Sourdough on the Rise

Learn how to make delicious whole grain sourdough breads—from Danish rye seed bread and English muffins, to focaccia and flapjacks—with 30+ recipes designed to build confidence and skill in home cooks.

You’ll begin by creating your own unique starter using flour, water, and warmth to attract wild yeast which develops into a dynamic, living ingredient for bread baking (detailed instructions on how to keep your starter lively for many years are included). Once your starter blossoms, you can begin baking a variety of internationally inspired breads such as fermented breads or high-fiber, whole-grain sourdough breads. And with another two-dozen recipes to choose from, there’s a bread here for every occasion and craving. 

Slather a buttermilk biscuit with homemade Crème Fraîche Butter with Sea Salt or enjoy the naan you’ve just baked with Indian Spinach with Fried Paneer. Use your sourdough starter in the morning to whip up yogurt flapjacks served with Lemon Blackberry Sauce, or take an orange, pecan, and fig loaf and make Figgy French Toast.

Whether a rustic boule or a stack of tortillas, all you need is basic kitchen equipment and a desire to bake bread the way it was originally done—using time and lively ingredients to create flavor."There have been dozens of bread-baking books published over the past few years. So why is this compact book the one that finally got me to make my first starter? It's all about the approach. This book is short, friendly, packed with helpful sidebars, and suggests that the first thing you make with your starter be pancakes (always a way into my heart). Yes, I know, sourdough is complicated, and those trendy door-stopping bread books probably have more details about how to not mess it up. But Sourdough on the Rise makes me believe I can make sourdough in a more relaxed way. Which is, frankly, the only way I'm ever going to get off my ass and do it."
—Epicurious
Cynthia Lair is the author of several books, including Feeding the Whole Family and Feeding the Young Athlete. Her work has appeared in many national magazines including Mothering. Formerly on the faculty at Bastyr University, Cynthia is a popular teacher of cooking classes at Sur Le Table and elsewhere. She lives in Seattle.Plus Delicious Recipes for Pairing Them