c/bakers

TIL that using a kitchen scale for everything, even liquids, is a game changer

I was always a 'cups' person and thought weighing was just for pros, but my sourdough starter got way more consistent after I started weighing the water in grams. Anyone else make the switch and see a real difference in their bakes?

I finally had to choose between a sourdough starter and commercial yeast for a big catering job

The order was for 200 sourdough rolls in two days. I could try to push my starter to double fast with extra feedings, or just buy a packet of instant yeast and get a more reliable rise. I went with the starter, feeding it every 4 hours with rye flour. The flavor was amazing, but I was up all night watching it. Has anyone else risked a starter on a tight deadline?

Can we talk about how many bakeries in my town are underbaking their croissants?

I've tried croissants from 4 different shops in Springfield over the last month, and 3 of them had a raw, doughy center. It's not just a preference thing, it's a structural failure where the layers don't separate properly. Has anyone else run into this and figured out the exact oven temp or time that finally fixed it for them?

Appreciation post: my grandma's sourdough starter from 1978 finally gave out last month

I've kept it alive for 15 years since she gave it to me. Last month in my Portland kitchen, it just stopped bubbling after a regular feeding. I tried warmer water, different flour, nothing worked. Some bakers say a starter is just a tool and a new one is fine. Others feel it's a living piece of history. Has anyone else lost a really old starter and felt that way?

My 4 year old niece asked why my sourdough starter is a pet

I was feeding my starter, Frank, and she saw me. She said, 'You feed it, you keep it warm, you talk to it... that's a pet.' I laughed, but then I thought about it. I do treat that jar of goo like a living thing. It made me realize how much we get attached to our bakes, even the weird ones. Anyone else have a starter with a name and a backstory?

Three years ago I switched to a digital scale for my sourdough starter and it's still the best change I ever made

Overheard a customer call my sourdough 'too sour' for the first time

I was working the counter at my pop-up in Tacoma last Saturday. A woman bought a loaf of my country sourdough, the one with the 72-hour cold ferment. She came back an hour later, not mad, just confused. She told her friend, right in front of me, 'It's good, but it's just too sour for a sandwich.' I've been making that recipe for three years, same starter, same process. Never got that note before. It made me stop and think. My idea of a perfect tang is clearly not everyone's. Maybe I've been baking for my own taste, or for other bakers who get it. How do you guys find that balance? Do you tweak your fermentation time based on who you're baking for, or stick to your guns on what you think is right?

My kid said my sourdough was 'too chewy' and now I'm questioning my whole hydration level.

I've been sticking to 75% hydration for years because a baker in Chicago told me it was the sweet spot, but after my 8-year-old said that last week, I'm wondering if I should drop it to 70% for a more open crumb that's easier to eat.

Serious question, went to that new 'artisan' bakery on 5th and saw them using pre-made frozen croissant dough.

I mean, they're charging $6 each and the case says 'handcrafted daily', so what's the actual rule for calling something that?

Question about using honey in a basic white loaf

I swapped the sugar for a half cup of local wildflower honey in my go-to sandwich bread recipe. The dough was way too sticky, even after adding an extra quarter cup of flour. The bake was fine, but the crust got dark real fast, almost burnt on the bottom. Learned that honey browns quicker and messes with the liquid balance. Anyone have a good fix for this, or should I just stick to sugar?

Appreciation post: My sourdough starter survived a 3-day power outage

We lost power here in Austin after a big storm last week, and my kitchen got pretty warm. I was sure my starter was a goner after 3 days without feeding it in that heat. On a whim, I stirred in a tablespoon of whole rye flour and left it on the cool basement floor overnight. The next morning it was bubbling like crazy, way more active than before. Has anyone else had a starter bounce back from neglect with a specific flour or trick?

Vent: A customer said my croissants were 'dense like bread' and it stung

They left a review online saying they were expecting layers that flaked apart, but got something more like a roll. I checked my process and realized I was rushing the folds, only giving the dough 30 minutes to chill between each one in my warm kitchen. Now I set a timer for a full hour between folds, no matter what, and keep the room cooler. The difference in the final bake is huge, way more defined layers. Has anyone else had a simple timing tweak fix a major texture problem?

