Just hit 500 sourdough loaves, but here's my debate about counting them

Tbh I only started keeping a tally in my head after a customer asked how many I'd baked in a year. Hit 500 loaves last Saturday morning at my little home setup in Tacoma, and it got me thinking. Some bakers say the number doesn't matter, it's about consistency and learning each batch. But I've also seen folks treat milestones like 500 or 1,000 loaves as proof they've actually mastered something. For me, the 500th loaf came out with a slightly gummy crumb, which felt like a joke after all that practice. Do you guys keep counts of your bakes, or does that feel too much like a scoreboard? And if you do track, what number surprised you the most when you looked back?

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joel_young1mo ago

Was that gummy crumb from your standard recipe or did you switch something up for the 500th? I track mine in a notebook but stopped counting after 200 or so, the number just stopped meaning anything to me. Does a bad bake at a milestone make you want to just forget the count, or does it push you to get the next one perfect?