cover image Sourdough Mania: The Complete Guide to Sourdough Baking

Sourdough Mania: The Complete Guide to Sourdough Baking

Anita Šumer. Grub Street Cookery, $32.95 (320p) ISBN 978-1-91162-193-5

Baker Šumer debuts with a quirky ode to the art of making sourdough bread. The book is organized into sections covering grain types, and how to make and maintain a starter, step-by-step dough preparation instructions, 36 recipes, and uses leftover starter. Sourdough requires some planning, she notes, as starters can take up to seven days to activate, and the fermentation and proofing processes can mean starting the recipe on one day and baking the bread the next. The recipes themselves are fairly bare-bones, with headnotes that run from brief to none at all, and the thorough proofing, kneading, shaping, and scoring instructions are in a preceding chapter. The array of bread options includes a beautiful rye boule, a classic baguette, croissants, and a loaf made with durum wheat. The most intriguing choices are sweets, such as a Slovenian walnut roll and a pinwheel-shaped cheese danish. Given the new prominence of sourdough baking during the pandemic, this couldn’t arrive at a better time. Bakers of all levels are sure to enjoy. (Nov.)