The Sweet Side of Sourdough: 60 Irresistible Recipes for Pastries, Buns, Cakes, Cookies and More by Caroline Schiff

  • How to build your own sourdough starter (page 14)

    from The Sweet Side of Sourdough: 60 Irresistible Recipes for Pastries, Buns, Cakes, Cookies and More The Sweet Side of Sourdough by Caroline Schiff

    • Categories: Bread & rolls, savory; How to...; Bread & buns, sweet; Vegan
    • Ingredients: whole wheat flour; rye flour
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Notes about Recipes in this book

  • Lemon-poppy cream cheese babka

    • kbrooks on February 04, 2025

      Oh my, this is a production, taking 2-3 days depending on when you start and your timing. BUT, OH MY, the end result is amazing and unbelievably delicious! I had never made a babka before so was a bit nervous about the rolling out, filling, rolling, splitting and twisting process but the dough was very easy to handle and it all came together perfectly. My final rise took the full 4 hours. Will definitely make again!

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Fantastic flavor. Aim for a longer bake on this or risk a raw middle. (I believe I baked less time than the recipe because I was afraid of burning it, so don't go off color go off time and temp).

  • Cinnamon-caramel challah knots

    • dbuhler on May 27, 2024

      I loved the idea of these, but they didn't quite bake up as expected. It is possible that it was an issue with my oven. All the elements were easy to make and everything tasted delicious. While making this recipe I needed to extend the fridge rest and it didn't affect the flavor or texture of the dough, which was nice. The caramel was easy to make and delicious but it overcooked in the oven so that the resulting texture on the buns was toffee like and stuck to our teeth, not smooth like a sticky bun. Next time I may put half the caramel in the pan and then drizzle the second half on the baked buns.

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Fantastic.

  • Orange-pistachio caramel sticky buns

    • dbuhler on June 07, 2025

      These are very delicious! The dough tasted great, but I prefer my buns to have a softer, fluffier texture, so next time I will use my favorite bun recipe but use this filling and topping recipe. I can't wait to make these again! In my copy of the book there is a typo on the sugar for the caramel. I used 113 grams of sugar and the topping worked out great!

  • Chocolate-peanut butter glazed buns

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Delicious and consistent results. Family favorite and frequently requested.

  • Sesame honey boule

    • Astrid5555 on February 25, 2022

      This makes for a delicous loaf of bread with a soft and airy crumb, a crunchy crust and a subtle sesame flavor. Delicious!

    • kbrooks on February 04, 2025

      This takes a lot of time and effort. For us, it wasn't worth it for the end result. I've made a lot of the recipes in this book and this is the only one, so far, I wouldn't make again.

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Delicious and thorough instructions.

  • Peach and ricotta focaccia

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Different than my standard focaccia. Thin and fun cutting with scissors (pictured in the cookbook). Really highlights fresh ingredients.

  • Salted honey focaccia

    • kbrooks on February 04, 2025

      Pretty easy to pull together the dough. Requires an overnight fermentation. Nice, just slightly sweet focaccia. Everyone liked this.

  • Toasted hazelnut-coffee banana bread

  • Caramelized blueberry-basil blintzes

  • Jammy ricotta drops

    • kbrooks on August 09, 2024

      These are really delicious and easy to make. They really spread a lot, so space at least 3" apart and make the indentations for the jam pretty deep or they'll overflow. I use cooky scoop to measure out the dough and it yields 16 drops.

    • dbuhler on May 15, 2025

      I used a 1/4 cup scoop to make the mounds (made 12) and a 1 TBS scoop to portion the jam. A few of my jams spilled over. I wonder if a higher temp. would work better for these since they are essentially a biscuit....35-40 was pretty long and turned some of jams into candy.

  • Lemon-almond crème fraîche scones

    • dbuhler on August 19, 2024

      I really loved these! I made a mistake and forgot to add the almonds into the dough and I didn't catch it until I was wrapping the dough up in plastic wrap to put in the fridge. I sprinkled some almonds on top pushed them in, then I cut the dough in half stacked it on top of each other sprinkled more almonds and kept sprinkling and stacking and sprinkling and stacking until all the almonds were incorporated, so my finished scones were quite flaky! Because I felt like I overworked the dough I didn't bake them as long as suggested so the insides were still tender which was nice. I did do an extra step and toasted all the almonds, even the ones that went into the scones, and I would do that again!

