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Clarkson Potter

The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More: A Baking Book

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JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER • IACP AWARD WINNER • 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 ONE OF SAVEUR'S BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR 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. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarkson Potter


Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 8, 2022


Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 432 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593138414


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 10


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.27 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.29 x 1.34 x 10.43 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #3 in Cooking, Food & Wine Reference (Books) #4 in Bread Baking (Books) #5 in Cooking Encyclopedias


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • BEST COMPLETE BOOK ON EVERYTHING SOURDOUGH BREAD
Format: Hardcover
Review Image by Reviewer
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Review Image by Reviewer
I bought a couple of top line leading books in sourdough making. But this book was the best of them all. Maurizio breaks everything down and isolates the problem for each situation. Every page is full of wisdom and clear photos, timelines, and diagrams for both beginner and advanced bakers to understand. My breads were coming out pretty good but when I started really getting the breakdown with his detailed instructions and troubleshooting, problems went away! I am getting nice crumb and excellent crust and excellent taste in my breads. The book is easy to read and easy to follow. And yeah if you are a professional, which I am not, it is full of excellent material. Every page is full of beautiful photos as well. 431 pages, lots of photos, and even QR codes to scan with your phone that takes you right over to YouTube to see a demonstration of exactly what he is referring to in the book! The book is loaded with these instructional videos along with the text and photos for step-by-step and you cannot go wrong. I highly recommend this book as a top notch number one must-have if you are into sourdough bread making! Maurizio Leo has such a passion for his work. He troubleshoots and breaks everything down and provides remedies and solutions to the sourdough process. If you've been baking sourdough for any length of time, you come to the conclusion that it is a continual moving target. Since atmosphere, room temperature, strength of your levain, types of flour, quantity of water, and time - have everything to do with the end results. Maurizio takes you through the process in detail but also makes it easy to follow. Yes, there is an intuitive part to this as well which comes with experience. The book has 431 pages including a very minimal index in the back. The content page in the front is also limited but the but has an sensible progression whereby you can find what you are looking for. My only crit would be that it needs a more extensive index, more thorough, so that there is less time flipping to find the content but between the index and the front content, you should be able to find your answers. The book has many other sourdough recipes including pizza, flatbread, buns, rolls, sweets, and so on. It is my go-to book for everything sourdough. Plus Maurizio is so good about answering questions, emails and so on. He is an amazing person full of goodwill and good heart. You cannot go wrong with this book and it is worth far more than the price in my opinion! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2023 by Reviewer
    • EXCELLENT WEALTH OF SOURDOUGH KNOWLEDGE
Format: Hardcover
This book is well written, highly organized, and has excellent recipes with extremely detailed step by step instructions. This book is great for a sourdough beginner of someone who is wanting to really fine hone and understand their sourdough bread making completely. If you or someone you know is on a sourdough path this book will become their greatest companion. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2026 by Lazy T
    • A must have for the serious sourdough baker
Format: Hardcover
Mini review of “The Perfect Loaf” book by Maurizio Leo Brief background and disclaimer: I’m 73, single, and retired from a medical profession. I consider myself more a cook than a baker, and learned to cook by watching Julia Child and reading various cookbooks. To this day I still enjoy a hard copy cookbook and often read myself to sleep reading them. In the last few years have wanted to learn more about sourdough bread baking after several failures during the lock downs in 2020. Along comes this marvelous book. I like Peter Reinhart’s comments and term “bread-head” in the reviews. Sourdough baking is indeed a blend of art and science. This tome delightfully covers both. There is an adage that you can’t judge a book by its cover. You may want to reconsider, the cover of this book is beautiful and leaves me wanting to emulate the pictured result. I will briefly comment on 1. The writing style and prose when talking about the joy of baking breads 2. The writing regarding science and recipes 3. The recipes. 1. The prose. Fantastic. Phrases such as “The joy is in the process, the discovery” and anecdotes about sneaking into a bagel bakery during his childhood add tremendous color to the read, and are woven into the book masterfully. Very nice photos throughout. 2. Science and art: Mr. Leo has a Master’s in computer science and it’s reflected in his step wise description of the process. 3. The first half of the book lays the foundation. To add to his written descriptions there are QR codes to take the reader to YouTube instructional videos. The second half of the book includes a life time’s worth of recipes. So many things to try. I would never ever have thought of sourdough tortillas but I will try them soon. Over the years, I have moved several times and that sometimes sadly requires shrinking the size of book collections. This book will stay with me no matter what. Disclaimer: Totally independent reader and writer. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2024 by kev
    • It's a sourdough encyclopedia with great photography and easy to read.
Format: Hardcover
I bought this book 8 months ago (and a sourdough starter kit) to take up sourdough baking in anticipation of retirement and move my retirement home...it's happened! I made my first bread loaves recently, and pancakes from Discard. This book has been my guide all the way. It's much easier than Googling everything. It's an encyclopedia of everything sourdough with a large part of the book containing recipes, which is a huge plus IMO. My favorite part of the book is that no detail is left unexplained (great for beginners like me) and Maurizio always denotes the page number of a step or process he may refer to in a paragraph. It's easy to navigate. You don't have to read the book from start to finish if you don't want to. You can go to the topic that interests you using the Index. I am also a (former) software engineer like the author turned baker, which I didn't know when I purchased the book. That's cool. I highly recommend this book for all levels of bakers, and I thank my BFF for suggesting this gem!! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2025 by D. Oakes
    • The ultimate guide to sourdough baking.
Format: Hardcover
Review Image by FlourandFable
Review Image by FlourandFable
Review Image by FlourandFable
The perfect guide to sourdough baking. It has helped me to develop my baking and make my own recipes! I love understanding the science behind baking and this gives so much information. I have seen reviews saying recipes make you wake in the middle of the night. But if timed correctly that is far from true!!!! These recipes fit into life and are extremely detailed. Answering any questions for novice and experienced bakers alike. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2026 by FlourandFable

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