Saturday Bake-Along · Week 10

Week of May 11–17, 2026

Poppy Seed Loaf, Two Ways

A 3 AM bake, a knee replacement, a birthday party, and 1,000 members

At about three in the morning, Stacey Avraham logged into the working thread with a starter she calls Bubbles and a plan she wasn't sure would hold.

"Goodnight and good morning bakers. It is 3am almost where I am so I will try to get rest and see you all later. Happy baking."

Thirteen likes stacked under that one comment. Sandy Chong answered first, because Sandy is also a night owl. Cheryl Odden told her to sleep well, big bake day tomorrow. Candi Brown-McGriff asked about her daily feed ratio. Henry told her switching to a stiff starter might help, because more yeast would be available. Then Henry came back with the line that sat on the comment for the rest of the day: "Incredible day and I will be following your progress carefully. Sleep tight."

The community didn't just bake this week. The community showed up for each other across time zones, through pain, around birthday parties, and in the middle of the night.

And while all of that was happening, the sidebar quietly clicked over to 1,000 members.

The Week Before Saturday

The Poppy Seed Loaf, Two Ways announcement landed last Sunday with two paths. A sourdough version at 80% hydration with T55 French flour and a touch of wholemeal, seeds folded in at the first coil. And a yeasted version for anyone not running a starter. Twenty-four likes. Two hundred and forty-eight comments before the dough even got mixed.

Then the recipe site crashed for a stretch of members on day one. Henry troubleshot live. Colleen Vergara walked people through clearing browser cache, because Colleen was traveling and sitting this one out and still showing up to help. David Smith reported back: cache cleared, recipe loaded. By midweek Henry made a call most teachers wouldn't make in public. The default flour in the recipe got swapped from T55 to bread flour, and T55 became optional. He posted the update, owned it, and kept moving. That post collected thirty likes and one hundred and ten comments on its own.

The lessons stack carried the practice week. High hydration intro on Monday. A pre-shape walkthrough Wednesday. A reassurance post Tuesday for anyone scared of loose, wet dough, which Joseph Bilodeau, Deborah Karaban, Donna Angelo, Stacey Avraham, and Sandy Chong all worked through together in the comments. Then Wednesday's post on the moment your dough seems to fall apart after salt, which pulled fifty-three comments and a lot of relieved bakers.

Friday delivered two pieces. A seed poll asked the room what they were reaching for. Twenty-three votes, lots of debate. Then the Friday Night Pre-Flight. Forty-six comments of pre-game roll call. Joseph Bilodeau posted, "Sourdough track chosen. Early bird here. Levain is fed. Still aiming for 80% Hydration." Twelve likes. Jill Hart told Joseph goodnight, see you in the morning. Patt Stanaway said the same. Robert Caldas posted, "Starting tonight, have my twin grandsons birthday party at my house tomorrow, sourdough, it's easy for sure." Thirteen likes. Donna Angelo did the full checklist: sourdough path, levain made, seeds toasted, autolyse done. Patt Stanaway did the same with coffee filled and ready to go.

Sandy Chong dropped the line that became the running joke of the week. To Stacey, who was already nervous:

"Praying Bubbles and Marshmallow Bubbles will both perform well tomorrow."

Sandy has two starters. Both named. Both deployed.

Game Day

Henry opened the working thread Saturday morning with the schedule. Fermentolyse at 8, salt at 9, first coil with seeds at 9:30, three coils through 10:30, bulk through 1, shape by 1:30, cold retard until 5, bake at 6. He also pinned the Fermentation Compass link with a note: "Today's a good day to play with the Fermentation Compass. If you've ever stared at your dough and wondered, is this ready, or am I about to ruin it, this tool helps."

The thread hit 1,791 comments by Sunday morning. It is still moving. Barb Kratzmann was still asking Henry questions about scoring technique nineteen minutes before this recap got compiled.

The morning ran on Ehsan Omara's "Good morning everyone," which pulled eleven likes by itself. Sandy Chong was active before sunrise. Susie Kendall stopped by, even though her plan was to watch from the sidelines because she already had four loaves of sourdough waiting to slice. Nick Nebelsky checked in on the coil fold thread. Patt Stanaway, JoAnn Amato, Briana Rodulfo, and Linda Gregory worked the pre-shape conversation.

Henry posted a mid-morning coil fold video. "Four turns around the clock is the protocol, but you and I know that the dough dictates what we do."

The biggest expanded thread of the day belonged to Stacey Avraham's 3 AM check-in. Twenty-five plus replies underneath that single comment. International members and night owls trading notes. Henry coaching her on stiff starter strategy. Linda Glantz announcing she was trying the stiff starter today too, "so we will see how that goes. The yeast version will be great too." Cheryl Odden circling back to say she'd be watching for results from the different flours. Sandy and Stacey closing the loop in the corner of the thread.

