Classic Sourdoughs, Revised: A Home Baker's Handbook

Dit boek beschrijft zuurdesem klaar en duidelijk. En er zijn ook handige recepten om brood te bakken.

I haven’t tried the recipes yet but there is so much information about sourdough baking. The recipes look really good too. Ones that I would actually like to make. I have bought several other books on sourdough in the past but this is the so much better. A great book for the new sourdough enthusiasts.

I was looking for something really specific in a breadmaking book - sourdough breads which work within a timescale that suits me. Most sourdough recipes which I'd already seen either took 36 hours to make (thus finish at awkward times), or suggest using refrigeration to retard the dough to a timescale that suits you (Peter Reinhart's Artisan Bread Everyday is classic for using refrigeration). I'm a student, living in halls with others, and have absolutely zero room in a refrigerator to retard dough. Which is why this book is great. The vast majority of breads in this book are designed to have an overnight (12 hour) rise, unrefridgerated. It is possible to play around with the timings further - warm water if you want it done in 10-11 hours - cold milk, cold eggs if you want the first proof to be finished in about 16 hours (unrefridgerated). Then shape and proof at room temperature for another 3-4 hours(ish)before baking. For me, this system is perfect. Due to the slow rising properties of sourdough, the worry that your dough will overproof if you take your eye off it for 15 minutes is practically non-existant - IMHO, you get about an hour's leeway as to when you have to stick it in the oven. Due the the long slow rising times, the doughs are amazing and flavourful (and the very wet ones are really extensible). In my opinion, the long slow rising process also allows for good gluten development without the need for a huge amount of kneading (I tend to do the Dan Lepard kneading method on all loaves, just because it's so much easier than doing a continuous 15-20 minute hand knead. I know purists frown upon this method, and there is some argument to suggest that thorough kneading is necessary in order to oxgenate the dough. But I've been getting pretty good results using this method, and the dough does windowpane after it's third knead). Downsides? IMHO, the cooking times given in this book are not long enough (but the oven I use is very unreliable, so it's probably just me. I've had a few loaves which appear perfectly cooked until you get to the middle, which was almost raw). The only abject failures I've had with this book was when I used a sourdough starter which had not been recently refreshed (i.e it was 2 days since it had been refreshed. With this book, it works best if your starter is really recently refreshed - 3-6 hours. Due to the slow rising, a recently refreshed starter is a must, since an old starter will result in a very acidic and gummy textured loaf.) Also, there's no pictures. So long as you have prior experience making sourdoughs, this book is great (this book doesn't really give any general breadmaking guidance, it's just recipes).

Multiple recipes with a good description of the bread making process.

My first and forever guide to make sourdough from sctrach for an Indian guy like me who has never tasted a sourdough bread from outside. Great recipes.