• Wokmom on October 06, 2023

  I love this book! I’ve made many of the same day recipes and one overnight cold proof. Since I don’t like my bread to have such a dark top, I cover the pan loosely with foil during the last 20 minutes of baking and during the last 5-7 minutes, remove the loaf from the pan and place it on the oven rack to finish baking. The results are fantastic

• Lepa on January 25, 2023

  I am just starting to bake sourdough and bought lots of books to help me figure out what I'm doing. This was by far the easiest to follow. Every loaf I have made has been wonderful. I am gaining in confidence and trying other books now but I highly recommend this wonderful book for the excellent directions and consistently excellent results.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• The standard

  • eliza on September 23, 2022

    I got this book yesterday evening and baked my first loaf today. The instructions are excellent! The author recommends starting with the standard loaf, so I did that to get used to the method. Dough behaved well, and I got good oven spring. I did use the optional levain (starter) since I always have some available. Will update when I get to taste it…it needs to cool before slicing. Looking forward to making more of the breads from this book. Edit: very good bread; I did the open pan option so lots of great crust. The salt is at 2.2% which is a little high for me so I will reduce slightly next time. Also used convection so will reduce oven temp a bit next time.

  • Lepa on January 07, 2023

    This was my first sourdough loaf ever and it was fantastic! The directions are easy to follow and the bread is really good. I bought several books on sourdough and this one is the most straightforward and realistic (feeding once a week and using starter straight from the refrigerator, not much waste). I recommend this book and this recipe!

  • Acarroll on February 22, 2023

    Great standard (no pun intended) bread recipe.

  • rhb on May 17, 2023

    Great pan loaf! I do use 100g of poolish. Also, instead of plastic wrap, I invert a very large bowl over the loaf for rising (a 15-inch diameter bowl fits over a 9.25 inch bread pan). Or, can put a piece of parchment paper on top of the loaf (without wetting the loaf) and slide the pan into a jumbo plastic bag (2.5 gallon size). If the parchment sticks, I just leave it on the loaf while baking...then I take it off when it gets toasted and releases from the doughat some point.

• White bread

  • Lepa on January 07, 2023

    This bread is so flavorful and the texture is extraordinary. I used the optional levain.

• 50% emmer bread

  • Astrid5555 on October 15, 2022

    This bread is delicious and does not taste “too wholegrain-y” as my kids said. I added the optional sourdough starter which made the whole dough quite wet and a little difficult to handle. Would maybe reduce the water to 75% next time.

• 50% einkorn bread

  • Lepa on March 10, 2023

    I find einkorn flour difficult to work with so making a loaf is a great way to bake with it because the pan gives it structure. The flavor and texture were lovely.

• 50% rye bread

  • Lepa on January 25, 2023

    This bread dough was a bit hard to work with (as noted in the book) and the resulting loaf was really ugly but it tasted wonderful. I should have wet the top of the loaf, as it rose substantially and stuck to the proofing bag, which is part of why it ended up looking so ugly.

• Butter bread

  • rhb on May 24, 2023

    This was okay; the "Standard" has more flavor to me.

• Raisin-pecan bread

  • Lepa on January 13, 2023

    I made this to eat with goat cheese for nibbles during a cocktail party and it was delicious.

• Multigrain bread

  • eliza on October 14, 2022

    My second bread from this book and another good one. The soaked grains can be varied according to the head note so I used buckwheat, quinoa, and rolled oats. I found the buckwheat a little bit hard even after overnight soak so may use a different grain next time. I also reduced salt this time (2 tsp instead of 2 3/4) and this was the right amount for me. Dough was quite slack but workable, (I added the optional levain), final shaping worked well. I reduced my oven temp slightly (heated to 450 reduced to 400) and loaf was done in 55 minutes.

• The standard #2

  • rhb on May 16, 2023

    Makes a great loaf (I use 100 g of poolish). Being able to start the day before works great for a pan loaf. Instead of plastic wrap, I put a piece of parchment paper on top of the loaf (without wetting the loaf) and slide the pan into a jumbo plastic bag (2.5 gallon size). By the morning, the parchment is usually not sticking to the loaf so can be tossed...if it sticks a bit, it stays on the loaf while baking...then I take it out when it gets toasty and releases from the dough. I save the plastic bag to re-use indefinitely for this purpose.

• Shokupan, or Japanese milk bread

  • rhb on October 14, 2023

    I used the USAPan small pullman pan because it is not made in China. The lid is made in China, however, so I put a piece of parchment paper over the top of the pan, put a 1/4 sheet pan on top of that, and then put a small, heavy pot on top of that. This pan is about 80% smaller than the one recommended in the book (which is made in China) but I forgot to reduce the recipe. It ended up perfect!

• Country bread, EIB-style

  • eliza on March 25, 2023

    This makes a very nice country loaf; delicious taste and a nice open crumb. I used slightly different flours from those stated so held back a bit of the water in the final mix and I’m glad I did. Refrigerated before shaping as I ran out of time on day 2 and it was fine. Building the levain created lots of discard; I made a cornbread from a different book and still have at least 300g to use in something else.

  • Lepa on January 13, 2023

    This loaf was mind-blowingly delicious. The crust had a slightly bitter chewy texture that was just like an artisan bakery's. I live near Tartine and my family said this bread was as good as the bakery's. I'm not sure if that's true but it sure was close!

• 50% einkorn Dutch-oven levain bread

  • Lepa on February 01, 2023

    Wow, working with einkorn flour is really challenging. It apparently doesn't have as much gluten as other flours and that makes it a slack, wet, floppy mess. No matter how much I folded I couldn't get the dough to do more than puddle. It made a mess everywhere and I couldn't get it off my hands. The final loaf is a bit flat and tastes okay- but not nearly as good as the other loaves I have baked from this book. I feel really disappointed after spending three days on this loaf. Luckily I also made another loaf today so I have some good bread to eat after all that trouble. I'm tempted to throw out my einkorn flour, as I don't want to touch it ever again!

• Field blend #3

  • Lepa on February 02, 2023

    This is a really nice loaf. We might prefer the country loaf because it has more rise (there is more white flour in it) but this is a great loaf with a fair amount of whole grains and a wonderful, slightly bitter charred crust. It feels healthy but not in a virtuous sort of way.