Baking
![Maurizio Leo - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_maurizio_leo.jpg)
The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More: A Baking Book
NEW YORK TIMES 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 Food52
"Maurizio Leo has given all bread-heads, whether newbies or experienced bakers, the ideal gift."-Peter Reinhart, author of The Bread Baker's Apprentice and host of Pizza Quest
Maurizio Leo's blog The Perfect Loaf is the 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.
Recipes cover flavorful, crowd-pleasing favorites:
Essential freeform loaves: Simple Sourdough, Rosemary & Olive Oil, Extra-Sour Sourdough, Cranberry & Walnut, Demi BaguettesPan loaves: Everyday Sandwich Bread, Naturally Leavened Brioche, German Whole Rye, Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich BreadPizza and flatbread: Roman-Style Pan Pizza, Focaccia, Naan, Flour Tortillas, PitaBuns, rolls, and more: Soft Dinner Rolls, Potato Buns, Ciabatta Rolls, English Muffins, BagelsSweets: Weekend Cinnamon Rolls, Italian Doughnuts, Summer Fruit Sourdough Crostata, Banana Bread, Cinnamon Babka
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, The Perfect Loaf will be your indispensable guide in the kitchen.
"Maurizio Leo has given all bread-heads, whether newbies or experienced bakers, the ideal gift."-Peter Reinhart, author of The Bread Baker's Apprentice and host of Pizza Quest
Maurizio Leo's blog The Perfect Loaf is the 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.
Recipes cover flavorful, crowd-pleasing favorites:
Essential freeform loaves: Simple Sourdough, Rosemary & Olive Oil, Extra-Sour Sourdough, Cranberry & Walnut, Demi BaguettesPan loaves: Everyday Sandwich Bread, Naturally Leavened Brioche, German Whole Rye, Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich BreadPizza and flatbread: Roman-Style Pan Pizza, Focaccia, Naan, Flour Tortillas, PitaBuns, rolls, and more: Soft Dinner Rolls, Potato Buns, Ciabatta Rolls, English Muffins, BagelsSweets: Weekend Cinnamon Rolls, Italian Doughnuts, Summer Fruit Sourdough Crostata, Banana Bread, Cinnamon Babka
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, The Perfect Loaf will be your indispensable guide in the kitchen.
Editorial Reviews
"With The Perfect Loaf 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."-Peter Reinhart, author of The Bread Baker's Apprentice and host of Pizza Quest
"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."-Jennifer Latham, author of Baking Bread with Kids
"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."-Dan Richer, author of The Joy of Pizza
"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."-Jeffery Hamelman, baker and author of Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes
"For those looking to make professional-quality bread and perfect every element of baking bread at home, The Perfect Loaf will guide you there by giving you not just recipes but also the tools to think like a baker."-Bryan Ford, author of New World Sourdough
"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."
"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."-Jennifer Latham, author of Baking Bread with Kids
"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."-Dan Richer, author of The Joy of Pizza
"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."-Jeffery Hamelman, baker and author of Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes
"For those looking to make professional-quality bread and perfect every element of baking bread at home, The Perfect Loaf will guide you there by giving you not just recipes but also the tools to think like a baker."-Bryan Ford, author of New World Sourdough
"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."
Readers Top Reviews
Santi LMontjovent
This book is a must-have for any beginner or experienced sourdough baker. It takes you from the basics of making your own starter to more complex recipes and baker’s maths. A lot of care has been put in this book : the explanations, the science behind sourdough (which is great if you’re a bread nerd), the photos, the designs of the pages and more! I also enjoyed that there were recipes to use up the discard you have. If I could give it 10 stars, I would.
Mary GSanti LMont
I've followed Maurizio Leo's blog for more than 3 years....his writing is consistently clear, comprehensive, and 'down to earth'. I just received my copy of his debut bread book, and I'm delighted to find the same articulate writing throughout. The book is beautifully laid out and will serve as an excellent reference for new sourdough bakers and more experienced bakers. Leo's approach to sourdough resonates with me: "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 pre-shape dough, can become exciting areas of focus, opportunities for growth, or a chance to test something new." I recommend this book for anyone interested in embarking upon, or continuing, the sourdough journey.
