Well, here we are. Bake day. And it landed on the Fourth of July, so let’s make something beautiful today. 🇺🇸 Most of you have your dough or your butter blocks resting in the fridge right now, which means the hard part is behind you. Today’s the payoff. We shape, we proof, we bake. Here’s the game plan: 🥐 Pull your dough, roll it out long, cut your triangles, and shape ⏳ Proof until puffy and jiggly. This is the make-or-break step, so don’t rush it. French folks, you’re looking at a couple hours. Sourdough, yours runs longer, 3 to 5, so be patient with it. 🔥 Egg wash, then bake to a deep mahogany. Pale is underbaked. Let that color build. Now, two things about the heat. 🎇 First, the real one. This heat wave across the country is dangerous, not just uncomfortable. Drink your water, stay cool, and check on the older folks and neighbors around you. Your bread can wait. You come first. Take care of yourselves out there. 🇺🇸 Second, that same heat is sitting in your kitchen. Your final proof has to stay under 78F or the butter melts and weeps out before the croissants ever hit the oven. Find the coolest room in the house. If your kitchen’s running warm, the fridge is still your friend, use it to hold the proof steady. Keep a close eye today, because in this heat they can over-proof faster than you’d think. This thread is home base all day. 🎆 Post your progress right here. Your shaped croissants, your proof, your first tray out of the oven, your crumb shots when you cut in. And if you hit a snag, butter leaking, dough fighting you, proof looking off, drop it in the comments and I’ll walk you through it. I’m around all day. Let’s bake, everybody. 🇺🇸🥐 Perfection is not required. Progress is. Henry ⭐🔥🇺🇸

Pick yours now, because the prep starts before the bake does. I get the same question every time we laminate: "Am I ready for this?" Here's the honest answer. There are two versions in the Pantry, and one of them is built for exactly the baker who's never done this. 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝟭: 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻-𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗽. 350g of flour, 113g of frozen butter you grate right in on a box grater. No butter block. It's one loaf in a 9x5 pan, and it bakes low and slow at 375. This is lamination for the rest of us. If you've never folded butter into dough in your life, this is the one. You'll still get real flaky layers, plus sourdough tang as the bonus. 👉 https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/sourdough-croissant-bread 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝟮: 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸-𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝘂𝗻. 500g of flour, a 250g butter block, three letter folds that build 27 layers, spread across three days. That's 50% butter to flour. That ratio is why they shatter when you bite them, and it's also why they'll test your patience. If you want the real Parisian croissant, this is it. Go in knowing it's a project. 👉 https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/classic-french-croissants Nobody here loses points for picking the loaf. Finishing a bake you can actually finish beats quitting on one that scared you off. Pick the road that fits your weekend. Now the one thing both roads live or die on: the butter. 🧈Cold butter makes layers. When solid butter hits the oven, the water in it flashes to steam and pushes the dough apart into sheets. Warm butter just melts into the dough and you get a dense, greasy loaf with no layers. That's the whole game. 🎯The target is butter that bends without cracking. On the French recipe I give you the window: 13 to 16°C, about 55 to 60°F. Too cold and it cracks and tears your dough. Too warm and it leaves easy fingerprints and smears. You want it cool, firm, and pliable, same firmness as your dough.

Not as flaky and delicate as what real croissant dough is going to give us this weekend, but honestly? Excellent practice. And these little guys came out beautiful. Henry ⭐🔥

One of the things I'm proudest of isn't just watching people become better bakers. It's watching them become teachers. @Candi Brown-McGriff is one of our founding members. Since the beginning, and this week she reminded us exactly what makes this community different. She shared a thoughtful post about flour labels and protein percentages that sparked 96 comments in just two days. That's not just engagement. That's bakers helping bakers understand something that changes the way they bake. The flour conversation is one of those topics that quietly changes everything. Once you understand what those labels really mean, choosing flour becomes intentional instead of guesswork. That's what we're building here. Not just recipes. Not just videos. A community where members teach members, ask better questions, and help each other grow. Candi, thank you for sharing your knowledge and making this place stronger. We're glad you're here. ❤️ Henry⭐🔥 Like and subscribe to our channel while you're there

Morning, bakers. Today's the day. Pull up a chair, this thread is home base. Here's how it works. Drop your photos, your questions, and your wins right here in the comments as you go. I'll be in and out all day answering. You don't have to keep up with the clock, jump in whenever you start. Before you start Three recipes, pick your lane: 🥨 Classic yeasted, the fast one, about two hours start to finish 🌾 Sourdough, the flavor play, for those who fed a starter 👧 Kids version, simple bites, pull the little ones in All three are in the Recipe Pantry. The one thing every single one of them needs: the baking soda bath. That's what makes a pretzel a pretzel. Today's rhythm 🕐 Mix and rest your dough 🕑 Shape, don't fight the gluten, let your ropes rest in rotation 🛁 Thirty seconds in the bath, quick in, quick out 🔥 Bake at 425 until deep golden brown 🧈 Butter the second they leave the oven, salt while wet so it sticks Drop in the comments 📸 Your dough, your shaping, your bakes, all of it ❓ Any question, no matter how small 🆘 Stuck? Tag me right here and I'll walk you through it I baked a full batch yesterday and took a pile of notes I'll be sharing all day. First pretzel always looks rough. By your fifth, it clicks. Ugly pretzels taste just as good. Let's bake. 🥨 Perfection is not required. Progress is. Henry ⭐🔥