  • Lemon sugar crêpes

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Simple, easy, and delicious.

  • Salted dark chocolate chunk scones

    • dbuhler on March 25, 2024

      Unfortunately I was sick with a cold when I made these so I couldn't really taste them, but the texture was great, and my family really liked these. The only change I made was I reduced the baking powder to two teaspoons because I'm at high altitude. I definitely want to bake these again when I can taste better.

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Delicious! Do get significantly less sweet when stored in the freezer.

    • rrobb on February 04, 2026

      Really good. Light in texture. Rave reviews.

  • Sweet and sour cherry Dutch baby

  • Fluffy Sunday pancakes

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Fluffy and delicious.

  • Pumpkin muffins

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Love the topping! Excellent muffin that stays fresh for days.

  • Blueberry-lemon thyme cobbler

    • kbrooks on October 26, 2025

      This was just OK. The filling was really soupy in spite of all the cornstarch and using a slotted spoon to scoop up the filling. Biscuit topping was nice. Doubt I'll make it again.

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Good flavor.

  • Malted milk and dark chocolate tart

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Very chocolate forward and rich.

  • Spiced pear, crème fraîche and almond galette

    • kbrooks on September 21, 2024

      This is absolutely delicious! My Bosc pears were on the small side, so I threw in an apple along with the pears.

    • kbrooks on December 23, 2025

      Made this again, this time with 4 large bartlett pears. Used sour cream as I didn't have creme fraiche and didn't feel like making any. Equally as delicious as the last time. The sourdough pastry crust is quite easy to handle.

  • Walnut-maple black cocoa tart

  • Apple-maple crumble pie

    • kbrooks on February 04, 2025

      We liked this. No need to blind bake the crust, which is a time saver.

  • Summer fruit marzipan crumble

    • kbrooks on June 07, 2024

      This is delicious and easy to make. I used blueberries, strawberries and nectarines from our farmers market. Didn't have marzipan but did have almond paste, so I used that and it worked fine. I'll be making this all summer with whatever fruit I find at the farmers market!

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      I didn't love the topping, will try with a fresh or higher quality marzipan next time.

  • Double chocolate chunk cookies

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Favorite sourdough chocolate chip cookie recipe, I do prefer about 1/4 less chocolate in general. They also freeze extremely well.

    • dbuhler on February 05, 2026

      These are good cookies, but not my all-time favorite. I added 2 tbs white whole wheat in hopes to control the spread a little, and it seemed to work, but they were still rhunner than I like. There is a ton of chocolate in and on these cookies. I used my #30 scoop and got 23 cookies, that weighed around 42 grams each, and I baked them for 14 minutes.

    • michele_rkidsu on May 17, 2026

      They are delicious but flat

  • Cardamom and lemon oatmeal lace cookies

    • kbrooks on May 22, 2024

      These are wonderful cookies! The dough really spreads resulting in huge cookies. Next time I make them, I'm going to make them smaller.

  • Hazelnut, white chocolate and rosemary shortbread

    • kbrooks on September 13, 2025

      I took some liberties with this recipe. I like rosemary in savory dishes but it doesn't appeal in desserts. So I left it out. Also, neither my husband nor I care for hazelnuts, so I substituted toasted slivered almonds. Having said that, these are fantastic shortbread cookies! They are a good size(3" in diameter) and very, very rich. A definite keeper!

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Delicious and very interesting flavors. Good for cookie boxes, not a cookie I would eat a whole tray of though.

  • Chewy coconut-cashew bars

    • dbuhler on January 26, 2025

      These are so good! For this batch I baked both the crust and the topping for the shortest amount of time and next time I will bake them longer because my base looked undercooked and my topping was more gooey than chewy. The addition of sourdough to a shortbread crust did make it difficult to get into the pan and so I had to compact it pretty tight and that may also have affected its ability to bake properly. I also had a hard time getting the sourdough and butter to mix together so I just dumped it in the flour, so perhaps that's also where I went wrong. There is a lot of chocolate in the filling so make sure you're using a chocolate that you really like. Despite my baking goofs I will definitely make these again!

