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 Baguettes
- Pan loaves: Everyday Sandwich Bread, Naturally Leavened Brioche, German Whole Rye, Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
- Pizza and flatbread: Roman-Style Pan Pizza, Focaccia, Naan, Flour Tortillas, Pita
- Buns, rolls, and more: Soft Dinner Rolls, Potato Buns, Ciabatta Rolls, English Muffins, Bagels
- Sweets: 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.
Tawaman –
It’s well-detailed. It has helped me achieve an excellent loaf without any prior knowledge. I can’t recommend it enough!
Juan Pasalagua –
This book is genuinely incredible. It’s so user-friendly and well-written. I followed the instructions to make my starter and have already baked a bunch of delicious loaves.
The format of the recipes with the timings and weights outlined in a diagram is life-changing.
Fully recommend.
Emily –
I really wanted to get into sourdough, but I was feeling very intimidated and overwhelmed by the whole process. There are so many steps, and I had been unsuccessful in making my own starter. I took a chance on this book, and it has not disappointed. The instructions are SUPER crystal clear and easy to follow. There are even QR codes throughout if you need to see something demonstrated. (And I have only scratched the surface of the book – there are so many recipes in this book. I can’t wait to try them all.)
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by someone who had a mental block for YEARS over the whole sourdough process. If you are in doubt, get this book!
Eileen –
Great book! Very detailed and explanatory. Fantastic recipes and well written directions
A.C. –
Love love this book! Maurizio’s explanation on how to bake sourdough is perfect for beginners, I’ve baked several loaves (before buying his book) with no luck, I have a few other books on sourdough on my kindle that are for beginners but was still very confusing. “The Perfect loaf” explained and simplified how to bake sourdough from creating the perfect starter to baking the perfect loaf. This book has given me confidence in baking sourdough as I have baked really great sourdough bread, cinnamon rolls, waffles and biscotti following this book. There are recipes for using the discard starter so no waist on dumping more than half of your starter when feeding it. Recipes are easy to follow and show a time line and has QR codes that take you YouTube video if you are more of a visual learner as well as pictures in the book. He tells you what to look for in your starter, dough so you are not guessing and helps you to learn how to trouble shoot, this book is a guide that teaches you what works for your environment. Great great book! I prefer an actual book over Kindle. If you are having trouble with baking and understanding sourdough get this book.
ITL –
This book has been excellent for starting my sourdough journey. When I first opened I was overwhelmed with the way recipes are written. Once I read up a bit I quickly figured it out. I have made several recipes from this book and a few of them multiple times. Book is written for the home baker which is helpful if you just happen to be a home baker. The author is also very active on you tube and answers questions readily. Book has lots of color pictures and QR codes that take you to videos on the specific recipes. Stop reading reviews and buy this one.
Mr J. –
I have been wanting this book for a long time. At first glance it is a bit overwhelming, but once spending some time with it, I found that it is exactly what I was looking for. It is loaded with information, recipes, pictures. I have taken it out from the library a few times and now I have my own copy. I am so happy!
Reviewer –
Loved the cookbook. I have been trying to learn to make sour dough bread and the first time I made a loaf from this book it turned out great! He explains everything in detail. Can hardly wait to try some of the the other recipes.
Mr J. –
This is the first cook book I have bought where I didn’t immediately regret! The author goes step by step in different ways… step by step for beginners and then an outline, sort of, for the people who already know what they are doing. I bought this book for myself and I use it EVERY DAY! I also bought this book for my sister who is trying out the sourdough life style. We send each other pictures of things we have tried. Who knew there were so many different recipes for sourdough! This book is worth the cost!
Stincuzzi –
O Maurizio Leo consegue explicar cada etapa de cada técnica e receita de forma extremamente didática e descomplicada, incluindo QR Codes para vídeos que complementam o livro. Apresenta desde receitas para padeiros/as iniciantes até técnicas e preparos mais desafiadores e avançados. Já se tornou um dos favoritos da minha biblioteca de culinária!
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!
Juan Pasalagua –
Es sind viele Rezepte und Anleitungen vorhanden, schöne Bilder (auffällig ist, dass es tatsächlich mehr Inhalt als Fotos hat) und der Genuß des Brotbackens als Kunst scheint eindeutig durch. Die Seiten und der Einband sind fest und stabil.