Hey Crust & Crumb bakers, Rachel Parker is back with a new episode of Breaking Bread — and this time, she's taking us somewhere we didn't expect to go. Salem, Massachusetts. 1692. You know the story. The fits. The accusations. The trials. The executions. One of the darkest chapters in American history. But what if the answer wasn't witchcraft, mass hysteria, or village politics? What if it was the bread? 🎙️ Episode 2: The Fungus That Cursed a Village — Bread, Madness, and the Salem Witch Trials In this episode, Rachel digs into the genuinely unsettling theory that a fungus called ergot — growing silently on contaminated rye crops — may have triggered the hallucinations, convulsions, and visions that started the whole terrifying chain of events. A fungus so chemically similar to LSD that the symptoms of eating it read almost word for word like the testimony of the afflicted girls in Salem. A cold, wet winter. Marshy rye fields. A village with no idea what was in their flour. And then — when the grain ran out — the devil disappeared. This episode covers: 🌾 What ergot is and how it gets into your bread without anyone knowing 😱 The symptoms of ergot poisoning — and why they match the Salem testimony so closely 🗺️ The geography of the outbreak and what it tells us ⚖️ Why not everyone agrees with the theory — and why that makes it even more interesting 🍞 What it means for us as bakers who love and trust our rye This is the kind of story that makes you look at your rye flour a little differently. Give it a listen and come back here with your thoughts. Do you think the ergot theory holds up? Have you ever felt like there's something wild and ancient in rye that the other grains don't quite have? Drop it in the comments. This one is going to spark a conversation. 👉 Listen now — link in the comments below. — Henry

I just dropped a quick video walking you through 11 filling options for Saturday's star bread. Savory, sweet, and everything in between. The dough is the same no matter what you put inside it. Same technique. Same bake. The only thing that changes is the flavor. A few highlights: Pizza Star. Buffalo Chicken. Jalapeno Popper. Cinnamon Sugar. Nutella and Banana. And that's not even all of them. And these aren't the only options. If you've got an idea that isn't on the list, bring it. The dough doesn't care what's inside it. It just wants to be a star. Watch the video, pick your filling, and tell me below what you're making Saturday. 👉 Recipe: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/henrys-savory-star-bread?variant=yeasted

I have just completed the preferment course, very informative, it gives suggestions on why a preferment would be used, but not when one would not, just speed over control and flavour?

Last week you made Japanese Milk Bread. The week before that, cinnamon rolls. Both of those bakes taught you something specific: how to handle enriched dough. How butter, eggs, and milk change everything about how dough feels, how it ferments, and how it bakes. This week, we’re putting all of that to work. We’re making Star Bread. If you’ve never seen one, picture this: a soft, buttery, filled bread shaped into a beautiful twisted star pattern that looks like it came out of a professional bakery. It’s the kind of bread people set in the center of a table and just stare at before they tear into it. Here’s the thing. It looks complicated. It’s not. If you made milk bread last week, you already have the hands for this. The dough is familiar. The technique is new, but I’ll walk you through every fold, every cut, every twist. Here’s how the week breaks down: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/henrys-savory-star-bread?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share Tuesday - We talk about laminating fillings into enriched dough. What works, what doesn’t, and why your filling choice matters more than you think. Wednesday - The geometry of star bread. I’ll break down the shaping method so it makes sense before you ever touch dough. Circles, stacking, cutting, twisting. We’ll cover it all. Thursday - Filling options and flavor combinations. Sweet, savory, and a few you haven’t thought of yet. Friday - Prep day. Get your dough made, your filling ready, and your workspace set. We go live Saturday morning. Saturday - Bake-along. You know the drill. I’m here all day. Yeasted and sourdough versions will both be available on the Recipe Pantry. A few weeks ago, some of you had never made enriched dough. Now you’ve done cinnamon rolls and milk bread. Star bread is the next step, and it’s the one that’s going to make people ask “you made that?” when they see it on your counter.

Something I've learned after years of baking and thousands of loaves: almost every bread problem traces back to flour. Dense crumb? Flour. Dough won't hold shape? Flour. Switched brands and everything fell apart? You already know where this is going. The problem is nobody teaches flour properly. It's either "bread flour vs all-purpose, the end" or some deep science paper that puts you to sleep. Neither one helps you bake better bread this weekend. That's why I built this course. Flour Deep Dive is six free lessons that change how you think about the most important ingredient in your bread. We start with how wheat becomes flour and work all the way through ancient grains, specialty flours, and reading any flour by feel. Every lesson has a demo bake and a community assignment. You're not just watching. You're baking your way through it. Start with the overview video above to see what's coming. Then jump into Lesson 1 when you're ready. And if this course helps you, do me a favor. Click the little check mark in the upper right corner of this module. It lets me know you're here and it helps the Academy grow. Let's get into it. What flour is sitting on your counter right now?