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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: #1,474 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #2 in Bread Baking (Books) #6 in Cooking Encyclopedias #6 in Cooking, Food & Wine Reference (Books)


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • BEST COMPLETE BOOK ON EVERYTHING SOURDOUGH BREAD BEST COMPLETE BOOK ON EVERYTHING SOURDOUGH BREAD
Format: Hardcover
Review Image by Reviewer
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 Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2023 by Reviewer
    • 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
    • Everything you need to know about sourdough.
Format: Hardcover
This is a great sourdough book. He explains everything so well. Good photos and diagrams and great recipes for your discard. Highly recommend.
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2026 by Katie D.
    • Hard cover book is beautiful, and will be treasure for years
Format: Hardcover
My wife was absolutely thrilled with this book. It will keep us in delicious sourdough recipes for years to come. It's well written very easy to follow and has beautiful illustrations. I highly recommend it to anybody who is into cooking sourdough.
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2026 by A Real Buyer in Palatine IL
    • This Book Deserves 50 Stars This Book Deserves 50 Stars
Format: Hardcover
Review Image by pines
Review Image by pines
Review Image by pines
Review Image by pines
I am in my seventh decade of life and had never baked anything except a batch of peanut butter cookies and a premix chocolate cake out of the box. The book, "The Art of Fermentation", spurred me to try baking sourdough. My first two loaves came out of the oven last night. Holy cow! I've probably had bread this good sometime in my life, but I can't remember when or where. This comprehensive book is the best. It is filled with beautiful photos, lot's of step by step details, and common sense explanations. It is printed on thick, high quality paper. What really makes this a fantastic tool for a beginner like me are the QR codes that link to high quality videos. Especially useful were the videos on dough shaping. Follow the directions to the letter and you will succeed in making marvelous bread. I made the beginners recipe in the book. It's different than the beginners recipe on Leo's excellent website but the process is identical. Making sourdough is much more involved than I imagined it would be, and I was thinking that I had gotten over my head. I thought that I had failed because my dough took twice as long to ferment as the timetable in the recipe suggested it would take. I almost gave up but there seemed to be some life in the dough, so I let it continue. Glad I did. The crust is crispy and crunchy, the inside is soft and chewy. Excellent sour flavor. I'm glad that I used the Lodge 3.5 quart dutch oven as Leo recommended. The loaves have the white appearance because I put a generous amount of white rice flour in the proofing baskets. Scoring, which seems like a no brainer, is more of an art than you may expect. Maurizio Leo, thank you very much for the work you put into producing this fine book, your videos, and your website. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2023 Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2023 by pines
    • The author's passion for baking shines through
Format: Hardcover
The Perfect Loaf opens with a steady, focused tone that sets expectations right away. It’s clearly the work of someone who has spent years baking and refining recipes, and that experience shows in the careful structure and pacing. The book moves logically, building confidence as it goes, and makes sourdough feel like a skill you can grow into, not something mysterious. It covers classic sourdough loaves alongside enriched breads, pastries, and sweets, so it’s not limited to just one style of baking. The recipes are detailed and reliable, with plenty of guidance on timing, fermentation, and troubleshooting…and for those who are visual learners, there’s an abundance of step by step photos. This book encourages patience and observation, which, when you think about it, is really what sourdough is all about. It’s a well-balanced and well organized mix of technique, explanation, and inspiration. Highly recommended. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2026 by Steven Dempsey
    • Great bread manual
Format: Spiral-bound
Great book to learn from. Serious bread bakers can learn from this book.
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2026 by Renee Boyette
    • A must have for making bread
Format: Hardcover
Very good book. Super informative. Easy to understand. Amazing recipes
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2026 by M Coleman

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