CHASING PERFECTION

Baking bread has always been a labor of love for me, but recently, I’ve been fixated on perfecting the elusive artisan white loaf. It’s the kind of bread that catches your eye at a bakery—crusty, golden, and almost too beautiful to eat. After months of trial and error, I’m finally at a place where I can say I’m proud of my results.

This journey has been anything but straightforward. My initial attempts at sourdough—oh, sourdough!—were a lesson in patience and humility. Keeping a starter alive felt like raising a pet: feeding it, watching it grow (or sometimes not), and dealing with the heartbreak of realizing I’d neglected it too long. There were so many failed bakes that ended up as dense, gummy bricks rather than the airy loaves I dreamed of. But every flop taught me something new about hydration levels, fermentation times, and the art of listening to my dough.

Now, my artisan white loaf is where I channel those lessons. It doesn’t rely on a sourdough starter but captures the same rustic, homemade charm. I’ve found joy in kneading by hand, letting the dough rise to its fullest potential, and scoring patterns just before it goes into the oven. Watching the loaf bloom in the heat never gets old.

And then there are crescent rolls—another adventure altogether. Their buttery, flaky layers are a whole different beast from the simplicity of bread dough. Folding and rolling the dough is meditative in its own way, but I’m still working out how to get that perfect crescent shape every time. My biggest revelation so far? Cold butter and a light hand are non-negotiable.

This process has reminded me that bread baking is as much about the journey as the destination. It’s messy, sometimes frustrating, but always rewarding. Each loaf, roll, or experiment carries a story of effort, failure, and growth—and a reminder to savor the little victories.

Do you have a bread-baking story? I’d love to hear it. Let’s swap tips, tricks, and maybe even some dough disasters in the comments!