c/bakers

I finally gave up the convection setting on my commercial oven

I bake at a small shop in Des Moines and everyone swore convection was the only way for volume. After 2 months of cracked tops and uneven crusts, I went back to still air and adjusted my bake times up by 4 minutes. The loaves come out even now, and my morning rush actually finishes earlier. Has anyone else ditched the fan and just played with rack position instead?

Cold proofing in the fridge is a myth, 2 years of sourdough says otherwise

Three years ago I fell for the long cold ferment trend. Everyone raved about 24 hour retardation. I tried it for 2 years straight. Loaves always came out flat. Last week I skipped the fridge entirely. Room temp proof for 4 hours. Best crumb I ever got. Should I just toss my banneton in the freezer permanently?

My mentor's proofing advice was spot on, I owe her an apology

Ngl, I spent two years ignoring my old bakery mentor's rule about cold proofing baguettes overnight. She kept saying the dough needs that slow ferment for flavor, but I was in a rush every morning and just did a 2 hour room temp proof. Last week I finally followed her exact method, 14 hours in the fridge at 38 degrees, and the crust came out crackly with those big irregular holes. Honestly, I felt like an idiot because my regular loaves tasted flat compared to this batch. The texture was so much better that I sold out by 10am at my stall in Austin. Has anyone else had a stubborn habit that a seasoned baker tried to correct, and you only listened after wasting months of bread? What changed your mind?

Found out my grandma's sourdough starter is older than my state

Was digging through her old recipe box last weekend and found a note that she's been feeding the same starter since 1967. That's 57 years, which is wild to think about because it's been alive longer than half the people in my town. She told me it survived a kitchen fire in the 80s because she kept a backup in the fridge, and honestly that's the most practical thing I've ever heard. I've only kept mine alive for about 14 months and I've almost killed it twice already. It made me wonder how many of us actually have starters with real history like that, or are we all just starting from scratch every few years? Anyone else got a family recipe or culture that's been passed down that long?

The old bakery in my hometown closed, and it hit me harder than I thought

I drove past Martinson's Bakery on 5th Street last Friday and the sign was already down. That place had been there since 1962, and I used to stop in every single morning before work just for their honey wheat rolls. The owner, Mrs. Martinson, remembered my order for like 15 years straight, even after I moved away for a while. She sold the building to a chain coffee spot, and honestly I didn't think I'd care that much. But now I'm trying to recreate those rolls at home and they just don't come out the same, probably the humidity or the old deck oven she had. Has anyone else lost a local bakery and tried to chase that exact recipe? I'd love to know if you ever got close.

Hit 500 sourdough loaves sold from my home kitchen this morning

My neighbor counted the tally marks on my chalkboard and it landed on 500 exactly, which felt huge since I only started selling last January after my starter finally got strong enough, so has anyone else kept a running count like that or do you just lose track after a while?

Swapped my stand mixer for a hand mixer on wedding cakes, no regrets

I fought for years that a stand mixer was the only way to get my buttercream fluffy enough for tiered cakes. Then I helped a friend in her home kitchen last month, she only had a cheap hand mixer and I had to use it. Turns out, for small batches under 4 cups of frosting, the hand mixer gives me way better control and I stopped overbeating the cream. My stand mixer still gets used for bread dough, but for cakes, I'm converted. Anyone else ditch the big equipment for a simpler tool in certain recipes?

My sourdough proofing schedule collapsed last Wednesday, here's what saved it

I run a small home bakery out of my kitchen in Raleigh and I've had the same proofing routine down for about 8 months now. Last Wednesday though, my starter peaked 2 hours early because the AC unit kicked on and dropped the kitchen temp to 68 degrees. I panicked because I had 4 loaves already shaped and they were sitting on the counter looking like deflated balloons. So I moved the bannetons into my laundry room where the dryer was running, that spot stays around 78 degrees for about 90 minutes. It was enough to get the dough moving again and they baked up with decent oven spring, not perfect but acceptable. The weird part is that the same thing happened two days later when I tried to replicate that dryer trick on purpose and it failed completely. Has anyone else dealt with a sudden temp shift throwing off their whole bulk ferment timing? How do you guys handle proofing when the weather does something unexpected mid-week?

My aunt's sourdough starter advice wrecked my first three batches

My Aunt Rita swore I had to feed my starter at exactly 7 AM every day or it would die, so I set alarms and stressed for two weeks before realizing city tap water was killing it. Switched to filtered water and stopped obsessing over the clock, now it doubles in size like a champ. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from a relative that set them back months?

Hit my 500th loaf yesterday and now I'm questioning my sourdough formula

I've been baking a boule every Sunday for about 16 months, and loaf number 500 came out perfect. But then I realized the first 200 loaves were honestly not great, so does the milestone even count if half the batch was mediocre? Curious if anyone else tracks their bakes by number and feels like the early ones shouldn't count.

Hand kneading vs stand mixer, I chose the hard way for my sourdough

I spent 6 months using my KitchenAid for every loaf, then switched to hand kneading after my motor started smoking in July. The texture difference is real, my crust gets that blistered look now that I never got with the mixer, and it only adds like 10 minutes of work. Anyone else notice their dough behaves totally different when you work it by hand vs machine?

