Okay… I FINALLY understand the super soft airy dough texture I’ve been seeing from some bakers online. 😳 This was a Tangzhong Hybrid Sourdough experiment using: - active sourdough starter - a tiny pinch of yeast for insurance - tangzhong - honey - butter …and WOW this dough behaved completely differently than my usual sourdoughs. At first I thought I ruined it because the dough felt:☁️ fluffy☁️ marshmallowy☁️ super airy☁️ way softer than what I’m used to But after trusting the fermentation process and resisting the urge to keep adding flour… this dough came ALIVE. Biggest things I learned from this bake: ✨ highly fermented dough can feel VERY soft and airy ✨ tangzhong changes the texture dramatically ✨ freezer-chilling before scoring REALLY helps softer doughs ✨ some bakery-style loaves are much softer/higher hydration than they appear online I made: 🪿 one sandwich loaf 🪿 one artisan boule Recipe: - 500g bread flour - 325g water - 100g active starter - 25g honey - 30g butter - 10g salt - tiny pinch instant yeast Tangzhong: - 25g flour - 125g water Quick process:Made tangzhong first → mixed shaggy dough → rested 10 mins → added butter/salt → mixed until smooth and elastic → stretch & folds during bulk → shaped at about 75–80% rise → overnight cold proof → baked the next morning. I baked the pan loaf first and it was difficult to score. The blade kept catching and almost getting “eaten” by the dough. Then the score disappeared during the first 15 minutes of baking! 😭 I even tried rescoring (which I learned NOT to do late in the bake 🤦‍♀️). It created more of a trough than the ear I was hoping for. Before baking the boule, I put it in the freezer for 10 minutes before scoring and it worked MUCH better. That short freezer rest helped firm up the skin so the blade glided more cleanly. I don’t think I would do this bake again, but overall I’m happy because of what I learned. I learned I like the original sourdough recipe a lot better. ☺️ And I can’t wait to try tangzhong again in more recipes.

Y'all! I have never been more terrified to bake a loaf of bread, but I did it! It’s not perfect, and I need more practice with all the techniques and timing of everything, but it actually looks like bread!! I’m so excited and also so grateful that Crust & Crumb Academy exists so I felt more equipped to even try baking sourdough (because I had just been feeding my starter for MONTHS too frozen by the idea of baking to do anything with it). That, and my wonderful mother in law cheering me on. Tips, tricks, and things I may have missed or could watch out for next time are greatly appreciated! I already know I need a larger Dutch oven (I only had a 2Q but will be upgrading to a 5Q now), cause this girl went straight up lol I’ll let you know how it is once it cools and I cut into it! And the crust was singing! I could cry! Yay to actually baking my first loaf!