c/bakers

I just hit 500 sourdough loaves and it made me rethink my starter

I kept a little notebook since I began my bakery, and I hit loaf number 500 this morning. For years, I was sure my starter was happiest being fed every 12 hours, no matter what. But looking back, I saw a clear pattern: my best rise and flavor always came after a 24-hour rest in the fridge during our humid Georgia summers. The data in my book didn't lie. I was working against my own routine. Has anyone else found their starter's sweet spot is totally different from the 'standard' advice?

Finally nailed my baguette crust after a decade of baking

I watched a baker in Lyon shape his dough with a much faster, lighter touch and realized I'd been overworking mine for years. Anyone else have a simple technique that fixed a long-standing issue?

Vent: I just baked my 500th loaf of sourdough and the number hit me

I was updating my baking log last night and the total was 500, exactly. I started the starter three years ago during that weird time. It took me 50 loaves to get a decent ear, and another 100 to feel like I had any control over the crumb. That number made me realize how much flour and time that actually is, and I still feel like I'm guessing half the time. Has anyone else had a milestone that made them stop and think?

I had a wedding cake order for 150 people collapse on me last Saturday in the middle of a heatwave.

I finally tried that new bakery on 5th Street and their croissants were all wrong.

The layers were soft and cakey, not crisp and flaky, and the inside was dense like bread. The owner told me they use a 'quick method' that skips the proper chill times between folds. Does anyone actually think a fast croissant is better than a real one?

My kid's science fair volcano taught me a thing about gluten

Last month, my daughter needed a baking soda volcano for her project, so we used a basic bread dough as the 'mountain' to hold it all together. I just grabbed whatever flour was in the pantry, which turned out to be cake flour. The structure totally slumped after the first eruption, lol. It made me realize how much the protein content in your flour actually matters for structural integrity, not just taste. Anyone else have a weird moment that taught you a basic baking principle?

Overheard a customer at the farmers market say my sourdough was 'like a hug from grandma', idk it just hit different

Appreciation post: My $40 bench scraper is now my favorite tool

I always thought a bench scraper was just a fancy piece of metal you didn't need. For years I used a spatula or just my hands to move dough and clean the counter. My wife got me a nice one for my birthday, and I rolled my eyes at first. But after using it for a week, I'm totally converted. It gets under sticky sourdough without tearing it, cleans flour off my granite in one swipe, and I even use it to portion cookie dough perfectly. It's heavy and the blade is super sharp, which makes cutting through foccacia dough a breeze. I feel silly for avoiding it for so long. What's a simple tool you guys love that you almost skipped buying?

I just read that commercial bakeries in the 1950s often used ammonium carbonate instead of baking powder in some cookies, and it blew my mind.

Found it in an old industry journal at the library. They called it 'baker's ammonia' and it was super common for crisp things like ginger snaps because it gives a crazy dry, crisp texture and leaves no aftertaste. Everyone at my shop thinks I'm nuts for wanting to try a batch with it, but I ordered some online. Has anyone here actually worked with it before? I'm a little nervous about the smell while baking.

Shoutout to the baker who mentioned the science of salt in a podcast I heard

They said a specific 2% salt ratio by flour weight is key for gluten strength, not just taste, which blew my mind. Has anyone else tested this and noticed a real difference in their dough's texture?

Just realized my sourdough starter was flat because I was using filtered water from my fridge.

Switched to plain tap water left out overnight and the rise was totally different after just two feeds. Anyone else find their local water makes a huge difference?

A customer at my pop-up stall asked for a cake with 'no sugar, no flour, no eggs'

This happened last Saturday at the farmer's market in Springfield. A woman came up, looked at everything, and then asked if I could make a birthday cake with those three things missing. I just stared for a second, my brain trying to figure out what would be left. I told her I could do a flourless chocolate torte, but that still has sugar and eggs. She said, 'Oh, I just saw a recipe online.' It wasn't rude, but it really showed me how little some folks know about what holds a cake together. I ended up suggesting a nice fruit tart with a nut crust, which she liked. But that moment stuck with me. How do you all handle requests that basically ask for the building blocks of baking to be gone?

