Super Sourdough: The Foolproof Guide to Making World-Class Bread at Home

by James Morton

Making Super Sourdough is the true test of every aspiring bread-maker. Fickle and delicate, every loaf is unique. And there are a lot of pitfalls to be avoided. It's much more than a food: sourdough is a science. Who better than Dr James Morton, baking pedant and fermentation fanatic, to explain the basics for both the uninitiated, and more experienced bakers?   James talks the home baker through everything from starters, flours and hydration, to kneading, shaping, rising, scoring and baking, explaining how to achieve the perfect crust and crumb. With more than 40 sourdough recipes including basic loaves and rolls, baguettes, bagels and buns, clear step-by-step instructions, troubleshooting tips and explanations of what works and why, Super Sourdough is the new, accessible guidebook that bakers everywhere have been waiting for.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, How To

256 pages, Hardcover

Published February 4, 2020

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a truly informative book delving in detail into all aspects of sourdough. What's great is that James Morton approaches everything with the home baker in mind. He is quite upfront with the fact that he is NOT a professional baker. Nor does he run a bakery. He simply bakes bread and is completely fascinated by the process. The book is particularly refreshing because, unlike in his first bread book, Brilliant Bread (2013) – when he didn't want to get all sciency in his explanations, he goes into minute detail with just about everything. (I especially like the warnings at the beginning of the detailed explanations for people who don't want to read them to simply skip to the next chapter.)

The troubleshooting sections are particularly good, as are the detailed explanations about scoring. Finally, a bread book that addresses the subject with much more than the requisite few lines from other books saying that scoring is important to guide the rise, but nothing much more than an instruction to make sure the angle of the blade is correct and to practice practice practice! Morton talks about what blades can be used, and explains with examples exactly how to direct the rise with scoring:

How you score it will dictate how it rises: your bread will rise in the oven perpendicular to your scores. [Pain au Levain | Score]

Particularly fascinating is Morton's method for creating his starters. That's right: starters. He also begins a starter with flour and acidic fruit juice(!) rather than water, before continuing with just flour and water. He does note that all that is required to create a starter is flour and water and time, but includes a rather large section about his reasons for including fruit juice, and includes examples of the starters that failed when using just flour and water but succeeded with the same flour and fruit juice!

He also advocates not becoming attached to a particular starter. His notes on drying and freezing them are quite refreshing:

If you are getting good bread with a particular starter, the reality is that it probably has little to do with the starter itself. [...] I've a simple policy on drying and freezing starters — don't do it. There's no point. [...] Stick your starter in the fridge [or] just start a new one [...], and delight in its individuality [...] even giv[ing] it a new name, if you are that way inclined. [Understanding Starters]

Morton never tosses any of the starter away when feeding it (yay), and suggests keeping the starter healthy and active enough that it can be used directly out of the jar, whether it is being kept on the counter or in the fridge.

However, Morton does acknowledge that many people (including him in his first years of baking sourdough bread) do toss off portions of their starters when feeding. He offers 5 recipes using leftover starter: pancakes, crumpets, cornbread, pasta, and sourdoughkraut.

Granted, I haven't tried James Morton's method; it seems a little bit complicated and not quite fool-proof. I still far prefer Jane Mason's 5 day method of beginning and keeping a starter going, outlined in her book “All You Knead is Bread”.

There are many many bread recipes – several very good looking ones – included in the book, only one of which (Tiger Bread) calls for the barest hint of commercial yeast in the outer layer to create the coating. All the other recipes, even for the breads that are heavily enriched with nuts, fruit, cream, butter, and/or sugar are made raised with just the sourdough starter.

The only real negative comment is that with all the other details, James Morton fails to explain how to tell if and when the starter is at its most active, merely saying to watch for it to double or triple if fed and left at room temperature overnight.

      If the starter is misbehaving and simply will not rise your bread as it should, don't be sentimental. We'll fix it using science, or dump it because of science. Don't get hung up on keeping it alive if it is suffering. It's very simple to make a new one. And while some bakers will tell you a nice story about the aged nature of their starter, time actually bears no resemblance to quality.
      A good starter should always be doubling or tripling in size when fed. If you're not baking bread every day or two (and that's most people), you should keep your starter in the fridge between uses. It can be used as soon as it's warmed up to room temperature again. If you have any doubts about its bubbliness, then you can take it out the night before you use it and give it a good feed. [10 tenets of sourdough | No 1. a very active starter]

+ + + + +

Bookmarked:
All Whole Wheat Bread
Ciabatta
Cornbread
Epic Buns
Leftover-Bread Bread
Lemon and Poppyseed Loaf
Pane Rimacinato
Pappardelle
The World's Best Doughnuts

