The Perfect Loaf

<b><b>JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER • </b><i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER • A dynamic authoritative sourdough baking bible for those looking to build confidence in the craft with a wide range of foolproof recipes from pan loaves to pizza to doughnuts by the beloved blogger and resident bread baker at <i><i>Food52</i></i></b><br><br><b>“Maurizio Leo has given all bread-heads whether newbies or experienced bakers the ideal gift.”—Peter Reinhart author of <i>The Bread Baker’s Apprentice</i> and host of <i>Pizza Quest</i><br></b><br><b>ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: <i>Saveur</i></b><br><br>Maurizio Leo’s blog The Perfect Loaf is <i>the</i> go-to destination on the internet for beginner sourdough bakers. He now brings his impeccably detailed techniques foolproof recipes and generous teaching style to a groundbreaking debut cookbook that delves into the absolute fundamentals of sourdough—plus the tools and confidence to explore beyond.<br> <br>Recipes cover flavorful crowd-pleasing favorites:<br><li><b>Essential freeform loaves:</b> Simple Sourdough Rosemary &amp; Olive Oil Extra-Sour Sourdough Cranberry &amp; Walnut Demi Baguettes</li><li><b>Pan loaves:</b> Everyday Sandwich Bread Naturally Leavened Brioche German Whole Rye Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread</li><li><b>Pizza and flatbread:</b> Roman-Style Pan Pizza Focaccia Naan Flour Tortillas Pita</li><li><b>Buns rolls and more:</b> Soft Dinner Rolls Potato Buns Ciabatta Rolls English Muffins Bagels</li><li><b>Sweets:</b> Weekend Cinnamon Rolls Italian Doughnuts Summer Fruit Sourdough Crostata Banana Bread Cinnamon Babka </li> <br>Beginner bakers will have their hands held the entire way with troubleshooting sections and numerous sidebars answering almost every question they may have—like how to store a sourdough starter long-term how bakers’ percentages actually work and a visual guide to common “bread fails” and how to remedy them. Seasoned bakers will relish deep dives into the science behind baking processes and expert information on how to build their “baker’s intuition” and level up by experimenting with hydration ingredient ratios freshly milled grains and specialty flours. Whether you're new to bread baking or a pro <i>The Perfect Loaf</i> will be your indispensable guide in the kitchen. “Reminiscent of a textbook (in the best way possible) this book breaks down every single step and variable involved in baking naturally leavened bread. With entire chapters dedicated to ‘Your First Sourdough Loaf’ and ‘Sourdough Science 101’ I can’t imagine a more thorough guide to the sourdough making process.”<b>—Anabelle Doliner <i>Food52</i></b><br><br>“Leo’s journey from amateur to wonk makes this guide more lucid than many professionally written books: he too started from scratch. <i>The Perfect Loaf</i> is both for teaching beginners to think like bakers and for those still making <i>pain</i>demic baguettes who want to go leagues deeper.”<b>—Christine Muhlke <i>Air Mail</i></b><br><br>“With <i>The Perfect Loaf </i>Maurizio Leo has given all bread-heads whether newbies or experienced bakers the ideal gift. In his organized and engaging writing style Maurizio has demystified the process and science of sourdough baking so that anyone can make and even improve upon their loaves.”<b>—Peter Reinhart author of <i>The Bread Baker’s Apprentice</i> and host of <i>Pizza Quest</i></b><br><br>“Maurizio Leo’s book has everything anyone would want to know about the art and science of bread baking written beautifully and clearly for the first-time baker and the long obsessed. This book is an encyclopedic and approachable addition to the canon from an anchor of the bread baking community.”<b>—Jennifer Latham author of <i>Baking Bread with Kids</i></b><i><br></i><br>“Maurizio has distilled a lifetime of knowledge into a perfectly complete bible for every bread baker. This thorough guide to baking the best bread you’ve ever tasted is a must have for anyone who loves bread.”<b>—Dan Richer author of <i>The Joy of Pizza</i></b><br><br>“There is no book written specifically for home bakers that surpasses this one. Maurizio presents each topic however small with precision and clarity and meticulously elucidates even the most complex subjects. Maurizio has written a classic and his book will have enduring relevance.”<b>—Jeffery Hamelman baker and author of <i>Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes</i></b><br><br>“For those looking to make professional-quality bread and perfect every element of baking bread at home <i>The Perfect Loaf </i>will guide you there by giving you not just recipes but also the tools to think like a baker.”<b>—Bryan Ford author of <i>New World Sourdough</i></b><br><br>“For the home and professional baker Maurizio’s deep dive into the craft of sourdough is an incredible addition to our arsenal of grain greatness an ideal marriage of science and sensibility. He reminds us of what brings us to the table and what we remember and yearn for once we step away from it. Perfect indeed.”