Flour Power: The Practice and Pursuit of Baking Sourdough Bread

by Tara Jensen, Claire Saffitz (Foreword)

“Tara’s a natural teacher, and this book reads as if she’s at the bench next to you, patiently articulating the core concepts and techniques of bread-making, as well as the joys and rhythms of the craft.” — Claire Saffitz, bestselling author of Dessert Person, from the foreword
 
80 easy-to-follow recipes and loads of know-how, troubleshooting guidance, and bread science intel for baking your best naturally leavened loaves—from sourdough whisperer Tara Jensen

IACP AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST ’S TEN BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR

Yes, you can make crusty, tender, bakery-quality sourdough bread—even if you’ve never baked before! Especially when you have a teacher like Tara Jensen (who taught both dessert guru Claire Saffitz and Southern-cooking evangelist Sean Brock) by your side. Tara’s friendly approach to technique and inspired flavors in more than eighty recipes for sourdough, rye, and whole grain bread will enrich both beginners and advanced bakers as they learn about the craft.

With Tara’s guidance and supportive voice, she shares important lessons that cover all the technical bases—from learning about flour to exploring wild yeast fermentation and developing your (doughy) intuition. From there, Tara dives deep into the worlds of sourdough, rye, and desem, showing the true diversity of bread through recipes like Miche, Chocolate Beer Bread, and Mountain Rye. There’s even an extra credit chapter on making extra-flavorful Overnight Waffles, Cheesy Cheddar Crackers, and Sourdough Chocolate-Chip Cookies. With Tara by your side, artisanal bread at home is totally achievable . . . and fun!

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

Published August 30, 2022

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not everyone will agree with Tara Jensen's method for creating a sourdough starter (she says it takes from 14 to 21 days(!!) and also calls for rather a lot of flour for creating the starters for use in a home kitchen), there are really excellent explanations of all aspects - particularly the techniques - for baking sourdough bread, complete with good photos. The recommended adjustments for "seasonal and environmental considerations" are also very welcome.

The essential tools section includes the following refreshing note about electric mixers:

Most bread doughs in this book are intended to be mixed by hand. It's the best way to get in touch with the needs of the dough on any given day. [Essential Tools]

Jensen does admit that she uses her stand mixer for making enriched breads and cookies "that really do best in a standard tabletop mixer".

In the essential tool part about home milling, there are really good recommendations for which mill might work best, as well as a note to avoid using an electric coffee mill, Vitamix, or food processor because of their blades that "chop rather than crush the grain".

This truly is a book about making Sourdough - ideal for beginners and seasoned bakers. One of the really excellent aspects of the book is that there is only one mention of commercial yeast. And it is not in a recipe....

Lactobacilli are responsible for many of the health benefits associated with sourdough and its classic tangy "sourdough" flavor. There are one hundred parts lactobacilli to one part yeast in a typical sourdough starter (in a commercial bread made only with instant yeast, there would be none!), so you can see how impactful they are to culturing the dough. [Fermenting Flour | Wild yeast and lactobacilli]

I particularly like the clear explanation of baker's percentages:

[T]hink of each ingredient as "parts per" rather than a pie chart where all portions will add up to 100. There are other industry standards: Salt is generally 2% and starter ranges from 10% to 25%, depending on the season. [Reading a recipe: baker's math and percentages]

Also included are several recipes that include the "discard" from feeding the starters. (There are recipes for bread flour (wheat), rye, and desem (100% whole wheat) starters.)

Of particular interest is the large section of the book dedicated to breads made with rye flour.

