Sam Whitaker Sam Whitaker · March 10, 2026
My neighbor started knocking on my door within a week of my first cinnamon raisin loaf. Not for a slice — for the whole recipe, written down, because his wife kept asking where he’d been disappearing to on Saturday mornings. What Makes This Loaf Different Most cinnamon raisin sourdough recipes either drown the crumb in … Read more
Sam Whitaker · March 9, 2026
Find the best Dutch ovens for sourdough bread baking. We tested 10 models and share honest reviews, comparisons, and recommendations. Complete guide with prices, ratings, and real baking experiences.
Sam Whitaker · March 8, 2026
“Why does the dog get the good bite and I got the brick?” That’s roughly what my neighbor texted me minutes after politely swallowing one bite of loaf number four in my run of 100% whole wheat sourdough attempts, then quietly sliding the rest across the porch to her dog. Even the dog hesitated over … Read more
Sam Whitaker · March 7, 2026
My bread knife is already through the crust before it fully registers what I’m slicing into: a squat two-inch slab, gummy dead center, heavy enough to double as a paperweight. Three days of babying that starter. Every single gram weighed on the scale. A recipe followed word for word, no shortcuts taken anywhere. And this … Read more
Sam Whitaker · March 6, 2026
Most sourdough you’ll find at farmers markets or fancy bakeries is built for show, not for sandwiches. Thick crust. Huge irregular crumb. Beautiful for Instagram. Terrible for actually eating lunch. A proper sandwich loaf changes that equation entirely. After 11 years of baking and three years running a home microbakery, I’ve learned that the best … Read more
Sam Whitaker · March 5, 2026
Open, lacey crumb has a reputation for needing a professional deck oven to pull off at home. It doesn’t — it needs correct hydration, real steam, and a dough you haven’t over-handled. Why High Hydration Dough Is So Frustrating Dough above 80% hydration is genuinely sticky and hard to shape without experience. It spreads instead … Read more
Sam Whitaker · March 3, 2026
Ever wonder why a loaf can look flawless on the outside and still hide a wet, gummy center the moment you slice into it? I found out the hard way, on the day I proudly handed my neighbor what I was sure was my finest sourdough yet, only to watch her knife sink into a … Read more
Sam Whitaker · March 2, 2026
Three winters back, I nearly wrecked a batch of dough late one evening while trying to cover up a kitchen blunder before my husband got home and asked what that smell was. The whole mess started with an unmarked jar, a flash of panic, and a frantic search through baking forums well past midnight. Somewhere … Read more
Sam Whitaker · March 1, 2026
Two loaves of sourdough, baked from the same dough on the same day, don’t lie — even when the internet insists they should. Half of what you’ll read about sourdough water treats plain tap water like a silent starter-killer, and the other half insists filtration is a gimmick nobody actually needs. The first camp gets … Read more
Sam Whitaker · February 27, 2026
A brutal cold snap rolled through the week I’d confidently ordered what I assumed was some kind of “upgraded” bread flour online, and the dry, static-charged air in my kitchen turned my first four loaves — baked over two increasingly frustrating weekends — into something closer to dense crackers than actual bread. It wasn’t until … Read more