[Tori Wagg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ordinarily I wouldn't add a cook book to my read list, but this isn't an ordinary cook book. It reads like a modern love letter to sourdough, full of passion, yes, but also so much kindness to the amateur baker. Reminders to enjoy the process, accept the less than perfect loaves, to give ourselves a break when we mess up and forget to add the salt (whenever I set my salt pot next to an autolysing dough I silently thank James for this tip) . And it's incredibly practical. I love the double page spread of suggested schedules to fit around different lifestyles and the encouragement to use the fridge to retard your prooves. Half of the book is given over to one mother-recipe and for a detail-obsessive it's a godsend - no need to Google terminology or watch another you tube video. If you follow James' careful words accurately your first loaf will be a beauty. And that seems to be the whole point of this book - to take sourdough back from being a hipster-lifestyle trophy for the perfect insta-feed requiring £100s in specialist tools, and make it a simple weekly pleasure in any household.

[Clare Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feels a bit like cheating to count this towards my total but I have definitely spent more time with my head in this book than any other this year. I got it in January but this feels like an appropriate time to be recommending a book about sourdough. Nearly half the book is one long recipe, and it's full of all kinds of great, useful things: troubleshooting, equipment overviews, and, amazingly, example baking schedules. Unpretentious (or at least honest in its pretentions) with clear, friendly language and lovely humility and enthusiasm from the author. I've made many loaves - some successes, many not - and I've enjoyed checking in with this book along the way.

(Only one gripe for practical reasons, which is that the book won't stay open to the main recipe page, and won't be held open by anything less than a 5-lb weight. But that's not the fault of the author, just of an overzealous binding choice.)

[Poppy Flaxman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been an absolute saving grace on my sourdough journey. What I love most about this is that James Morton provides schedules for you to work around you work day which help hugely. Sourdough is a demanding bugger and can take up a lot of your time but this provides ways in which you can manipulate it to work for you.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and interesting discussion of practical sourdough theory and its applications, plus a well rounded collections of various types of recipes. Makes you want to get a second batch of starter stored in the refrigerator.

[Levas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ko gero laikas tiesiog perdėti šitą knygą į atitinkamą lentyną, nes aktyviai nebeskaitau. Nu bet taip jau yra su tam tikrom knygom apie maistą, dviračių taisymą ar pan., kad neįmanoma jų perskaityti nuo pradžios iki galo, bet arba grįši nuolat prie jos, arba ne. Tai prie šitos tikrai grįšiu dar pasitikslint, pasitobulint ir šiaip kai bus kažkokie klausimai. Smagus linksmas rašymo stilius, daug informacijos, pradžioj gal ir kiek sunku ją susitalpint į galvą, bet kažkaip tilpo. Tai čia manau sourdough pradinukams ir vidutiniokams pats tas. Jei sourdough duonos kepimas ir receptai aktualu, tai šitą knygą irgi rekomenduoju

[Upendra R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. James Morton has packed into this book everything I want from a sourdough book: recipes, techniques, and science. One may not expect a baking book to be gripping, but this one is. I could barely put the book down when reading the one long chapter on how to make a starter and bread. Techniques explained with pictures and why we do what we do has greatly benefited my own bread making. I created a starter according to the book. Simple instructions made it the easiest approach to making a starter. I used the principles laid out in the book to make bread, as opposed to the recipe directly. I must say that the resulting bread was one of the best I've ever made. This is the one book that I will recommend to a beginner and an expert.

[Caolan McMahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had baked bread before - including a few disappointing sourdoughs - but at the start of last year's lockdown, I decided to buy this book and improve my baking. I really like James Morton's delivery, he's friendly, relaxed, and avoids too much aspirational lifestyle fluff.

The book really contains just the one straight-dough technique, which is covered in detail and then developed into several recipes. I think the focus on getting one good sourdough technique under your belt is a good idea and James prepares you for failures along the way and keeps the process fun. If you want to start baking sourdough I think this is a good place to start.

[TS Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aside from the wealth of knowledge and information that can be found online (YouTube is the most useful resource as having the visuals really helps a lot), I came across Super Sourdough by James Morton while browsing the bookstore.   What I liked most about this book was that not only it covers all the basics from how to make a starter to how to score the loaf, it also contained a section for troubleshooting common problems faced by bakers.   There's even a section at the end of the book on recipes to use up the sourdough starter discards (his cornbread recipe looks absolutely scrumptious). 

[Gonçalo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book doubles down as recipe and (almost) chemistry book, as James tries to go (somewhat) deep into the different factors that influence sourdough bread making. It is funny, insightful and the range of recipes it has was delightfully surprising.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and relaxed guide with just the right amount of nerdyness.

