Hey friend ☕️
Let me give you a little peek behind the scenes of what happened inside The Crumb Table this week!
We just wrapped up a pretzel bake-along and it was such a win!!🥨🎉 Golden, glossy, bakery-style pretzels coming out of home ovens all over the place. There is something about watching people realize, “Oh… I can actually do this,” that never gets old!
I've already I published our Crumb Crafted Bagel recipe for the upcoming bake-along. I cannot wait to see those chewy, golden rings coming out of ovens!!
Our community grew to 87 this week!! Every new person who pulls up a chair is a gift! And one of our newest members baked her very first loaf of sourdough… and it was a delicious success! First loaf with a beautiful crumb!That’s the kind of thing that makes my teacher heart so happy.
For those who are brand new to sourdough, I spent time this week breaking down what dough hydration actually is. Not in a complicated, baker-jargon way. Since this months challenge is all about hydration experiments, I really wanted to take the time to explain what hydration was to those who may not have known!
Speaking of the Monthly Baking Challenge, it's also in full swing! I’ve been experimenting right along with everyone else, testing, tweaking, pushing things a little. And yes… I made a mistake. Which leads me to this week’s teaching moment:
When your intuition says “wait,” wait.
If the dough is resisting. If the temperature is slightly off. If you know deep down it isn’t quite ready yet. That extra hour matters more than your eagerness to slice it open and admire the crumb!
A lot of sourdough “failures” aren’t because you don’t know enough. They happen because we rush.
Even sourdough microbakery owners can get impatient. Even we can think, “It’s probably fine,” when it really needs just a little more time.
Dough rewards patience. Every time.
So if you’ve been frustrated with your bread lately, maybe it’s not a skill issue. Maybe it’s just a waiting issue. Or maybe a waiting too long issue 🤭
If you’ve been watching from the sidelines wondering whether you could ever figure sourdough out… you can. Truly. It’s not magic. It’s understanding, practice, and learning to listen when your dough whispers, not yet.
I’ll keep sharing what we’re learning over here. The wins. The experiments. The lessons.
Pull up a chair anytime! 🪑😊
Samantha M.
