The Sourdough School: The Ground-Breaking Guide To Making Gut-Friendly Bread

I strongly disagree with some of the negative reviews of the book. I bought it when it was first published and have bought numerous copies as gifts for friends. Three of my friends were really struggling to make good sourdough bread I gave them some of "Vaneesa's starter, a recipe and methods of how to make the dough. They are all delighted and making good bread. I know some people don't like the layout of the book however I wholeheartly disagree. I have yet to see another book that goes into such depth.It is broken down into a very well thought out layout. Firstly Vanessa explains what sourdough culture is in detail that is written so home bakers can understand the information. Secondly all ingredients are explained. There is really good information about starter and levain management. I was struggling to understand about how to manage the starter however Vanessa explains it simply and its easy to understand. It's made a Hugh difference to my sourdough bread.Thirdly Vanessa goes into great detail about the process of making the leavain and dough and the importance of desired dough temperature. The processes are accompanied by beautiful photographs Vanessa suggests planning a schedule to make your bread and keep a loaf record. There is a fantastic selection of different recipes starting at a basic loaf and building on it as your skills improve e.g. cheese and jalapeno, wild garlic boules ( great in spring time ), chocolate and hazelnut bread, beetroot and feta to name but a few. There is specific advice accompaning each recipe pertaining to the particular bread you are making Lastly there is a great discussion about digestibility and nutrition of the bread you make. Vanessa is inspirational enthusiastic and so knowledgeable. I have lots of bread books and there is no other book that goes into such detail. Its certainly a holistic approach to making sourdough bread.

This is an excellent book which explains the process of bread making clearly and concisely - this is the only bread book I have read from cover to cover - twice!!! So, if you're already a bread maker, why should you buy this book over any of the alternatives? I have several other books, but Vanessa's is one of the only books I've seen that talks about the terroir of your flour, roller versus stone ground flour, which talks about the types of LAB, how to change your environment to encourage the LAB you prefer, making your sourdough more or less sour etc. There are also very useful ideas about what to do with your leftover starter (blackcurrant and fennel, parmesan garlic and rosemary, mint powders etc - great idea!) There is a very comprehensive section on digestibility and nutrition, as well as details of suppliers, and interesting bakers to follow. The method itself is similar to the Tartine one, except I've now adopted Vanessa's autolyse and leaven techniques, and this has improved the structure of my bread. I've always found the Dutch oven method very tricky, because of the weight of the pot, particularly the inverted Lodge one, and especially when it's at 250ºC - nightmare. However I can thoroughly recommend the cloche that Vanessa developed with the Netherton Foundry - it's light, and excellent to use. Additionally, the recipes Vanessa has included develop in skill, and are definitely not those you find in other bread books. As well as the classic sourdough combinations, there are also recipes for: Blackberry, poppy seed and pea flower water bread Wild garlic boules Jalapeño and cheese loaf Olive and pickled lemon butter bread Scandinavian buttermilk sourdough Tomato and herb bread Sweet berry bread with rosewater Chocolate and roast hazelnut bread Rosinbrød Beetroot, black pepper and feta batards Earl Grey, fig and kamut loaf Smoked kibbled rye & while cherry sourdough Miso and sesame Soy, ginger and rice sourdough boules Pumpkin and polenta sourdough Honeyed porridge loaves Yoghurt light spelt boules Kefir milk sourdough Malted muesli Einkorn and spent ale grain sourdough Crackled black barley and stout bread Sourdough baguettes All in all it's an excellent book for both new bakers and those who just haven't quite found the right method yet.

This is not a book for the beginner sourdough baker. I have been baking sourdough for about 3 months now, and after following youtube videos, Udemy courses and quite a few books, this is the first book that has really explained why you might use different timings and techniques, how to tell if the dough is proving properly, how to pick the right type of bread flour etc etc. If you want simple instructions and recipes to follow to make sourdough, don't get this book. If you are interested in understanding what you are doing, and being empowered to make your own judgements and decisions on your bread-making, then this is the best book that I have found. Four stars - its actually 5 stars at the explanation, but it doesn't work well for beginners and should really say that in the blurb, so I've taken off a star!

This is a really beautiful book in terms of its appearance and something that I love to see on my bookshelf! The content is priceless, really valuable. It helped me to understand sourdough and how it all works and it has great formulae for various types of bread. I find, practically, that I tend to use the same formula all the time so you'd want to be more exciting than me to get the most out of this book...

This was recommended to me and I am so glad I made the purchase. Beautifully photographed and it really gets into the science behind the process. Highly recommended!

La claridad, el detalle a la hora de explicar los distintos procesos es sin duda el punto fuerte del libro

El libro es muy didáctico y está muy bien organizado. Es el lugar idóneo para iniciar si quieres preparar masa madre. Se puede complementar muy bien con videos y otras referencias.

This book has been in my life for many many years and I keep it around like a trusted best friend, even if just to see the beautiful photos or read the prose because I simply enjoy it so much. This book is jam-packed with knowledge but almost more importantly: wisdom. Wisdom about how to make sourdough of course, but also wisdom about being a more ethical person, being more conscientious about our impact on this earth and our connections to the farmers and millers, and the list goes on. It's a book about bread and a book about humanity too. Listen to what Vanessa says, you won't be disappointed. Her other books are just as influential and groundbreaking.