It's bake day. We're making the accordion pull-apart loaf, the one that tears into pages instead of slices, and this is the working thread. Filling picks, progress shots, questions, disasters. It all goes here. I'll be in and out all day. First call to make: your filling. Cinnamon brown sugar is the default. The template also takes coconut, almond, pistachio, pecan, or chocolate at 100g each. Want savory? Garlic butter and cheddar is the version in the photos. Post your pick before you mix. Running behind? Doesn't matter. Start when your morning allows and use the times as spacing, not deadlines.'' 3 things that will save your bake: 1. Chill the filling before you spread it. Warm filling slides out the ends and welds your layers shut. 2. Stop your cuts 1 inch from the end. That hinge holds the stack together when you fold. 3. Cut side faces up in the pan. That's the whole trick. Full recipe with timers is in the pantry: [PANTRY LINK] Post a photo at every checkpoint. Shaped, proofed, baked, torn open. The messy middle shots teach this group more than the beauty shots ever will. So let's hear it: what's going in your loaf? https://recipepantry.app/recipes/accordion-pull-apart-loaf

Say hello to @Teresa Andabaka, joining us all the way from Croatia, and @Doug M, who builds AI tools by trade and is now here to build better bread. That's what I love about this community. Bakers come from every corner of the world and every walk of life, and the dough doesn't care what you do for a living. It treats us all the same. Tereza, Doug, here's how to hit the ground running: Drop an intro in the comments below. Tell us where you're baking from, what you're working on right now, and what you want to get better at. Flat loaves, sticky dough, a starter that won't wake up, whatever it is, somebody here has fought that battle and won. Then head to the Classroom and start with Baker's Fundamentals if you're newer, or Sourdough Fundamentals if you've already got a starter going. And if you're around Saturday, the Bake-Along is the fastest way to feel at home here. You bake, we bake, everybody learns. One thing you'll figure out quick: this isn't a place where you post a photo and hope for likes. This is where bakers come not to get likes, but to get better. Perfection is not required. Progress is. Welcome aboard. Now go introduce yourselves.

I've been quiet the last few days and it's been sitting on me. So let me pull up a chair and tell you where I've been, because you deserve to know. I've been on the phone. I've been in my inbox. I've been locking down things for this fall that I've wanted for us for a long time, and some of it is finally real. Here's what I can tell you. We're going to mill our own grain. Crust & Crumb Academy is now an official NutriMill partner. That part is signed. What it means for you is that home milling stops being the thing you read about and becomes the thing you actually do, with instruction, with settings that work, and with your own hand on the machine. I'm building a milling school for us this fall. Six weeks, start to finish, from the whole berry all the way to a holiday loaf made with flour you milled yourself. There are giveaways attached to it and I'm not going to describe how they work until the ink is dry, because I'm not going to promise you something and then walk it back. When it's locked, you'll hear it here first. I'm also talking with a family grain farm out west about getting real ancient grain into our hands for honest side by side testing. Nothing signed yet. The day it is, I'll tell you. The Holiday Bake is finished. Thirty five holiday recipes, and thirteen of them brand new, sitting in the Recipe Pantry. Panettone. Stollen. Fruitcake, including a sourdough version with no chemical leavening in it. Bremer Klaben. Julekaka. Danish kringle. A Christmas tree pull apart the kids can help with. It also has a make ahead calendar, because four of you asked me the same question in different words: when do I start? Now you'll know. And we've got nine bake along Saturdays running from September into the end of December, so nobody's doing this alone. https://skoo.ly/s/holiday-bake The Holiday Shoppers Guide is about 85 percent done. This one's a curated list, and I want to be clear about what curated means here. Nothing goes on it that I don't personally own and use. If it's not in my kitchen, it's not on the list. I'm working out discounts on those items that aren't available to the general public, and that's taking some phone calls, which is part of why I've been scarce.

This is the loaf that tears like pages of a book. No slicing. You just pull, and it gives you a whole sheet of soft bread with filling in every layer. Here's the part I like best. One dough, and YOU pick the filling: 🍂 Cinnamon brown sugar (the default, every pantry has it) 🥥 Coconut, the classic bakery version 🌰 Almond, pistachio, pecan, or chocolate 🧄 Or go savory with garlic butter and cheddar Same dough. Same shape. Seven different loaves in the photo thread. That's the fun. The skill we're learning is the hinge cut. You flatten the filled log, slice it lengthwise, but stop one inch short of the end so the halves stay connected. Stack, cut again, fold it like an accordion, and stand the layers upright in the pan. That one move turns a plain swirl loaf into something that looks like it came out of a bakery case. Full recipe, with the filling template and every variation, will be in the Pantry Tomorrow: Drop your filling pick in the comments so I know what's coming. And if you cut all the way through the log on your first try, welcome to the club. It bakes fine anyway, and the recipe shows you the fix. Henry⭐🔥

I want to tell you about two things that went live this week. One I built because somebody made me mad. The other because you deserve a tool that holds up when you lean on it. The Baker’s Toolbox A few days ago I saw an ad from a company I’d call a direct competitor. They were touting their ability to help you find markets, and one other thing, and charging for it. I went and looked at the rest of what they offered. There wasn’t much. A market list and a monthly bill. Nothing about the law, nothing about pricing, nothing about actually running the business. That bothered me. So we built the whole thing, and we made it free. Go to fromoventomarket.com/tools. No email, no card, no catch. Cottage Food Law Checker. Pick your state. You get your sales cap, what you’re allowed to sell, what has to be on the label, and who regulates it. All 50 states, checked against the actual statutes, not somebody’s blog post from 2019. Most bakers who run it find out they’re allowed to do more than they thought. Farmers Market Finder. 11,235 farmers markets and farm stands on a searchable map, by state. Split two ways: markets you can apply to, and farm stands most bakers never think to call. The farm stands are the sleeper. Half of them would love a bread vendor and have never been asked. Price Your Loaf. Real cost, your floor price, and what you have to charge to actually pay yourself. Not a guess. A Label Requirements Checker is next. Build a compliant label line by line before you print a single sticker. That’s all before you spend a dime. Send it to anybody who’s ever asked you “how do I start.” Recipe Pantry Pro, tightened up While we were in there, we spent two nights on the Pro library. Not new recipes. The plumbing underneath the ones you already have. If you’re a member, here’s what changed for you: Labels now list every ingredient in the finished product, fillings and mix-ins and toppings included, and the Contains line declares allergens per version. Pick Apple Walnut on the galette, print, and Tree Nuts is on the label. It also follows the version you selected on the recipe page instead of resetting to the first one. That one mattered.