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 ⭐🔥

Just dropped. Come watch with me. I'll be in the chat answering questions in real time. This one takes the fear out of the number on the recipe card. If you've ever stared at an 80% hydration dough and wondered what you got yourself into, this is for you. See you in the chat. ~ Henry ⭐🔥

Over the years, people ask me all the time: what's the one thing that changes the most for new bakers? No hesitation. Fermentolyse. Back in the early days I was doing autolyse like everybody else. Flour and water, rest, then add the starter and salt. One day I stumbled into what I thought was a mistake. I added my starter to the water first and whisked it until it was fully dispersed, then added the flour. I was supposed to wait and add the starter later. I didn't. Turns out, that "mistake" was the best thing I could have done for my bread. For a long time I thought I'd invented something. Turns out professional bakers had been doing it for years. There's nothing new under the sun in bread baking. Just reimagined. But here's what I know. When I introduce home bakers to this one shift, it changes more for their extensibility, their elasticity, and their hydration than any other single thing they can do. How is it different from autolyse? Autolyse is flour and water only. You rest, then add the starter and salt later. Fermentolyse puts the starter in from the very beginning. The second you introduce flour, water, and starter together, fermentation begins. Bulk fermentation begins. That's where the clock stops being useful. You're not waiting for bulk to start. You're already in it. This also answers a question I get all the time. Why don't you leave your dough on the counter after shaping and let it rise for an hour before putting it in the fridge for an overnight cold proof? Because my bulk began when I mixed the dough. I've got a 45-minute head start on most bakers who are still doing a simple autolyse. If you've been relying on the clock instead of watching what your dough is actually showing you, this is the shift. Watch the video. Start paying attention to when fermentation actually begins. Perfection's not required. Progress is. ~ Henry ⭐🔥

🌅 Good Morning Bakers 🍞 It’s Marbled Loaf Saturday 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆. 📸 Prep shots🌀 Lamination photos🔥 Dough going into the oven🍞 Crumb shots❓ “Is this right?” questions One thread. All day. We bake together. 📍 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗕𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗡𝗼𝘄 🥖 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗕𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 Your dough came out of the fridge cold this morning.Don’t rush it. Let it sit while the oven preheats. When it crowns about 1 inch above the pan, it’s ready. 👉 Watch the dough, not the clock. 🍞 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 You’re either:• Pulling from an overnight cold proof• Or mixing fresh this morning Both work. Look for:✔️ 50–75% rise✔️ Domed surface✔️ A light jiggle when shaken 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹. ⚠️ Before You Start 🌀 Cold dough = clean swirl Warm dough = blur. Work fast. 👐 Adding color will knock out some gas.That’s normal. → Knead 2–3 minutes per portion → Pre-shape into balls → Rest 15 minutes → Roll and laminate Don’t overthink it. 🎨 𝗚𝗲𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁. 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀. 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗱. 👀 What I Want to See Today 📸 Your dough before lamination 🔥 Your loaf going into the oven 🍞 Your crumb shot after slicing Tag me when you post. I’m in here all day. 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗲𝘀: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/?search=Marbled?𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵=𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗹𝗲 🔥 Let’s go. Perfection is not required. Progress is. Come bake with us. Henry ⭐🔥

I'm So Glad I Found My People That line came from @Jill Hart . She wrote it in a reply to @Henry Hunter's "Beautiful loaf" video at the top of the working thread, watching the music, watching the crumb, thinking about twenty years ago when she went to the local technical college to learn sourdough because YouTube didn't exist yet and she decided she really wanted to know. @Henry Hunter wrote back: "Jill, twenty years of chasing the same loaf is the quiet definition of mastery. Most folks think the finish line is a perfect crumb. It isn't. The finish line is the day you stop being surprised by the dough." That exchange is the whole week in two comments. The working thread closed at 1,451 comments and 22 post likes. Across 17 tagged and related threads, the community posted 1,847 comments and 211 reactions between Monday and Sunday morning. The main thread ran at roughly 58 comments per hour for 24 straight hours. This was the biggest single week of Bake-Along activity on record for Crust & Crumb Academy. Here's the thing. The number only matters because of what sits behind it. Every one of those comments is a person in a kitchen, trying something. @Sandy Chong feeding her chickens at 4 AM. @Cheryl Odden crossing her first Bake-Along finish line. @Ehsan Omara running two loaves with ingredients most of us have never heard of. @Jill Hart telling the story about the technical college. That's what 1,847 comments looks like from the inside. The Week Before Saturday The 1,451-comment working thread didn't happen on accident. @Henry Hunter spent the whole week building toward it. Monday he posted "Saturday Bake-Along: Here's How It Works" to onboard anyone new to the technique. Twenty-two likes, 39 comments. Tuesday the video "Worth watching before Saturday" went up, 18 likes and 12 comments. Wednesday was the teaching stack. "The Art of the Marble" pulled 23 likes and 98 comments. "Let's talk about color before Saturday" and "Before Saturday: 3 Questions Every Marbled Loaf Baker Is Asking Right Now" both ran the same day.