I have my starter, it is day 5, it is sleep. I'm just in the first week of it, but I have an out of the blue trip, and I cannot take it with me.... Can I left it in the fridge?? Is ginna weaken it?

A lot of bakers use “starter” and “levain” like they mean the same thing. They don’t. Your starter is the culture you maintain. Your levain is the portion you build specifically for the dough you’re making today. That one distinction changes how you think about fermentation. 🫙 Starter = maintained culture🥖 Levain = freshly built preferment for a specific bake Why does it matter? Because building a levain gives you: - better timing - stronger fermentation - more predictable results - better control over flavor and dough strength This is where baking starts shifting from “following recipes” to actually understanding what the dough is doing. Small distinction. Big breakthrough. Perfection is not required. Progress is.

@Joseph Bilodeau nailed sourdough conchas on his first attempt and credited "reading the dough" as the turning point. That phrase right there? That's the whole game. When you stop chasing timers and start watching the dough, everything changes. Joseph just proved it. Strong work, Joseph. Drop a comment and tell us what you're baking next. Perfection is not required. Progress is. Henry ⭐🔥

Every week, someone in here posts a photo of their dough and asks the same question: “Is this right? It seems really wet.” The answer is almost always yes. The fear is universal. And the instinct to fix it by adding flour is what kills the bake. 🥖 This video is for everyone who learned to bake on sandwich bread and dinner rolls, then hit a wall when they tried ciabatta, focaccia, or rustic sourdough. The dough was never wrong. The expectation was. In this video, I walk through: 💧 The hydration spectrum and why the rules change at 75% and up 🔥 Why higher hydration is actually more forgiving on bake day, not less 🙌 The “wet hands, not floured hands” rule 🌀 Coil folds vs. stretch and folds and why it matters for your crumb 🛠️ The three tools that make wet dough manageable This is the foundation for everything we’re baking Saturday and beyond. 🎥 Watch it here:[drop YouTube link] Then meet me back here. Saturday, we’re baking a poppy seed sourdough at 80% hydration. Two paths available: sourdough or yeasted. Pick the one that fits your week. 👇 What’s the highest hydration you’ve taken on so far? Drop it in the comments. Perfection is not required. Progress is. Henry ⭐🔥 𝘿𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪.

Some of you are pretzel-loaf prepping, sure. But I know there's a sourdough boule in someone's banneton right now. Somebody's testing a new focaccia. Somebody's grandkids requested chocolate chip cookies for the third time this week and you said yes. Tell me what else is in your kitchen this week. Drop your vote. Then tell me in the comments what you're actually baking. Recipes, photos, plans for the weekend, all welcome. Henry ⭐🔥