Is the game actually fun or do people just like the rules?

Read somewhere that the gluten in bread flour is basically a whole different animal compared to all-purpose. That's why the dough can finally hold in those air bubbles and actually rise up instead of flopping sideways. I did the same thing for weeks, blamed my oven thermometer and my tap water. Turned out I was just treating my starter like it needed a pep talk when the flour was the REAL problem all along. Makes you wonder what else we're just blaming the wrong thing for.

@paul346 the dough explosion is one thing, but it's the cleanup that gets me. Spent half an hour scraping flour out of every crack in the counter. Also learned the hard way that a towel over the bowl does not stop the rise, it just hides the mess.

Man, that sounds like a total nightmare, and I feel for you. In my experience, prep is the quiet engine that makes the line look good, but the real skill shows when you're dancing through a rush with everything already dialed in. Both roles need each other, but if prep fails, the line's just doing damage control, not cooking.

Yeah paper trails matter. Even if it feels weird writing down "don't stack pizza boxes like a monument" it beats the alternative.