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Quick Summary
Quick Summary
Crust & Crumb Academy offers free structured courses on sourdough and yeasted bread, with weekly challenges and real feedback from the community instead of just compliments. Members consistently praise it for teaching the "why" behind techniques and answering questions thoroughly. It works for both beginners and experienced bakers who want to actually improve rather than collect recipes.
Written by the community owners
A: Two words: coaching, not cheerleading. Most baking groups online will give you a heart emoji and tell you everything looks great. We give you honest feedback that actually makes you a better baker. Founded by Henry Hunter, author of "Sourdough for the Rest of Us" and "From Oven to Market," the Academy covers sourdough, yeasted breads, enriched doughs, discard recipes, and even how to sell at farmers markets. Weekly Saturday bake-alongs, 65+ recipes in our Recipe Pantry app, and structured courses that take you from first loaf to confident baker.
A: Yes. The core community, courses, weekly Saturday bake-alongs, Recipe Pantry app, and access to 600+ fellow bakers are completely free. No trial period. No bait and switch. We also offer premium courses like "From Oven to Market" for bakers ready to turn their passion into a farmers market bread business. But most members never pay a dime and still completely transform their baking. We believe great bread education shouldn't have a price tag on it.
A: Everyone. Seriously. If you’ve never baked a loaf in your life, we’ll walk you through it step by step. If you’ve been baking for years and want to sharpen your skills, we’ve got advanced courses and a community that will push you. If you want to sell bread at a farmers market, we literally wrote the book on it. Beginners, hobbyists, aspiring cottage bakers… all welcome. The only requirement is that you’re willing to learn. Perfection is not required. Progress is.
Crust & Crumb Academy sits at 5.0/5 across 55 member reviews. That's a solid track record. Nearly all reviewers (100%) say they'd recommend it. The biggest themes across reviews are community support and expert knowledge. Members keep coming back to those two things.
Crust & Crumb Academy is a food community on Skool with 55 verified member reviews and a 5.0/5 rating.
We believe perfection is not required and gatekeeping has no place in bread baking. Our mission is to help home bakers build real skills through structured learning, honest feedback, and a community that coaches rather than just cheers. We value progress over perfection, patience over shortcuts, and helping each other get better over showing off.
Perfection Is Not Required Progress matters more than perfect loaves. Every bake teaches you something. We celebrate growth, not just Instagram-worthy results.
No Gatekeeping Knowledge is meant to be shared. We don’t hoard techniques or make beginners feel stupid for asking questions. If you want to learn, you belong here.
Trust the Process Bread takes time. Skill takes time. We teach patience and help you understand the “why” so you stop chasing shortcuts that don’t work.
Coaching Over Cheerleading “Looks great!” doesn’t help you improve. We give honest, constructive feedback because we actually want you to get better.
Read Your Dough, Not Just the Clock Recipes are guides, not laws. We teach you to understand what your dough is telling you so you can adapt to your kitchen, your schedule, and your ingredients.
Community Over Competition We’re not here to show off. We’re here to help each other. Your win is our win. Your struggle is something we’ve probably faced too.
Show Up and Bake Learning happens by doing. We encourage you to get your hands in dough, make mistakes, ask questions, and keep going.
From someone who follows recipes and hopes for the best to a baker who understands the process, trusts their hands, and never needs to guess again.
Your time has value. See how this community stacks up.
Saves ~3 hours per week vs. going solo
That's 13.0 hrs per month — worth about $650 of your time
Crust & Crumb Academy is free to join. At 3 hours per week, you're investing about 13.0 hrs per month of your time (worth roughly $650 at your rate). Compared to searching for the same answers on your own (6 hrs/wk), the community saves you about 3 hours each week by putting everything in one place.
This is a coaching culture, not a cheerleading culture. We celebrate wins, but we also help you troubleshoot failures. Questions are encouraged. Mistakes are learning opportunities. Nobody here is going to make you feel dumb for asking why your crumb is dense or your starter isn’t rising. We’re bakers helping bakers get better. No egos. No gatekeeping. Just bread.
Henry Hunter is the founder of Baking Great Bread at Home, a 50,000+ member Facebook community, and the author of "Sourdough for the Rest of Us," "From Oven to Market," and "BREAD: A Journey Through History, Science, Art, and Community." With 26 years of marketing experience at CBS and Fox, Henry built Crust & Crumb Academy to give home bakers a real path to improvement. He's supported by Terry, his right hand, and a growing community of bakers committed to learning together.
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