OK so if you’ve seen The Jerk with Steve Martin, you know exactly what I looked like yesterday. 😂 I’m scrolling through Skool, minding my own business, and I notice something next to my name. A star. I’m like… what is that? Had to look it up like Steve Martin flipping through that phone book. Here’s what that star means. And it’s a lot. So sit down. 🪑 ⭐ Top 1% of ALL communities on Skool. Out of 191,000 communities on this platform. That’s the star. That’s what it means. Let that sink in for a second. 🍞 #1 bread baking community on Skool. Nobody else on this platform is doing what we’re doing. Not even close. 🏆 And according to ProveWorth, which independently rates and certifies online communities… Crust & Crumb Academy is the #1 rated community on the ENTIRE platform. Not the #1 bread community. Not the #1 food community. The #1 rated community. Period. We are somebody now! 😂🏃‍♂️ But hold on. Let me be real with you. This is NOT MY STAR. There is nothing I could be doing in this community that would earn this if it weren’t for you. I could be in here posting the greatest content ever written about bread and if nobody showed up, nobody engaged, nobody helped each other, nobody posted their bakes, their wins, their “what went wrong” moments… there’s no star. There’s no 5-star rating. There’s nothing. 380+ bakers in just over two months. That’s what did this. YOU did this. 🙌 Every bake-along comment. Every photo, even the ones you almost didn’t post. Every time you jumped in to help someone before I could get there. Every single loaf that was a little better than the last one. That’s the stuff stars are made of. ✨ I wear this star proudly. But I wear it on YOUR behalf. And I promise to keep it shiny. 🌟 Now the word is leaking out, so I wanted you to hear it from me first. This community, what we’ve built together in two months, is something special. Coaching, not cheerleading. Progress, not perfection. Real bakers helping real bakers get better. Rare air. And we’re breathing it together. 💪🍞

My latest blog breaks down what pre-ferments are and the 5 methods every baker should know — from levain to poolish, biga, sponge, and pâte fermentée. Check it out and level up your baking! 🍞👇 https://bakinggreatbread.blog/2026/02/27/what-are-pre-ferments-guide/

This is it. We're making Japanese Milk Bread today. If you've never worked with tangzhong before, today's the day you learn why this technique changes everything. We cook a small portion of flour and milk into a paste before it goes into the dough. That paste traps moisture and keeps this bread impossibly soft for days. It's the reason Japanese bakery bread feels like a cloud and your regular sandwich loaf doesn't. This dough is enriched: butter, eggs, milk, sugar. It's going to feel different from lean doughs. Softer. Stickier. Richer. Don't panic and don't add extra flour. Trust the process. The stand mixer does the heavy lifting here, and the dough will come together. 📱 Recipe Pantry Tip: At the top of every recipe page, look for the little chef's hat icon on the right side of the nav bar. Click it. That keeps your screen awake so you're not tapping your phone with floury elbows. The crescent moon next to it toggles dark mode if your kitchen is bright. 🔗 The Recipe: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread?variant=yeasted Before you start: - Take your butter, eggs, and milk out of the fridge NOW. Room temperature ingredients matter today. - Make your tangzhong first. It needs to cool before it goes into the dough. If you made it last night, even better. - Clear your counter. You'll need space for shaping. Post your questions, your progress photos, your tangzhong shots, your shaped loaves, your finished bread. Everything goes here so we can all learn from each other. I'm here all day, start to finish. Whether you're mixing right now or pulling your loaf out tonight, this thread stays open. Let's see those milk breads. 👇

"If your bread is out of the oven — WAIT. Let it cool at least 20 minutes before slicing. Then when you slice it, post that crumb shot In the working thread. I want to see all of them."

I used long fermentation + Poolish method Thanks @Henry Hunter for all support and providing detailed information