Bought a $30 dough scraper and it's the best money I've spent this year

I used to just use a knife to divide and clean my bench, which was messy and tore the dough. I grabbed this metal bench scraper on a whim from a kitchen supply store. It makes portioning so much faster and cleaner, and I use it to scoop up flour too. Anyone have a favorite brand for these, or a different tool you can't work without?

Vent: Bought a fancy new dough mixer that just sits in my kitchen now

I got this high end mixer last year for around $800, thinking it would make my sourdough process faster. It was a huge mistake. The thing is so loud and complicated to clean that I went back to hand mixing after two weeks. I'm basically looking at a very expensive paperweight. Has anyone else bought a big tool they ended up not using at all? What did you do with it?

I tried making croissants with regular butter vs a high-fat European one

Honestly, I always used the cheap store brand butter for my laminated dough because, you know, butter is butter. Tbh, I did a side-by-side test last weekend. The first batch with my usual stuff was fine, but the layers were a bit soft and they didn't get that crazy flaky pull. The second batch, I used this 84% fat butter from a local shop. Ngl, the difference was huge. The dough was way easier to handle when cold, and the finished croissants had way more defined, shatter-y layers. It felt like the higher fat content just created more distinct sheets during the folds. Has anyone else made the switch and found it was a total game-changer for their viennoiserie?

My wife's grandma convinced me to stop using a scale for my pie crust, and it actually worked.

She was over for Thanksgiving and saw me weighing everything out to the gram. She just laughed and said 'Honey, my hands are the scale. You feel it.' She showed me her method, just mixing flour and fat until it looked like wet sand, then adding ice water a spoonful at a time until it held together. Tried it on a batch of apple hand pies yesterday and the crust was flakier than anything I've made in years. I was so sure precision was the only way. Has anyone else gone back to the 'by feel' method for something and been surprised?

Finally got my sourdough starter to pass the float test after two weeks of flat, sad pancakes.

I was about to give up, but then I moved it to the top of my fridge in my warm kitchen and fed it with some rye flour I had left over from last Christmas, and now it's bubbling like crazy and my first real loaf is in the oven.

Warning: My old way to handle a sourdough starter versus using a digital scale

I used to feed my starter by just adding a rough cup of flour and some water. Last week I finally got a digital scale and measured everything out by grams. The rise I got after 3 days was totally different, way more active and even. I learned my old eyeball method was probably way off on the hydration. Has anyone else seen a big change after they started weighing ingredients?

Update: My sourdough starter was flat for a month until I changed my water

I was getting really frustrated because my starter just wouldn't get bubbly, no matter what flour I used. After about four weeks of this, I read a comment online about chlorine in tap water. I switched to using bottled spring water from the store. Within three days, it doubled in size and was finally active. I guess the chemicals in my city water were killing the yeast. Has anyone else had to switch their water source to fix a starter?

Serious question, is anyone else tired of hearing that sourdough is always better?

I ran my bakery for a month using only my sourdough starter and then switched to a good commercial yeast for the same period. The yeast breads sold out faster and got more repeat customers because the flavor was more consistent. When did we decide that more work automatically means a better product?

I just spent three whole days figuring out why my sourdough starter kept dying in the new apartment.

Warning: My sourdough starter went nuclear during a heatwave last July.

I left it on the counter in my kitchen in Austin, and it overflowed its jar overnight, covering my entire counter in a sticky, smelly mess. I had to scrape it all up and start over from scratch with a tiny bit saved from the fridge. Has anyone else had a starter go crazy like that in hot weather?

I read in a library book that most home bakers over-knead their dough by nearly 5 minutes.

The author said it's the top reason for dense bread, so now I set a timer for just 8 minutes, and my loaves are way lighter, right?

Honestly, I had to choose between a stand mixer with a dough hook or doing it by hand for my sourdough. Went with the hook and my loaves are way more consistent now. What's your go-to method?

I swapped half the butter for olive oil in my sourdough and the crust went INSANE