<b>—Chris Bianco author of <i>Bianco</i> and chef/owner of Pizzeria Bianco</b> <b>Maurizio Leo</b> is the creator of the award-winning sourdough website The Perfect Loaf resident bread baker at <i>Food52</i> and a regular contributor to the King Arthur Baking blog. Maurizio has written articles on bread baking for <i>Edible New Mexico</i> the Bread Baker’s Guild of America and <i>Bread Magazine</i>. He’s spent the past decade baking bread in Albuquerque New Mexico. <b>Introduction</b><br><br><br>It's early morning in my home kitchen and as usual I’m at the counter with my red grain mill loaded with wheat berries. I ready the hand-operated gristmill to produce fresh fragrant flour for today’s dough as sunlight streams in through the windows. I smell the aromas of fresh flour and sourdough starter and feel a familiar mix of anticipation and early morning energy. This ritual kicks off a day structured around fermentation mixes folds and shapes. An opportunity to connect my hands with a tangible output a pathway for creativity and expression. In today’s world of notifications and keyboards and screens the simple act of dunking my hands into a bowl containing only sourdough salt flour and water—squishing and squeezing to combine the elementary ingredients—is utterly satisfying. A primordial contentment. <br><br>Made from three simple ingredients bread doesn’t need to be complicated—they certainly didn’t have a digital thermometer in ancient Rome. The beauty of baking bread is it’s a craft that can be as deep and complicated as you want it to be. It can be as simple as mixing that handful of ingredients in a bowl letting it ferment and then baking it when ready. But it can be complex too: Just talk to any longtime baker about their starter maintenance or levain builds and you’ll likely uncover a topic of great passion and intricacy. <br><br>As your baking experience increases your proficiency and knowledge of every facet of the process grow deeper. Over time even the seemingly smallest details like what temperature your starter is kept at in the kitchen or the angle at which you hold your bench knife to preshape dough can become exciting areas of focus opportunities for growth or a chance to test something new. The entire act of baking becomes a playground a place to satisfy a curiosity or express your creativity all leading to the enjoyment you feel as you nourish yourself and others. And no matter your experience or your level of rigor the resulting bread will almost always be delightful.<br><br>But what exactly is “the perfect loaf”? If you talk to ten different bakers each will furnish a different story. Each will pause in thought then proceed to talk about the crust the crumb the aroma the flavor— a laundry list of distinctive qualities that attempt to pin down the loaf they are searching for the loaf that might finally come out of the oven the next bake. For me it’s the loaf that is light in hand with an open interior a crunchy crust baked dark and menacing that shows all the colors between dark mahogany and light brown. It’s bread with just enough sourness from the natural fermentation to make your mouth water with enough wholesomeness from whole grains to let you know this food is nourishing and honest. This list with these adjectives is constantly unfolding as my skill set evolves and expands as experiments are performed and lessons learned—an endless pursuit of perfection that begins anew with every mix of flour and water. <br><br>In truth I don’t think there is such a thing as a perfect loaf but rather it’s in the work toward that goal where the reward for baking truly lies: The small steps along the winding path the valuable additions and revelations uncovered—that’s where we discover the joy in the smallest of details. The baker’s journey is replete with these moments of satisfaction: each time we get our hands dirty mixing flour and water when we’re presented with a light and airy dough that’s just asking to be shaped and that moment we pull loaves from the oven that have us gasp in contentment. Sure there will be missteps along the way loaves that didn’t rise how we wanted (or even at all) ones that tasted uninspiring others with a dull and inert crust. But in every mix every shape every bake there’s a lesson to be learned. And with each lesson we’re a step further along our path. The joy is in the process the discovery endless exploration and constant improvement. The result of our toil with fermentation flour hydration levels and doughs of all kinds is the contentment seen on the faces of those with whom we share our bread. <br><br>Ultimately baking sourdough bread is your own personal journey toward the bread you want to bake and enjoy and this book is the result of my attempt to help you get there. <br><br><br><b>About Me The Obsessed Sourdough Baker</b><br><br>I grew up amid sacks of flour cans of tomatoes artichokes and black olives flour on the bench and in the air the sounds of a giant mixing arm diving spinning and churning pizza dough. As a kid in my dad’s Italian restaurant everything was something to explore to taste to take apart a chance to learn something new. I was always surrounded by food made by hand whether it was in our restaurant or at home with my mom and grandmother making pasta from scratch or polenta “like we had in Italy.” This early exposure to the joys of cooking and baking stuck with me even though I ended up going on to get a master’s degree in computer science. My engineering degree was in the complete opposite direction from cooking and baking