    • kbrooks on February 04, 2025

      Talk about pure decadence! These bars are so delicious and addictive. Will be making them again.

  • Apple-sour cream crumb cake

    • Astrid5555 on October 01, 2022

      Perfect recipe to use up all the sourdough discard accumulating in the fridge, excellent!

    • Lepa on January 13, 2023

      This is a truly excellent cake. It has a wonderful texture and flavor. One of the best cakes I've made in recent months. I used a 9 inch springform pan because that's what I had and it took 70 minutes.

    • kbrooks on February 04, 2025

      We loved this cake! You don't have to peel the apples, which is a time saver. The recipe doesn't specify, but be sure your butter for the cake is at room temperature. The first time I made this, I forgot to top with the streusel (?!?) and it was still delicious. I have remembered the streusel for subsequent cakes.

    • Thorium0232 on May 19, 2026

      Delicious and not too difficult. Like a previous comment I made it in a 9 in pan and it took 70 minutes.

  • Espresso-chocolate bundt cake with salted caramel glaze

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      This was the first recipe I made out of this cookbook and it didn't come out quite right, I went and read the beginning of the book and used sourdough (active I think is what is called for) and was more attentive to the stage or specific sourdough build called for (very well detailed and explained in the beginning) and have had only success with future bakes.

  • Blood orange-hazelnut crumb cake

    • kbrooks on February 04, 2025

      This is a lovely, crunchy, citrusy, not too sweet cake. I didn't have hazelnuts, so used almonds. Delicious as a dessert, but also nice as a breakfast "coffee cake. "

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Very texture forward and fun flavor combo.

  • Walnut-coconut carrot cake

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Really a stand out carrot cake, great texture and flavor.

  • Caramelized grapefruit brown sugar cake

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Not a huge fan of the bitterness of the grapefruit, but it is more a preference. Baked beautifully and all got eaten.

  • Apricot, chèvre, rye and almond upside-down cake

    • kbrooks on February 04, 2025

      Nice moist cake. The rye flour and chevre cheese add interesting flavor notes. Makes me wish fresh apricots had a longer season!

  • Raspberry-coconut cake with lime glaze

    • dbuhler on March 03, 2025

      I baked this cake in a 9" square since I didn't have a 10" round and I should have checked for doneness at 35 minutes, but it's not overly dry. To help with this I did top it with the glaze before it cooled completely. On day one, it doesn't have a very pronounced coconut flavor, but it may develop on day 2 or 3. I really like these flavors together and this makes a pretty good cake. If I make it again I might try adding a little coconut extract to bump the coconut flavor.

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Delicious cake. Extremely well written recipes.

  • Olive oil, cherry and almond torte

    • kbrooks on February 04, 2025

      My husband loves this Torte! You really can't go wrong pairing cherries and almonds. It's even delicious without the accompanying honey cream.

    • ash_2fquo3 on January 16, 2026

      Excellent, not super sweet dense cake.

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  • ISBN 10 1645674223
  • ISBN 13 9781645674221
  • Linked ISBNs
  • Published Nov 30 2021
  • Format Paperback
  • Page Count 168
  • Language English
  • Countries United States
  • Publisher Page Street Publishing

Publishers Text

Sourdough isn't just for savory baking! The robust tanginess of sourdough adds that little bit of something extra to your favorite cakes, bars, tarts, sweet breads and more that you didn't know you were looking for, and pastry chef Caroline Schiff couldn't make it easier to do. Set yourself up for sourdough success with her best tips for building and maintaining a starter and then bake your way to sweet sourdough bliss. Add a new layer of flavor to pie and tart crusts in mouthwatering recipes like Spiced Pear, Crème Fraiche and Almond Galette, Apple Maple Crumble Pie and Malted Milk Chocolate Ganache Tart. Make breakfast the most delicious meal of the day with pastries like Orange Ricotta Drop Biscuits and Dark Chocolate Chunk Scones that are the things of your wildest sourdough dreams. And every special occasion is made even more special with cakes that perfectly balance the sweet and sour, like Grapefruit Brown Sugar Brulée Cake, Raspberry Coconut Cake with Lime Glaze and Apple Sour Cream Crumb Cake. Caroline's reliable recipes take your favorite sweet treats up to the next level AND give you exciting, innovative ways to use your trusty sourdough starter.

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