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Crust & Crumb Academy
920 members • Free
58 contributions to Crust & Crumb Academy
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17h •
Focaccia
I needed a confidence booster with my sourdough baking. I do what I know works best for me and that is focaccia, even though it is a high hydration dough. It is very resistant and forgiving. For some unknown reason, it always works to my favor to which I am blessed. I made a savoury one today to be gifted to my neighbor as she just lost her mom. I wanted to do something special for her and she loves my focaccia. She loves it simple and I honor her request. Otherwise, I would have jazzed it up and be creative again. I added rosemary, garlic and cherry tomatoes as this is her favorite. I was fascinated to find these colorful cherry tomatoes and supposedly organic. I wish it looked just as pretty before it wss baked. After baking it, it loses it's attractiveness. This is my opinion only as beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
2 likes • 2h
@Sandy Chong nice work on that focaccia it looks fantastic. You’re very kind to be helpful to a neighbor in need. Giving handmade gifts that take hours to make is much more meaningful than stopping by the store and picking something up. Happy baking…
0 likes • 39m
@Sandy Chong now that you’re successfully making focaccia sourdough you’re very close to making a boule or a batard loaf. Start watching videos about how to preshape and final shape either. You’ll be posting pretty pictures of authentic artisan sourdough loafs soon…👨🍳
18h •
Tartine Country loaf right next to Gaylord’s 75% hydration loaf…
A friend brought me a loaf of bread from Tartine Bread Company. It’s a bread company I really admire. They make bread differently than I do. Every once in a while i reduce my inoculation and slow down the fermentation process the way they do just because I respect their methods and success. This picture is their signature loaf. I can pick their loaves out of a crowd of unlabeled loaves.
3 likes • 12h
@Sandy Chong all of my loaves are very close to 1000g into the banneton. Tartine looks like they are using 1200 to 1300g of dough per loaf. They have big loaves.
3 likes • 4h
@Candi Brown-McGriff Tartine has earned their fame as the most renowned sourdough bread merchant in America because their product is extraordinary. Looks, taste, texture and crumb. They are the best in the business in my humble opinion. I’m in the process of reverse engineering this loaf of their’s I have now. I can’t use it in the classes for beginners yet because it takes much longer than my same day warm dough system. But eventually I’ll add another class to move beginners into slower higher hydration loaves like Tartine makes.
3 likes • 16h
As soon as you are done mixing, before there’s been any rise, put the dough in your 2 liter vessel and with a sharpie pen… draw a line indicating the starting point. Let’s say it’s 3”… if you want a 50% rise just measure up the wall of the vessel and draw a line at 4.5”. If you want a 70% rise measure up to 5.1” and draw a line there.
6 likes • 12h
@Linda Gregory yes… in a straight sided vessel the rise goes straight up. I keep my tape measure handy. I always make the same amount of dough… 1200 grams of flour. So I know when I put my normal batch of dough into my bulk fermentation vessel it is exactly 4” up from the bottom of the vessel. So a 50% rise is 6” up from the bottom of the vessel. A 65% rise is 6.6” from the bottom. It takes the guesswork out of when bulk fermentation is done…😉
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1d •
This Weekend We're Baking Baguettes (Building on What We Just Learned)
This weekend we're going to baguettes. And there's a reason we're getting to them now. Look at what we've done the past two weeks. We learned the couche on ciabatta. We built a poolish for that same ciabatta and watched what an overnight pre-ferment does to flavor and extensibility. Both of those skills carry straight over to baguettes. We're not learning new things this weekend. We're putting the same tools to work in a new shape. That's the method. Each bake builds on the last one. Nothing wasted. Three recipes in the Recipe Pantry. Pick the one that matches where you are. 🥖 New to baguettes? Start here. Classic French Bread Baguette — four ingredients, overnight cold ferment, 72% hydration. Two loaves, cleanest entry point in the pantry. No pre-ferment, no starter. Just dough, time, and shape. https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/french-bread-baguette?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share 🥖 Liked the poolish ciabatta? Run it back. Classic Poolish Baguette — same poolish you just built, in a new shape. 12 to 16 hour pre-ferment, 75% hydration, three baguettes. If you nailed the ciabatta, you already know how this dough is going to feel. https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/classic-poolish-baguette?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share 🥖 Sourdough bakers, this one's yours. Sourdough Baguettes — overnight levain, 75% hydration, three baguettes at 265g. Same shaping rhythm we practiced on the ciabatta couche. https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/sourdough-baguettes?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share
3 likes • 22h
@Candi Brown-McGriff Baguettes are all about structure, handling, and timing—not a complicated recipe. You don’t need anything fancy. Start with a simple dough: * Bread flour * Water (~70–75%) * Salt * Starter That’s it. 👨🍳 What actually makes a great baguette 1. Build structure early Get the dough organized up front (good mix, light development). You don’t need a lot of folds later. 2. Don’t over-ferment This is where most people lose it. If bulk goes too far, the dough gets weak and won’t hold shape. 3. Cold dough is your friend After bulk, put the dough in the fridge. Cold dough is easier to divide, shape, and control. 4. Gentle shaping (this is huge) You’re not squeezing the dough—you’re organizing it into a log. Preserve the gas. 5. Strong initial heat + steam That’s where the oven spring comes from. Simple way to think about it A baguette isn’t made by the recipe… it’s made by how well you protect the structure you built. If you can make a good loaf of sourdough… You’re already 80% of the way to a great baguette.
1 like • 13h
@Candi Brown-McGriff if you can teach a 3 year old to shape a baguette you are an awesome grandmother. My 13 year old granddaughter can make a fantastic batard or boule but she hasn’t even tried a baguette yet.
1d •
Making my loaf taller
I'm baking with freshly milled flour. This is a 70% freshly milled whole wheat, 30% white flour loaf, with a 73% hydration. (it's someone else's recipe). How do I get a TALL loaf?
6 likes • 22h
Fresh milled flour is a different animal—especially at 70% whole wheat. The reason your loaf isn’t tall has less to do with the recipe and more to do with structure and fermentation control. A few things that will make an immediate difference: 1. Build more structure earlyFresh milled flour weakens gluten because of the bran.Make sure you’re getting solid gluten development up front (mix well, don’t rely on time alone). 2. Don’t over-fermentWhole wheat ferments faster and breaks down quicker.If you let it go too far, it loses strength and spreads instead of rising.Try stopping bulk a little earlier than you think. 3. Tighten your final shapeWith high whole wheat, shaping matters more.You need enough tension to help it hold upward instead of outward. 4. Slightly lower hydration (optional test)73% with fresh milled can behave like higher hydration.Try 68–70% and see if the dough holds itself better. 5. Bake with strong initial heat and steamThat first 10–15 minutes is where height is created. Simple way to think about it: “Whole wheat gives you flavor… but it takes away structure.So you have to build that structure back with handling and timing.”
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@gaylord-foreman-9623
Just an old retired guy that likes making sourdough bread…👨🍳
Active 35m ago
Joined Apr 9, 2026