but it was a place for me to explore and tinker in a different way appealing to my love of precision algorithms (they’re recipes after all) and experimentation. <br><br>After nearly a decade of being a software engineer I serendipitously found my way into baking sourdough bread after reading Chad Robertson’s <i>Tartine Bread</i>. His story and description of naturally leavened bread—sourdough a breathing and living thing—captivated my scientific side and my appreciation for dedicating yourself to a time-honored craft. My baking was further influenced by experts such as Dave Miller (for his use of sourdough freshly milled flour and whole grains) Jeffrey Hamelman (whose sheer breadth of baking knowledge and willingness to teach others are inspiring) and Ken Forkish (for writing a pragmatic book for the home baker who is filled with questions and scientific curiosities). These bakers helped evolve my idea of what it means to make real honest bread. Many of the techniques I use now grew from what I learned from these bakers and it’s safe to say my baking wouldn’t be where it is today without their instruction and inspiration—to them (and many others) I owe my thanks. <br><br>In 2012 I launched The Perfect Loaf my website dedicated to naturally leavened bread. I created the website to document my sourdough baking experiments and to help others learn from my discoveries in the home kitchen. The site has given me the opportunity to connect with many inspiring bakers from around the world learning from their styles of baking and sharing mine—sourdough bread baking never ceases to be an area for study discovery and even debate. The bread-baking community is a special lot made up of people from all walks of life a generous and caring bunch who’ve discovered this craft in one way or another and found themselves equally as gripped as I am. <br><br>Since creating my first sourdough starter more than a decade ago the world of science in that little jar has kept me fascinated with baking sourdough bread. It’s been a way for me to engage my scientific side and reconnect with my roots in food. I’ve been baking sourdough ever since in an ever-increasing quantity and these days so much so that I might as well be running a bakery from my home. This book is the culmination of all my sourdough trials experiments classes research and countless interactions with bakers at all levels over the past decade. My hope is that after you read it you will approach sourdough baking with the same unending curiosity and eagerness I do—there are endless avenues for exploration learning and satisfaction when baking sourdough from home. <br><br>This book will help you find your way down the path of breadmaking and jump-start the discovery of your own style of sourdough bread. And regardless of just how winding or crooked your path is it doesn’t hurt that the result of each experiment is a loaf of incredibly delicious and nutritious bread. <b><b>JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER • IACP AWARD WINNER • </b><i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER • A dynamic authoritative sourdough baking bible for those looking to build confidence in the craft with a wide range of foolproof recipes from pan loaves to pizza to doughnuts by the beloved blogger and resident bread baker at <i><i>Food52</i></i></b><br><br><b>“Maurizio Leo has given all bread-heads whether newbies or experienced bakers the ideal gift.”—Peter Reinhart author of <i>The Bread Baker’s Apprentice</i> and host of <i>Pizza Quest</i><br></b><br><b>ONE OF <i>SAVEUR</i>'S BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR</b><br><br>Maurizio Leo’s blog The Perfect Loaf is <i>the</i> go-to destination on the internet for beginner sourdough bakers. He now brings his impeccably detailed techniques foolproof recipes and generous teaching style to a groundbreaking debut cookbook that delves into the absolute fundamentals of sourdough—plus the tools and confidence to explore beyond.<br> <br>Recipes cover flavorful crowd-pleasing favorites:<br><li><b>Essential freeform loaves:</b> Simple Sourdough Rosemary &amp; Olive Oil Extra-Sour Sourdough Cranberry &amp; Walnut Demi Baguettes</li><li><b>Pan loaves:</b> Everyday Sandwich Bread Naturally Leavened Brioche German Whole Rye Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread</li><li><b>Pizza and flatbread:</b> Roman-Style Pan Pizza Focaccia Naan Flour Tortillas Pita</li><li><b>Buns rolls and more:</b> Soft Dinner Rolls Potato Buns Ciabatta Rolls English Muffins Bagels</li><li><b>Sweets:</b> Weekend Cinnamon Rolls Italian Doughnuts Summer Fruit Sourdough Crostata Banana Bread Cinnamon Babka </li> <br>Beginner bakers will have their hands held the entire way with troubleshooting sections and numerous sidebars answering almost every question they may have—like how to store a sourdough starter long-term how bakers’ percentages actually work and a visual guide to common “bread fails” and how to remedy them. Seasoned bakers will relish deep dives into the science behind baking processes and expert information on how to build their “baker’s intuition” and level up by experimenting with hydration ingredient ratios freshly milled grains and specialty flours. Whether you're new to bread baking or a pro <i>The Perfect Loaf</i> will be your indispensable guide in the kitchen.