SOURDOUGH

Sourdough has a reputation for being fussy. It does not have to be. This step-by-step guide takes you from a jar of flour and water to a real loaf baked in your own kitchen, with no special equipment, no professional oven, and no jargon left unexplained. Maybe you have never touched a starter. Maybe you tried once, ended up with a brick, and gave up. Either way, this book explains what is happening in the jar and in the dough, so you can fix problems yourself and bake with confidence. You begin by building a starter from flour and water, day by day, and learning how to keep it healthy. Then you bake your first loaf with no steps skipped. When something goes wrong, a problem-by-problem troubleshooting guide helps you diagnose flat loaves, dense crumb, and sluggish starters. From there, the book grows with you. You will bake whole wheat, rye, spelt, seeded, and flavored loaves, and go beyond the loaf with pizza, focaccia, bagels, and soft dinner rolls. You will put your discard to good use in crackers, pancakes, waffles, muffins, and flatbreads. Weekday, weekend, and overnight schedules help you fit baking around work and family. The final chapters introduce the basics of safe home fermentation, including kombucha, milk and water kefir, sauerkraut, and fermented pickles. Fermentation involves safety considerations, so the book covers clean equipment and the signs that a batch should be thrown out. Weights and cup measurements are both included, and times are given as ranges, because every kitchen, flour, and starter is different. Chapter summaries and checklists keep the key points easy to find, and the appendix adds measurement conversions, baker's percentages, fermentation salt ratios, a glossary, frequently asked questions, a quick troubleshooting index, and a baking log to track your progress.
Grab a jar, some flour, and a little patience. Your first loaf is closer than you think.