My aunt's 30-year-old sourdough starter made me question my fancy scale

So my aunt came to visit last week and watched me fuss over my digital scale, measuring water to the gram for my sourdough. She laughed and pulled out this ancient jar of starter she's had since 1993, no lid, just cheesecloth. She said, 'I just add flour and water until it feels like thick pancake batter,' and dumped in a handful of whatever flour was in her bag. Her bread came out perfect, tall crust, great crumb, and mine was honestly a brick. It hit different because I've been overthinking every tiny detail for 2 years and she just vibes with it. Has anyone else had a seasoned baker casually wreck their whole process with zero effort?

My sponge cake fell flat at a baby shower in Phoenix last Sunday

I creamed the butter and sugar for 8 minutes, sifted the flour twice, and still watched it collapse in the oven, so has anyone else had success going back to folding by hand instead of using a mixer?

Pro tip: cold butter tricks for laminated dough that just clicked for me

I kept getting flat croissants for weeks in my home kitchen near Denver, so I tried grating frozen butter straight into the flour instead of cutting it. That one switch made the lamination layers actually puff up in the oven, and the texture finally looked like a bakery's. Has anyone else tried grating butter, or do you stick with the classic block method?

The 4 AM wedding cake disaster that taught me about gelatin bloom times

I was frosting a three tier cake in my tiny apartment kitchen for a Saturday wedding when the raspberry filling turned into a runny soup because I threw the gelatin in cold cream, so I nuked it twice, salvaged it with extra powdered sugar, and now I'm wondering if anyone else has a backup plan for weepy fruit fillings?

Swapped my stand mixer for hand kneading on sourdough

Used to let the KitchenAid do everything for 10 minutes. Now I hand knead for about 15 and the crumb has way more structure. Anyone else notice a difference going manual on wet doughs?

That Saturday my sourdough loaf turned into a pancake made me rethink my starter

So last week I was finally confident enough to bake two loaves for a church fundraiser in Portland. I had my starter on a perfect schedule for 3 days, fed it at 8am like clockwork. But Saturday morning I woke up late and didn't realize the kitchen was way hotter than usual because the oven was on for another batch. By the time I shaped the dough it was slack and sticky, and it spread out flat like a frisbee in the banneton. Baked one anyway and it came out dense with a crust like a hockey puck. I donated that one to the trash can and spent 20 bucks at the bakery down the street to cover my table. Turns out I needed to adjust my hydration down when it's over 75 degrees in my apartment, not just stick to my usual recipe. Has anyone else had their starter double too fast on a warm day and completely wreck a bake?

Had an old baker tell me my sourdough was 'too precious' and it stung at first

I used to baby my dough like it was a newborn. Gentle folding, perfect proofing times, all that. Then this guy in his 70s who's been baking since the 60s watched me one morning and just said 'you're overthinking it. Punch it down sometimes. Let it get ugly.' I tried it on my next batch. Less careful stretching, more aggressive shaping, even threw one loaf on a slightly cooler stone by accident. And honestly the crumb had more character and the crust came out better. I still catch myself hovering over dough but I try to remember his point about not being so precious with it. Has anyone else gotten feedback that made you totally switch up your technique?

Remember when we all used to just guess at dough hydration?

I found an old notebook from 3 years ago where I jotted down recipes with zero measurements for water. Last week I pulled out my new scale and tried to recreate my grandma's dinner rolls from that notebook. Turns out I was using way too much water back then and the dough was always a sticky mess. Has anyone else gone back to old recipes and realized how much a simple scale changes everything?

Found a way to keep my sourdough crust crispy for 3 days straight

I was getting frustrated with my sourdough going soft by the next morning. Tried leaving it cut side down on the board, wrapping in a tea towel, nothing worked. Then I started storing it in a brown paper bag with the opening folded over twice, and it stayed crunchy for almost 72 hours. Has anyone else tried this or got a better system for keeping crusty bread fresh longer?

Hit 500 loaves from my home oven and had to double check

I've been baking sourdough out of my apartment in Portland for about two years now, and last weekend I realized I just cracked 500 loaves total. That number shocked me because I started with a failed starter and burnt crusts, but now I sell to a few neighbors and the local coffee shop. Has anyone else tracked their total output and been surprised by the number?

I used to think the "rest the dough in the fridge overnight" thing was overhyped. Three failed croissant batches later, I'm a believer.

Hit my 1,000th loaf of sourdough yesterday and it finally felt right

I've been baking sourdough for about three years now, and yesterday I pulled loaf number 1,000 out of the oven. It came out perfect, golden crust and open crumb, which never happened with my first 500 loaves. Has anyone else tracked their bakes and noticed a huge jump in consistency after a certain number?

That Saturday in July when my croissants actually looked like the picture

Been baking for about 8 years now and I still remember this one Saturday two summers ago. I had been fighting with laminated dough for months - it would always leak butter or turn out dense. But this one day everything just clicked. The butter block was the perfect temperature, the folds went clean, and when I pulled them out of the oven they had those honeycomb layers inside. Sold all 24 of them before noon at the farmers market in Austin. Has anyone else had a random perfect day like that where the dough just... behaved?

Chatted with a bakery owner in Portland who flipped my thinking on proofing baskets

I was complaining to this guy Tim who runs a bakery near my place about how my bannetons always stick. He laughed and said I was probably dusting them with too much rice flour, like more than 2 tablespoons. He uses a 50/50 mix of white rice and all purpose flour, and now my loaves don't tear at all. Has anyone else tried a different flour blend for their bannetons?