The things we got wrong
This is a log of the mistakes we made—what we got wrong in recipes, what we missed in the details, and what we had to fix before it hurt anyone.
It’s not a list of triumphs or a gallery of successes, but the only honest way to show how we actually learn.
A site like this only works if you can trust the numbers, the methods, and the advice. If you can’t, then nothing else matters. So here’s where we start: by admitting the first things we had to undo.
Three we had to fix
Every mistake here was real, and every one had to be corrected before we could move on. Some stood for months. Others were caught by readers within days. None were left as they were.
The mistakes we fixed
- 1Fermentation times were wrong
The sourdough starter guide said 8 hours for a full rise—but it took 12 in a cold kitchen. We published it anyway, and readers started asking why their dough wasn’t ready. The old version stayed up for three weeks.
- 2A recipe’s yeast measurement was off
The brioche dough called for 2.5g of yeast per 500g of flour, but the scale we used in testing only measured in whole grams. The published version rounded up to 3g, which made the bread dense instead of light. Kirsten Carmichael spotted it when comparing her test batches to the final photos and corrected the weight before the first batch of readers tried it. The error lived for two days.
- 3A step was impossible to follow
The ciabatta recipe said to ‘fold the dough gently’ after the first rise—but the photos showed it stretched and torn. Readers emailed to say they couldn’t replicate it without tearing it apart. Kirsten Carmichael realized the text didn’t match the method and rewrote the folding instructions entirely, adding a short video demonstration. The broken version was live for a week.
What those three changed
These weren’t just fixes—they rewrote how we test, how we write, and how we publish. Every correction taught us something that stuck.
Rules that came from mistakes
- Test every recipe three times in real kitchens—not just once—before publishing. (From *fermentation times*)
- Measure yeast to the gram, not the teaspoon, and never round up. (From *yeast measurement*)
- Photograph every step of a method, not just the finished dish, so the text can’t lie. (From *impossible step*)
The people behind this
Kirsten Carmichael is the founder and editor of *Bread Recipes Golden*, and the one who still flinches when she sees a dough that didn’t rise right. She’s the reason this log exists—not because she’s perfect, but because she’s the only one who’d admit when she’s wrong.
Keeping a list like this means sitting with the discomfort of failure, then writing it down anyway. It’s easier to pretend mistakes don’t happen, but that’s how recipes get dangerous. Kirsten Carmichael would rather fix them in public than let someone else suffer for them.
There’s a small mistake she’ll never write here: the time she overproofed a loaf so badly it collapsed like a deflated balloon. She threw it out, but the lesson—that dough has a voice, and it’s not always subtle—stayed with her.
That’s the kind of thing you learn when you’re the one holding the knife.
If you find something we got wrong, the contact page is where to tell us. And if you’re reading this because you trust us now, thank the people who caught our errors first.
There will be a next one
This list isn’t finished. The next mistake might be in a recipe we haven’t tested enough, a detail we missed in the photos, or a step that only makes sense in our kitchen. If you spot it, tell us.
And if it’s yours, we’ll fix it—publicly, with names, and without excuses.
The recipes are grouped by category: Appetizers, Beverages, Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Main Courses and Salads.