Quick check-in. Where are you at for tomorrow's bake? Drop a comment if you have questions before tomorrow. I'll be here all day to walk you through it.

I love the flavor of lemon. I want to do Henry's cinammon rolls but with lemon curd filling. 1.. do you think it would work? 2.. how should I treat the curd for a filling? I would like more than just a smear across the top. I want lemon zest in the dough and the curd for the swirl if possible. Any hints or tricks? I am nervous the curd is to wet and will cause havoc.

I knew joining Crust & Crumb Academy would improve my bread baking, over time. I knew I would eventually pick up new techniques that would take my bread from good to great. I knew my understanding of the bread making process would grow to the point that I would know what changes I needed to make to produce loaves I could be proud of and create consistently. What I didn’t know is that I would see amazing results in just 8 days! So far: 1) I understand better when to use my starter for the results I want, 2) I’ve seen the difference between putting all of the ingredients in a bowl and mixing them, autolyse and fermentolyse and the benefits of each, 3) have the ability to control the Final Dough Temperature of my dough and 4) how to go from pale loaves to beautiful, brown and blistered crusts. I could go on and on, but these are the highlights and biggest game changers. After numerous failed attempts, I successfully started my first sourdough starter, Dough Licious. Not only is it growing beautifully, but I’ve already baked my first loaf of bread with it. It isn’t just any loaf of bread either; it’s 80% hydration, which has been a struggle in the past. This loaf is the second video. To go from pale bakes to deep brown loaves, I upped my baking temp for the first 25 minutes of the bake and preheated my oven longer. These minor edits to the baking process gave me these drastic improvements. @Henry Hunter, I truly can’t thank you enough for starting this community, inviting me to join, providing the resources for us and being with us each step of the way!

Two questions on yeast. I buy the SAF instant yeast in the one pound bag. Now it takes a bit to use it all up so I have to store it. Before baking I test to make sure it is good. How does everyone store yeast if they buy a bigger size? Pantry, fridge, freezer? Now part B of the question is, if you store in fridge or freezer, do you take it out to warm up a bit? Or does none of that matter just measure and add warm liquid?

The other day I was deep into making Danish pastries. You know how it goes: phone propped up on the counter, recipe pulled up, flour everywhere, hands covered in butter. I'm going back and forth between my phone and the stand mixer. Then I realize something. The milk in my fridge is 2%, not whole milk. Now I'm standing there with sticky hands thinking: Can I use 2% milk? I've got some heavy cream. Could I add a splash to make up the fat difference? Here's the problem. I couldn't ask my recipe. Well, now you can. I put Krusty inside your recipes. Most of you know Krusty. He's our little mascot, our concierge. I've been working to give him a complete understanding of every recipe in the Pantry. And now when you're baking, you can actually have a conversation with him. Click the Bake with Me button on any recipe. You'll see a little microphone icon. That's Krusty. Here's what he can do: - Walk you through the recipe step by step - Keep track of where you are so you don't lose your place - Let you check off steps by voice as you complete them - Answer questions about the recipe you're working on - Convert between metric and volume measurements - Scale recipes up or down - Explain any technique or terminology you don't recognize - Set timers right from the recipe - Tell you if you can refrigerate your shaped cinnamon rolls tonight and bake them tomorrow He knows the recipe. He's not guessing. Ask him anything about it. Why I Built This A member told me the other day she was trying to bake a loaf of bread with two kids running around and one on her hip. She found a recipe online and had to fight through pop-ups, ads, and a life story about someone's grandmother just to find the ingredient list. Then when she finally got to the instructions, they were so bare bones she didn't know where to start. That's why I built this. Because I was just as annoyed with that process as you are. The Recipe Pantry now has over 40 recipes, and I'm adding more every week. I'm pulling recipes from my cookbooks and converting them to this format because it's better. It's cleaner. It's actually designed to help you bake.