Late in the night, Lisa D posted three photos. Sourdough poppy with more rise than she expected and "somewhat of an ear." She wrote, "Will slice into this and the yeasted in the morning. Goodnight Bakers." Eleven likes.

Barb Kratzmann brought the late-shift coaching moment. She asked Henry about putting the shaped loaf in the freezer before scoring with her Challenger cloche. Henry's answer:

"No, Barb you're not going to be freezing it. You're just going to pop it in to the freezer for the 15 or 20 minutes. All you're doing is firming up the surface so that it's easier to score. Particularly useful in the summer when things are moving quickly or if you have a high hydration dough that will sag."

This is the coaching that separates a Skool community from a YouTube comment section. Specific. Patient. In real time.

The Riffs

Not everybody followed the recipe straight down the middle.

Kathee Judd ran the sourdough version without poppy seeds. "Plain Jane, same ingredients, same method." Posted a clean, beautiful loaf and got nineteen comments and ten likes, then turned around Sunday morning and did it again. "Eaten half already with unsalted butter and cheese for lunch today."

Kathy Judd, a separate member, ran the T55 version. She started the bake Friday night at 10:30, got tired, finished it Saturday. Posted the result with eleven likes and twelve comments. Patt Stanaway, Judy Lyle, Deborah Karaban, and Ann Snow worked the photo together.

Mauvette Bailey took the sourdough path with Emmer for her wholemeal flour. Stacey Avraham planned for black sesame because she loves the dramatic, deeper flavor when toasted. Henry made the same call.

William McNeely carried over from last week's pretzel loaf with an honest first-try post. "It was a mess, haven't tasted it yet. I think I over did the bulk." Henry, Sandy Chong, Linda Gregory, Colleen Vergara, and Kathee Judd all replied. Nothing about this room punishes a rough first attempt.

Real Life Showed Up Anyway

Robert Caldas baked around hosting his twin grandsons' birthday party.

Stacey Avraham baked at 3 AM in a time zone that is not most of ours, with a starter she wasn't sure would behave.

Michele Nilson came back from vacation and tried to find the recipe and got welcomed back by Sandy Chong: "Welcome back, Sweetheart. Missed you so much."

Colleen Vergara was traveling and couldn't bake, and she still helped half a dozen members get the recipe page to load.

Susie Kendall was on the sidelines but checked in anyway, because four loaves of sourdough waiting to slice doesn't mean you stop being part of the room.

Henry baked, then turned around and posted his own crumb on day one. Top-heavy, slight underproof, dry seeds, flying roof. "A crumb shot isn't a grade. It's a conversation with your last bake." That set the tone for everybody who was nervous to post their first attempt this week.

Teaching Moment

The technique lesson that mattered most this week wasn't poppy seed lamination. It was Henry's salt-after-fermentolyse explainer on Wednesday. "If you've been doing fermentolyse with me, you've probably had this moment." Fifty-three comments of bakers admitting their dough had felt like it fell apart at salt addition. The relief was visible.

The lesson underneath the lesson: panic is part of the process. The dough is fine. The baker just has to trust the protocol and keep moving.

And the lesson underneath that one: Henry posting his own self-diagnosis on day one. Top-heavy crumb. Underproof. Dry seeds. Flying roof. He didn't bake the demo loaf and hide the flaws. He baked it, sliced it, and roasted his own crumb in front of a thousand members. That is the culture this room runs on.

Member Spotlights

Full Roster

Every one of these bakers showed up this week:

If your name belongs here and isn't, that's on this scan, not on you. Drop a note and I'll add you to the running list.

The Scoreboard

ProveWorth Certified · Where We Stand

Independently verified by the bakers in the room

#1 Sourdough Community on Skool

ProveWorth 5.0 Certified · 61 reviews, all five-star, 100% recommend rate

Top 1% of communities · Star badge

1,000 members and growing every week

Member Spotlight: Candi Brown-McGriff, "Faith Over Fear: From Cake Baker to Sourdough Innovator"

Featured Review (May 11): Mauvette Bailey, "The Camaraderie of the Virtual Dough is the BEST."

Read all 61 reviews →

Where We're Headed

The Poppy Seed Loaf, Two Ways gave the room two paths and a shared technique. The seeds went in at the first coil. The hydration ran high. The flour swap mid-week tested everybody's flexibility, and the room kept moving.

Next week we keep walking the Road to Sourdough.

If you baked, post your loaf. If you didn't bake, drop a hello. If you're new, the milestone you walked into makes you part of the 1,000.