I just dropped a new video walking through the three baguette paths. Yeasted. Poolish. Sourdough. Same shape. Three completely different stories. If you've been wondering which one to bake this weekend, watch this first. It'll save you from picking wrong. Here's the short version of what's in it. The baguette isn't really one bread. It's three breads sharing a shape. And the skills stack on top of each other. Yeasted teaches you the shape and the score. Poolish teaches you what time and pre-fermentation do to dough. Sourdough teaches you to read the wild yeast. You don't have to walk it in that order. But the climb's a whole lot easier when you take it one step at a time. Three things stay the same no matter which one you pick: 1. The shape. A 14 to 16-inch roll, tapered at the ends. 2. The score. Three or four overlapping cuts at a 30 to 45-degree angle. 3. The steam. The crust sets in the first 10 minutes. Without steam, your loaf can't expand. What changes is your relationship with time. That's really the choice you're making when you pick a recipe. Not a different bread. A different level of time and dough management. Pick yours for this weekend's bake-along: 🥖 No starter? Start here. https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/french-bread-baguette?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share 🥖 Want bakery-level flavor without managing a starter? https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/classic-poolish-baguette?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share 🥖 Active starter ready to go? https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/sourdough-baguettes?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share

This weekend we're going to baguettes. And there's a reason we're getting to them now. Look at what we've done the past two weeks. We learned the couche on ciabatta. We built a poolish for that same ciabatta and watched what an overnight pre-ferment does to flavor and extensibility. Both of those skills carry straight over to baguettes. We're not learning new things this weekend. We're putting the same tools to work in a new shape. That's the method. Each bake builds on the last one. Nothing wasted. Three recipes in the Recipe Pantry. Pick the one that matches where you are. 🥖 New to baguettes? Start here. Classic French Bread Baguette — four ingredients, overnight cold ferment, 72% hydration. Two loaves, cleanest entry point in the pantry. No pre-ferment, no starter. Just dough, time, and shape. https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/french-bread-baguette?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share 🥖 Liked the poolish ciabatta? Run it back. Classic Poolish Baguette — same poolish you just built, in a new shape. 12 to 16 hour pre-ferment, 75% hydration, three baguettes. If you nailed the ciabatta, you already know how this dough is going to feel. https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/classic-poolish-baguette?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share 🥖 Sourdough bakers, this one's yours. Sourdough Baguettes — overnight levain, 75% hydration, three baguettes at 265g. Same shaping rhythm we practiced on the ciabatta couche. https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/sourdough-baguettes?utm_source=skool&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=recipe-share

A lot of you came from Facebook. I run Baking Great Bread at Home over there, 40,000+ members, and I love that community. But I want to be honest about something. On Facebook, you often get one of two things: criticism without substance or compliments without critique. Someone posts a loaf and the comments are either "Beautiful!" when there's clearly something going on, or unhelpful jabs that don't teach you anything. People mean well. They're trying to be kind. But kindness without honesty doesn't make you a better baker. This is a different place. Crust & Crumb Academy is exactly that: an academy. This is where you come to hone your skills and get better. That means when you ask for feedback, you're going to get it. Real feedback. Specific feedback. The kind that actually helps you improve. I'll always be kind. I'll always be encouraging. But you're not going to get empty platitudes from me. If I see something in your crumb, your shaping, your scoring, I'm going to tell you what it is and how to fix it. That's what coaches do. And I want you to do the same for each other. When someone posts a bake and asks for critique, give them something useful. Tell them what you see. Ask questions. Share what's worked for you. That's how we all get better. This is a teaching environment. We're not here to collect compliments. We're here to make better bakers. Perfection is not required. But growth is the goal. Let's get to work. ~Henry