(Today we roll out DAILY THEMES! These are intended to be helpful prompts to encourage all of us to share and contribute. Of course, I want you to post any time about anything. So don't feel you have to stick to the daily theme.) So what is I'm Thinking About... 💭 Thursday? It is just a chance to share anything you are thinking about doing, whether a new bread recipe, open baking, bigger batches, an Instagram to share your baking journey, a home bakery with porch pickup, you get the idea. Even if you're not sure you'll ever do it, share it with us anyway! So what are you thinking about?

What would you like to see more of in this community? Vote on your top answer and add other choices and ideas in the comments below. And if there's anything you want less of, let me know that too. Any answers that get more than five votes we'll do more of that immediately.

I baked off one of my better bakes ever Saturday (in my opinion) but am always trying to improve. Let me know what you'd suggest to make this even better. Starter was great. Bulk fermentation was active. Dough was easy to work with. 20% levain (Kirkland AP 90%, WW 5%, rye 5%). I feed it at a ratio of 1:5:5 or 1:10:10 once or twice a day and keep it on the counter. I built it up to the +-100 grams I needed for this bake. 50% Kirkland AP/50% KA bread flour 67% water 2% salt. Mixed all at once, 2 minute quick knead after 30 minutes, lamination an hour later. Dough temp. 79 F. Bulk fermented in 4 L Cambro at 79 F for about 5 hours to a 50% rise. Pre-shaped and rested 20 minutes. Final shape and counter proof at 75-76 for 2 hours. Cold proof for 9 hours. Preheated baking stone and bottom of Lodge dutch oven (not enameled) in oven at 500 F for an hour. Scored, lightly misted, and placed directly on stone covered with Dutch oven for 20 minutes with temp lowered to 450 F. Removed dutch oven and lowered temp to 425 F for 20 minutes. Turned oven off, propped door open a couple of inches and let it cure for another 10 minutes. Sliced after 8 hours (I was out of the house lol). Delicious flavor, crackly crust.

Please welcome our newest community members! @Molly Christensen @Alaina Golden @Samantha Mayers @Darlene Condit @Tauras Paliulis We're happy you're here! 🎉

Sometimes you don't feel like sharing because you know you made dumb mistakes that you know better than to make. This was a formula I never made before, and I was determined to follow it as written even though my intuition told me several times that I should do something different. Anyway, my starter hadn't doubled but I used it anyway. I decided to open bake on my baking stone instead of with a Dutch oven. The 2 hours of bulk fermentation called for seemed too short (and my kitchen temperature was a bit low), but I only extended by 30 minutes. It called for an hour and a half on the counter after shaping, and that's all I did despite signs the dough wasn't ready for cold proof. I'm worried about my starter health and think that may be the biggest contributor. But I could have maybe made up for that with longer bulk fermentation and/or finding a way to keep the dough at 75 F as called for. Bake and learn. This formula is designed especially for the flour I'm using and for a 75% hydration loaf, so I'd really like to try it again and make the adjustments to see if I can get a decent bake out of it. That's why I'm calling this attempt #1. I have a three day weekend coming up, so I'm planning on trying it again. In the meantime I'm going to pay extra attention to my starter to see if I can get it doubling or more in the time it should. I'll try some peak-to-peak feedings at a 1:3:3 or 1:5:5 ratio and watch how it is doing. Keep baking, Bachman. Keep baking.