I know... totally not necessary BUT it was bothering me so so much lol It looks soooo much better now, go take a look 👉🏼 https://crumb-table-collection.vercel.app/

I'm all about full transparency, so let's take a look at what I did wrong and how to fix it! ✨️💯 **long read ahead** Even sourdough microbakery owners can have a flop every now and then😅 ESPECIALLY when they're so eager to do the experiment that they rush through it and don't think first🤭🤣 so let me tell you how to learn from my mistakes this time around👇🏼 Our monthly challenge at the table this month is hydration exploration - comparing your regular hydration to a new one you dare to try. And although I've handled dough at this hydration before, I've since changed up some of my methods (used to use tea towels as liners and switched to plastic shower caps for convenience) and silly me didn't properly think this one through🤫 just know I immediately ordered some more tea towels after this🤣 Anyway let's get into the nitty gritty... My ✨️impatience✨️stems from my eagerness to see the finished product. In turn I cloud my senses and don't think it through properly 👀Checking for bulk ferment doneness: I temped my dough and each dough was at slightly different temps, resulting in almost exact same bulk ferment time. As I pulled the dough away from the bowl (80% loaf) I noticed the resistance, although it did eventually pull off. And I knew... I KNEW it needed longer. How did I know? Because the other wasn't ready (64% loaf) and I knew they should be done at the same time... BUT, against my intuition, I went ahead and shaped it anyway🤦🏻‍♀️ 1 hour was the difference!! If I would've waited just ONE hour, that would've fixed one mistake. ⏳️Patience⏳️ 👐🏼Shaping: When shaping the 80% hydration loaf I did not flour the surface nor my hands beforehand - and I highly wish I would've. Because I didn't, I wasn't able to get a super tight shaping that I wanted due to the dough sticking to my fingers. I could have also wet my fingers... but in this case with the plastic shower caps, flour would've been helpful 😅 Also 👉🏼, I should have let the dough rest at least 5 minutes after reshaping to allow the gluten to relax, hence the cracking on the exterior crust (also caused by slightly underproofing)

First of all I want to thank everyone who showed up and did the thing!!👏🏻🎉 Your pretzels were as gorgeous as they were delicious (from what I'm told😅)!! You guys did AWESOME and I'm super proud! Enjoy the quick recap video of our day yesterday!! It was a pleasure baking with y'all and I can't wait to do it again☺️🎉🫡

This will be our post to comment and chat on for tomorrow's bake-along!! [🟢UPDATE: I have flourrr🎉] I'm currently out of flour🤦🏻‍♀️ so unless I'm able to get some today I'll have to just watch and interact with y'all 🤣😅 Pretzels were one of the first things I tried when I started sourdough! Funny enough, the first batch I made is still the best one I've made yet - visually at least lol. They were gorgeous because I really took the time to shape them carefully! I can't wait to see your pretzels take shape!! Look over the recipe to get familiar with it before we start! 🥨👉🏼 https://crumb-table-collection.vercel.app/?recipe=af7c7a3b-d76a-4011-9cdd-bd6fdbc30c50

There are plenty of bread communities to go around, but if you haven't noticed yet, The Crumb Table focuses mainly on regular ole artisan sourdough bread! A simple (least I like to make it simple🤣) artisan bread is usually the starting point for every sourdough baker, aside from their first bubbly starter of course! The bread that sourdough bakers are usually determined to tackle successfully! We'll bake other items and share various, delicious sourdough recipes here! BUT at the root, we're a community for those who haven't started yet, those who run their own sourdough micro bakeries, and everyone in between! Think, sourdough bread without the pressure or stress! Every mistake isn't a failure, it's a learning experience! Whether it's a starter that didn't grow or a whole 10 batch of loaves that overproofed😅, we can learn and grow from it! And in turn, help others do the same! That's why this is a table! No stage for performances or boring lectures... just a table of friends sipping coffee and talking about one of our favorite hobbies! We'll have fun bake alongs with sourdough pretzels, scones, bagels, etc... But our monthly challenges will be all about refining our sourdough BREAD making skills!💪🏼 I'll make an official February Baking Challenge post soon, but for now I just wanted to hop on and share my intent for our community table! Specific niches can limit growth, but we're not in a rush! I'm about cultivating a truly helpful and supportive space for sourdough bakers across the globe! One crumb at a time!😊