or any other private messaging app "because they're not active here." If someone you don't really know tries to do that, especially early in the conversation, treat it as a warning sign. 🚩 Specific Patterns to Watch For Here are some patterns I'm seeing that I consider suspicious and not okay here: A member starting out warm and friendly, responding to your baking story or post, and then dropping a line like: 🔹 "am not usually active on skool easier to chat on telegram @[long string of random characters] and i will be expecting your message" 🔹 Or: "this massive wow i will love us to continue this conversation am not usually active on skool easier to chat on telegram @[long string of random characters] and i will be expecting your message." Notice the broken grammar, the urgency ("I will be expecting your message"), and the immediate push to a private app. That's the pattern. Then there are the probing questions. The kind designed to keep the conversation going and personal: 🔹 "What part stood out to you more first, the look of the food or the branding?" 🔹 "What's been the best part of your day so far?" 🔹 "What do you usually like putting them on the most?" 🔹 "What part made it feel perfect to you?" These questions, on their own, are normal. People in this community ask warm, curious questions all the time. The red flag is when they're paired with repeated attempts to move you to a private app or a DM.