Kat LMary GSanti
Like many of the other reviewers, I pre-ordered this book as soon as it was available because I follow Maurizio on Instagram and have been entranced by the loafs he produced in his home kitchen. I didn't have any particular expectations for this cookbook, but I've been completely blown away by the depth of information contained and how Maurizio answers every single question I've ever had about sourdough/bread baking and some I didn't even know I had. I have many (too many) books on bread baking, and none of them are as well-organized, easy to read while using, or truly crafted for heavy use by a home baker. The Perfect Loaf is very logical organized and jam-packed with process photos to help illustrated each step. I love the flow of information - right after the section on starting, feeding, and maintaining your sourdough starter, Maurizio offers up the immediate list of recipes for using up your sourdough discard. Genius and perfectly placed. I started my Perfect Loaf adventure with Maurizio's Oat Porridge Loaf. I adore Tartine's Oat Porridge Loaf, which he credits as the inspiration, but I don't adore the $13.50 price tag or the steppy, long recipe. Maurizio's is vastly simpler and tastes just as magical. As a home baker, it's everything I could ask for out of a new bread book.
Ben FKat LMary GS
Five years ago, my grandfather-in-law gifted me some of his 40-year-old Alaskan sourdough. Not wanting to squander this gift and being a baking novice myself, I sought out resources for "how-to-sourdough" and came across Maurizio's website, The Perfect Loaf. And the journey began. In my mind, Maurizio is THE authority when it comes to sourdough and I thought I couldn't be more excited when he announced the publishing of this book...that is until the book arrived at my doorstep yesterday. The contents appeal to the beginner and the advanced sourdough baker alike. The book is beautifully organized, starting with the basics of sourdough, outlining all the important techniques you will need to know, and includes recipes that are laid out in a format that makes them incredibly easy to follow along with critical tips unique to each recipe that I'm sure Maurizio has discovered only after countless bakings. The recipes aren't limited to just breads--you can also learn how to make sourdough pizza, sourdough bagels, sourdough rolls, sourdough cinnamon rolls, and so many other delicious non-bread sourdough items that you didn't know you needed. It won't be long until the pages are covered in notes, the corners are dog-eared, and the binding is packed with flour. The book itself is gorgeous and I might need to get a second one just to have as a display item. Whether you are looking to start or expand your sourdough skills, need a gift to get your family/friends who love to make delicious baked goods, or just need a beautiful book for your coffee table, look no further.
Travelchic1Ben FK
I've been a fan of Leo's blog for a while now. His recipes are well mapped out and they are unfailingly delicious. I preordered the cookbook on the basis of this and once it arrived I have not been disappointed. He organizes all the generic basics about each step of sourdough baking upfront. It's a great resource, and has shared details that have given me insights when my previous bakes have not been complete successes (but still delicious.) I found myself skipping ahead to the recipes...and then back to that wonderful resource material to answer the questions I had. He writes in a very approachable style. The details in the recipe do make the instructions appear longer but it makes it so much easier to follow. While this can be a great sourdough beginner's cookbook, there's lots in here for those of us who have been baking a while, too. Two points - I use my trusty kitchen aid mixer and these instructions are somewhat hidden in those upfront resource pages. I'm also not someone who will be refreshing the starter twice daily. I prefer to take the starter recipe he gives, let it sit out to develop for ~12 hours, then stick it in the fridge. Mine keeps at least a week. The day before I want to bake, I pull it out, refresh it, let it sit out overnight and start making bread the next morning. Those are just minor. I'm really a huge fan of the book.
Short Excerpt Teaser
Introduction
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
About Me, The Obsessed Sourdough Baker
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 som...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
About Me, The Obsessed Sourdough Baker
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 som...
