You’ve seen the photos. Perfect cinnamon rolls on Instagram, glossy and towering, icing running down the sides. And somewhere in the back of your head a voice says, I could never make that. That’s not true. So you buy a lesser version instead. You’d rather drive across town for something you don’t love than make something at home you would. And look, I’m not knocking Cinnabon. Those are good. But it reminds me of how most of us use AI. The first answer comes back and it’s decent, so we take it. We never ask for a second. We settle at the first acceptable thing and call it done. Baking works the same way. The store-bought roll is the first answer. It’s fine. It’s not what you actually wanted. These are Henry’s Big Gooey Cinnamon Rolls, straight out of my Recipe Pantry. I made this batch in a toaster oven with a tangzhong I cooked in the microwave, because I don’t have a stovetop right now. If I can pull that off, you can make these in a real kitchen with both hands tied behind your back. Picture your house on a Sunday morning. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and warm dough in every room. Somebody comes downstairs before you’ve even called them. You don’t have to figure it out alone. Come find us at Crust & Crumb Academy, where we bake together and skip past most of the mistakes that make people quit. The Recipe Pantry is free and yours to use at recipepantry.app. The community is where it all comes together. The recipe: https://recipepantry.app/recipes/henrys-big-gooey-cinnamon-rolls The community: https://skoo.ly/crust-crumb-academy Come bake with us. Perfection is not required. Progress is. ~ Henry ⭐🔥

This weekend, ours has rice flour and Vitamin C in it. And that’s where it gets interesting. We’re baking bánh mì, the Vietnamese baguette. Light. Crisp. Almost shattering on the outside, with a soft, airy interior that’s completely different from the chewy French baguette most of us know. The rice flour helps change the texture. The ascorbic acid, which is simply Vitamin C, strengthens the dough so it can hold more gas and build that beautiful light structure. That’s what I love about bread. Sometimes one tiny ingredient changes everything. This weekend we’re not just following a recipe. We’re learning why this bread behaves the way it does, then baking it together from my FREE Recipe Pantry. If this sounds like a community you could be a part of, come find us at Crust & Crumb Academy, the #1 bread baking community on Skool. https://skoo.ly/crust-crumb-academy Henry⭐️🔥

One morning a few weeks ago I heard a knock. By the time I opened the door, nobody was there. Hanging from the doorknob was a bag with vanilla wafers, six bananas, heavy cream, and a note: “I saw your pictures on Facebook and didn’t know how to ask you to make me one. If you are so inclined, I promise to return the dish.” No signature. Didn’t need one. I knew exactly who it was. It was my neighbor from across the street except she couldn't move that fast so she had to have had her grandchildren deliver it. What’s a baker supposed to do? I made the banana pudding. I even whipped the cream. In the Academy, we spend a lot of time talking about technique, starters, hydration and crumb. But sometimes we forget the simplest reason most of us started baking. We love to feed people. That spirit is at the heart of Crust & Crumb Academy. We learn together, get better together, and occasionally get ambushed by neighbors carrying bananas. If that sounds like your kind of community, come find us here: www.skool.com/crust-crumb-academy Come bake with us.

Next week I'm one of the speakers at Unplug & Play, a free virtual summit for families who want more play, more conversation, and fewer screens in the house. It's hosted inside Connected Through Play, @Mary Nunaley's community here on Skool, and it runs August 16 to 22. My session is called Bread as Science and Story. It's built around a recipe where the whole loaf gets mixed inside a freezer bag, so kids can watch the yeast inflate it with their own eyes and feel gluten form under their hands. No mixer, no special gear, and it works even if your oven's out (mine is, ask me how I know). Every family who joins gets my Kids Can Bake pack: four printable recipes plus a grownup page with the temperature guide and which jobs kids can safely own at each age. Then I'm live Wednesday the 19th at noon Central for an Ask Me Anything. Bring the dough that didn't rise. If you've got kids, grandkids, or a community full of parents, come grab a spot. It's free. 👉 https://www.skool.com/connectthruplay/about?ref=d1d544174fe74ebf92fc971fff0b8ebe And if you're a Skool owner who's ever thought about running or speaking at a summit, watch how Mary's putting this one together. It's a masterclass in how to do it without burning your community out. Henry⭐🔥 Crust & Crumb Academy #UnplugAndPlay

It's time to celebrate each other! In the COMMENTS BELOW, please share a Skool community you think is doing really great things. It can be one you've participated in yourself or one that you've heard from others is amazing. Please do the following: 1. Tell us the name of the community and link to it (affiliates allowed). 2. Tag the person who owns the community. If they are not in the CLASSIFIEDS, then please send them a DM and let them know that you mentioned them here. I promise you will make their day! 3. Describe why the group is so wonderful and how it has helped you. Please DO NOT just copy and paste the About page! 4. Comment on each others comments and scroll through the referrals to see if there's an amazing group you are missing out on! Thanks so much for supporting each other and this community! Please note that any #FriendFriday mentions that are created as new posts will be deleted. Thanks! Please DO NOT promote yourself. 🤨. The entire community is for promoting yourself. This post is for celebrating someone else. 😊