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Crust & Crumb Academy

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64 contributions to Crust & Crumb Academy
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?
Making my loaf taller
3 likes โ€ข 3d
@Dusty Sessions Mixing for 10 minutes early allows the sharp shards of bran to cut the gluten that is developing. Consider instead mixing briefly. Some folks in the fresh-milled community like to autolyse to allow the bran to soak up liquid and soften. They'll defer adding the ferments for 30 minutes or more before continuing. I have had good results by letting mine rest for an hour - even with the yeast added - before any more mixing/kneading. I also defer adding oil until after the gluten has formed (after the first rise) because the oil can coat the flour and interfere with gluten. But remember - no matter what, it will always be more dense because the flour is 12% fiber/bran. That's some hefty stuff. Regular bread flour is only 2% fiber. You might want to change your ratios - start at 50/50 fresh-milled/bread flour and notice the differences. One more thought: If you are going to increase the rest/autolyse up front, don't change the hydration. See how the bran absorbs that liquid before dropping it down. One change at a time.
The crumb on this bread!
So soft, so light and airy. You would not think this was whole wheat. https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/whole-wheat-pullman-loaf?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share
The crumb on this bread!
0 likes โ€ข 3d
@Betsy Carey https://www.skool.com/crust-crumb-academy-7621/classroom/9cd68d58?md=d620b8528a5b47cbbc7ad27e466520dd
1 like โ€ข 3d
@Chris Pallister This might be a good 'jumping off point': chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.ukflourmillers.org/uploads/ukfm/documents/2025-Wheat-Guide-UK-Flour-Millers.pdf
WORD OF THE DAY: ANCIENT GRAINS
Ever tried einkorn or speltโ€ฆ and your dough just fell apart? Or felt weak no matter what you did? Thatโ€™s not you. Thatโ€™s the grain. ๐ŸŒพ Less gluten strength๐ŸŒพ More fragile structure๐ŸŒพ Way more flavor If you treat ancient grains like bread flour, theyโ€™ll fight you. They need: ๐Ÿ–๏ธ A lighter handโฑ๏ธ Less mixing๐Ÿ‘€ More awareness Watch the video. Youโ€™ll see exactly whatโ€™s differentโ€ฆ and how to handle it. ๐™„๐™› ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ซ๐™–๐™ก๐™ช๐™š ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™จ๐™š ๐™’๐™ค๐™ง๐™™ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐˜ฟ๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™จ, ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™šโ€™๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ฎ ๐™„โ€™๐™ข ๐™™๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฎ. ๐™„ ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ข ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™”๐™ค๐™ช๐™๐™ช๐™—๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐˜ผ๐™˜๐™–๐™™๐™š๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™ง. ๐™Š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™š, ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™—๐™ช๐™ž๐™ก๐™™๐™จ ๐™– ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ก ๐™ก๐™ž๐™—๐™ง๐™–๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™—๐™–๐™˜๐™  ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™š๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฉ. ๐™‰๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™ž๐™˜๐™  ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™™๐™ž๐™จ๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™–๐™ง ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™›๐™š๐™š๐™™. ๐˜ผ ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™š๐™ง๐™ซ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ง ๐™ค๐™› ๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™–๐™ก ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™˜๐™š๐™จ. ๐™Ž๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ข๐™ž๐™™๐™™๐™ก๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™– ๐™—๐™–๐™ ๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™š๐™™ ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง ๐™›๐™–๐™จ๐™ฉ. ๐™„๐™› ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™™๐™ค ๐™›๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ข ๐™๐™š๐™ก๐™ฅ๐™›๐™ช๐™ก, ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ ๐™š ๐™– ๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™จ๐™ช๐™—๐™จ๐™˜๐™ง๐™ž๐™—๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™ก๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š. ๐™„๐™ฉ ๐™๐™š๐™ก๐™ฅ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ก ๐™œ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฌ, ๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™ž๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ฎ, ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ก๐™ก๐™จ ๐™ข๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช. ๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ช๐™œ๐™œ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™. ๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™ค๐™›. ๐™๐™๐™–๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™„ ๐™—๐™ช๐™ž๐™ก๐™™ ๐™—๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ค๐™ก๐™จ, ๐™—๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ก๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™—๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™˜๐™š๐™จ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช. ๐™Ž๐™ค ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™œ๐™ช๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ. ๐™”๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™—๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง. ~ Henry โญ๐Ÿ”ฅ
3 likes โ€ข 3d
I have some spelt grain and so far have had good luck using it in things like waffles and cookies (and probably biscuits and pie crust, but I haven't done that yet).
A Personal Note (Not About Bread, This Time)
A different kind of post today. I'll be back to baguettes tomorrow. Some of you have followed Ryan's track and field journey through posts here over the years. He just won his third Conference Carolinas Championship in the javelin, set the conference meet record, and was named FMU Team MVP for the third year in a row. In three weeks he competes at the NCAA Division II National Championships at Welch Stadium in Emporia, Kansas. Two weeks after that, he receives his master's degree. The NCAA is covering his trip. I'm covering mine. I'd like to be in the stands. A handful of folks have asked how they can help. Here's what I've put in place. Cleared in writing by FMU compliance. None of it goes to Ryan. Every dollar is for parent travel. If you want to follow Ryan's story, his page is here: https://faith-field-flow.lovable.app If you want to chip in for the trip: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-cheer-ryan-at-ncaa-nationals Sharing helps as much as giving. Thank you for being part of this. Back to baguettes tomorrow. โ€” Henry โญ๐Ÿ”ฅ
A Personal Note (Not About Bread, This Time)
3 likes โ€ข 3d
What a lovely message to come back to! May the trip be safe, adventurous and allow you to cheer and dance!
What's a Couche, and Do You Actually Need One for Saturday?
Short answer: no. A couche is a linen proofing cloth that supports dough as it rises and wicks moisture from the surface. It's great for baguettes. For ciabatta, which is already so wet and open, you just need a floured surface that won't stick and won't deflate your loaf on the transfer. The image below covers your options. One note on the Chux pad: flip it absorbent side down so the smooth plastic-backed side faces up. That's the side that holds flour cleanly. You can fold it into pleats between your loaves just like a real couche, then shake it out and save it for next time. Flour generously, keep it flat, and don't stress the gear. The bread will be excellent either way. See you Saturday. The recipe:
5 likes โ€ข 9d
Thanks for the explanation and the shared video. (I also like to view 'Bake with Jack' as well as 'ChainBaker' on YouTube: Good data, nice presentation.)
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Marilee Berry
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1,429points to level up
@marilee-berry-2208
Retired Engineer, soil health enthusiast, singer/musician, video game player, dog mama

Active 2d ago
Joined Apr 9, 2026
New Mexico