Just read that sourdough starters can live for over 100 years

I was looking at a blog from a bakery in San Francisco and they mentioned the Boudin Bakery sourdough starter. It's been going since 1849, which is wild to think about. That means it's older than my great-grandparents. Makes me wonder how many people have fed it over the years. Anyone else have a starter with a cool backstory?

PSA: I switched from a digital scale to a mechanical one for my sourdough starter

I got tired of the battery dying mid-feed and bought a 5-pound capacity mechanical scale from a local kitchen supply store in Cincinnati. My starter's activity actually feels more consistent now, maybe because I'm not overthinking the grams. Anyone else ditch the digital readout for something simpler?

A customer told me my sourdough was 'too sour' and it made me rethink my starter

This regular at my stall said the flavor was so strong it made her mouth pucker, which honestly stung a bit. I realized I was feeding my starter with rye flour every single time, which really amps up the tang. I switched to feeding it with plain white bread flour for the two feeds before a bake, and the difference is huge. The bread still has that nice sourdough taste but it's much smoother now. Has anyone else tweaked their feeding schedule to change the final flavor?

Spent $300 on a fancy digital scale and I'm sending it back.

Everyone says you need one for perfect bread, but my old $20 scale and a steady hand gave me the same results. Has anyone else found that some 'essential' gear is just hype?

Update: My sourdough starter turned 100 days old yesterday and I'm weirdly emotional about it.

After three failed attempts that ended in moldy goo, this one survived a kitchen flood, a week in the fridge when I had the flu, and my cat trying to knock it off the counter, so hitting triple digits feels like a real win.

Showerthought: My old sourdough starter versus the new one I got from a bakery in Austin

I kept my own starter going for about eight months, but my loaves were always a bit flat and dense. A baker friend gave me a piece of his 5-year-old starter last month, and the rise and flavor are just on a whole different level. Has anyone else had a starter upgrade that made this big a difference?

Shoutout to the baker who finally told me to just weigh my flour. I spent two years blaming my oven for bad sourdough.

Saw a bakery in Portland charging $12 for a plain croissant

I was in Portland last week and stopped by a place that had a line out the door, but their basic croissant cost more than my lunch. The baker told me it's because they use 'single origin butter' and do a 72 hour ferment. Is that price fair for the extra work, or are we pricing regular people out of good bread?

Rant: A customer told me my sourdough crust was 'too hard to chew' and it changed my whole bake

I mean, I was proud of that crackly, dark crust, but a regular at my local market in Spokane said it hurt her jaw. She said it straight up, 'I love the flavor, but I can't eat it.' So I dropped my oven temp by 25 degrees and added a pan of water for the first 10 minutes. Now the crumb is just as open, but the crust is way more friendly. Has anyone else had to soften their style after getting that kind of blunt feedback?

Question about using a scale vs cups for my sourdough starter

I finally bought a $25 kitchen scale after my friend in Seattle said it changed her bread game. My starter went from being a wet mess to doubling in size every 6 hours, just by hitting the exact 100g flour and 100g water ratio. Is the scale really that much better, or did I just get lucky this time?

I always thought cold butter was the only way for pie crust, but I was wrong.

For years I insisted on using ice cold butter and water, thinking it was the only way to get a flaky crust. Then a baker in my town, who makes pies for the local diner, told me she uses room temp butter and works it in by hand. I tried her method on a batch of apple pies last weekend and the crust was way more tender and easier to roll out. Has anyone else switched from cold to room temp fats for certain pastries?

I finally figured out why my macarons kept cracking after like 20 failed batches

I mean, I was ready to give up on them for good. For months, every single tray would come out with cracked tops, and I just could not get it right. I watched every video, bought a fancy oven thermometer, even tried aging my egg whites for three days. The thing that finally clicked was resting time before baking. I was only letting them sit for 15 minutes because my kitchen in Phoenix is so dry, but that wasn't nearly enough. Last week, I let a batch sit for a full 45 minutes until the shells felt totally dry to the touch, and they baked up perfectly smooth. It took me almost four months and so many wasted ingredients to learn that one simple trick. Has anyone else had to adjust their rest time a lot based on humidity?

Shoutout to my old bakery boss who taught me to always weigh flour

I see so many new bakers on here using cups for flour, and their cookie recipes are all over the place because a cup can be 120 grams or 160 depending on how you scoop. My boss in Charlotte made me use a scale for every batch, and after a week my consistency went way up. What's one old-school baking rule you still follow that people seem to skip now?