Paul

Separating a competent bakery from an amateur operation comes down to understanding fermentation, knowing when to pull bread from the oven rather than guessing, and having the discipline to source quality ingredients even when cheaper alternatives exist. Paul demonstrates what experience looks like: the difference between bread that lasts three days and bread that goes stale by lunchtime, between crust that crackles and crust that's tough, between dough that rises properly and dough that's been over-manipulated. A bakery that's been around gets particular about water quality, proofing times, and oven calibration because they've learned what works in this specific location, and they don't cut corners when a customer notices the difference.