[Mallory Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a touch difficult to read simply because James is clearly located in the UK. This made some of the wording different and he referenced where to find things local to his location. It also took me a bit to understand his initial explanation of making a sourdough loaf. Once I referenced a few other resources on sourdough, I was able to truly grasp what he explaining. As the book continued, I started to appreciate his teachings and explanations even more. He did a great job of going further in depth without it being completely overwhelming. I like to know the “why” behind what I am doing. I believe James is the same in that sense. I also think it will help with troubleshooting in the future. James covered so many important faucets of sourdough and provided a myriad of recipes with detailed instructions. I now feel prepared and excited to start my sourdough journey!

[Rosie]

I was starting from zero on sourdough (and almost zero on bread making) when I started this book a month ago, and it taught me a lot. It's about 50% how to start/maintain/troubleshoot a sourdough starter and 50% recipe book - I found the first half (how to guide) much more useful, though I still had to supplement for a couple basic things (e.g. the difference between discard and starter). As with many recipe books, it leans toward more complicated and time consuming recipes and I found most of my favorite recipes online rather than in this book. (On the note of simplifying, I do think the sample schedules and the recommendation to keep your starter in the fridge to reduce waste are great details!)

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really wonderful introduction to all things sourdough. I’m really fortunate that I took food chemistry and cereal chemistry classes in college, so I’ve actually had lots of lessons on sourdough from a bread professor, but I was a bit rusty (and always intimidated by the idea of keeping a starter alive). The author does an excellent job summarizing the science without being too jargony—but also teaching the important jargon! The author also has a delightful sense of humor and is very pragmatic with how he’s developed the recipes. I already made the focaccia and it was exceptional. Excited to try other recipes!

[Cece · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the curious, not just the hungry. This book taught me so much. I cannot speak for the tastiness of the recipes because I treated this more like a textbook than a cookbook. The author is also a physician and a nerd and I love it. He had so much information to share. I read this after taking a class on how to make sourdough and between the two, I really “get” it now. I will definitely consult and reread when i have questions. Far better than the other books on sourdough I read after my class.

[Nita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have all three of James Morton's cookbooks and they're all great. I find his friendly and helpful tone a pleasure to read, and enjoy his clear explanations of the science going on in the background. It's nice to be instructed in breadmaking by a non-professional - I know if he can do it in his home kitchen, then I can too.

[Hunter Chmilnitzky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is it! The book that finally taught me how to make sourdough bread! After many failed attempts at sourdough from online articles and blog recipes, I took two Ritalins and buckled up to read this sucker. It took every ounce of concentration in my entire body, but I read, re-read, followed each step carefully, and made the best tasting bread 🍞.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one I bought after checking out from the library. My family loves the taste, my ego loves how beautiful the loaves turn out, but alas, my body still doesn’t love gluten. Win for everyone but me!

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous book with some amazing recipes. I found the dough very wet and was hard as a total sourdough newbie - but fab once I got used to it.

[Candace Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this book. It’s the best sourdough book that I have found. The information and the description of technique are great and I really enjoy his warm writing style.

[Jonathan Crites · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another really good book on baking sourdough, with beautiful photography. Very encouraging to the home baker. Recommended.

[Estrella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very easy to read and well in-depth explanations! The author talks to you like a real person in their words not like some bougie bread crafting artesian !

[Charlotte Chan]

This is one of the best sourdough breakdowns I've read so far, as a relative beginner and someone pretty comfortable with the process and lingo. Can't wait to try one of the recipes at the end.

[Elizabeth Gajdosik]

Unfinished in the complete sense of the word, but glossed over and flipped through enough to grasp its contents and mark it as a resource I'll be coming back to!

[Louisa Sperrazza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative but would not recommend for beginners, I found it overwhelming and confusing still of where to start

[bookcookery]

I've made the pavé rustique, focaccia integrale, tiger bread, and lemon and poppy seed loaf so far. The tiger bread and the lemon and poppy seed loaf were especially good. Making Dutch Crunch for the first time was a highlight. It was incredibly satisfying to watch the crust crackle and split into that signature deli-worthy finish.

However, the book lacks some of the hand-holding I still find helpful at this stage in my bread-baking journey: a quick way to scan the total prep time and steps, clear photos of all of the finished loaves, and more explicit instructions for the levain. For now, I'm defaulting to The Perfect Loaf for those extra details, but I can definitely see myself revisiting this book in the future.

[Laura Grimes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed this book.

James' great descriptions, explanations, candor and pictures encouraged me to attempt becoming proficient at sourdough.

Fortunately, my first foray was a colossal failure with very flat but tasty bread. Each attempt has shown an improvement! I've purchased the banneton baskets, a peel, the right flours (Rye or whole wheat for the starter is a game changer).

So far, I've made loaves, baguettes, pancakes, pasta and crepes with the starter.

I bought a lame but I'm very afraid of it, maybe with a little more experience, I'll try to use it.