I love rye for its earthy, mushroom-like, and malty flavor, but this wasn't always the case. Like a lot of people, growing up I knew rye only as a squishy, yeasted bread loaded with caraway and boasting a signature brown spiral in the middle. We brought it home from the supermarket on occasion, when my mom would make Reubens. [...] [R]ye has such a wide lovely range of flavors — from sweet to spicy, and grassy to green — and its profile is much deeper and varied than wheat. Thinking about rye within such limited parameters (looking at you, marbled sandwich bread) is like comparing commercial white bread with an artisan loaf. [Rye]
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Rye has always lived in the shadow of its older sibling, wheat. Even its origin story defines it as a weed. When grain was domesticated throughout the Middle East, barley and einkorn dominated the cultivated fields, but the wild edges — and the rye that grew in them — crept in. Inevitably, a percentage of the following year's seed stock would contain this sneaky grass. This unintentional blend of grasses in afield, however, became a source of food security. When drought or cold weather struck and the wheat withered, the rye stood tall. Rye was eventually planted on purpose due to its adaptability and resiliency. [Rye | What is Rye?]

Recipes to try:
» Sourdough | Lunchbox Loaf
» Sourdough | Milk Bread
» Sourdough | Potato Bread
» Desem | Fennel, Poppy, and Yogurt Bread
» Desem | Cinnamon-Raisin Desem
» Desem | Desem Pitas
» Rye | Milk Carton Rye
» Rye | Mountain Rye
» Rye | Vollkornbrott
» Extra Credit | Cheddar and Black Pepper Biscuits
» Extra Credit | Rise and Shine Bread (quickbread)
» Extra Credit | Sourdough Piecrust

Our grandmothers weren't pulling out digital scales and losing sleep over baker's math, yet they still made excellent bread. (They baked so frequently, their hands knew the weights and ratios.) If you become frustrated with the nitpicky details, I encourage you to take a step back and look at the whole process, lest you get meticulouosis: the (made-up) disease that causes you to overthink everything and steals the joy out of your baking [Reading a recipe: baker's math and percentages | When you can't see the bread for the dough]

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A note about the ePub version of this book: I read our public library's copy of the book. Half way through (just before the section with all the recipes), the ebook caused my e-reader to freeze, then crash. I was also unable to load the book on the library website. The only way to read it was on the ADE app on my computer desktop. It seems likely that the library's ePub version is damaged in some way. Therefore, anyone purchasing the book would be well-advised to spring for the hard-cover version.
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"Flour Power" is definitely a keeper. And, while we haven't made any of the recipes yet, judging from the photos of the various breads, this book is definitely one to be referred to often.

[S Vanorse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m honestly never going to make anything in this book, would happily buy it, or eat it if someone else went through the trouble. I don’t have the patience to wait for a starter, although I do make a killer 5 day pizza dough but you can make a poolish or biga the night before you start. But anything you want to know about bread making using starters, equipment she has it covered and explained, well worth the read. Picked this copy up at the library because I had read articles in magazines about Jensen, and admired her skills.

[Olivia Herzog · Rating 5 out of 5]

So very excited to be starting off the New Year with bread making! I enjoyed the practical and scientific tips Jensen explained, especially regarding types of flour, seasonal conditions and the overall process of bread making. The inclusion of beginner, intermediate and advanced recipes make this an approachable and inclusive cookbook for bakers at all stages of their journey. I can't wait to get started and try out a few recipes!

[Catie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love her intro of flour and yeast and what exactly happens to them to create sourdough bread. Recipes have been easy enough for a novice like me to follow and I really appreciate her descriptions of terms of list of tools, and that she has beginner, intermediate and advanced recipes. A book I’ll be enjoying for a while. I successfully made my own starter and bread from it for the first time! So exciting!

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a holy grail book of bread making. I have been working through it for almost a year now and I cannot believe how much better if a baker it has made me. The grits loaf is my favorite with the Anadama as a close second. Buy this and her first book. Sign up for Tara’s newsletter too!

[Suey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look into the life of bread baker

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of helpful information

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well designed, but the photography does not look appetizing. Most of the breads in this look overbaked, dried out, and just. Not tempting. Disappointing.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, I found nothing in this that I just *had* to try. It was okay.

[Linda Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really love the creativity of some of recipes and greatly appreciate Tara Jensen’s breaducation to open the book!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the easier sourdough books to use, follow and with recipes that are yummy for all

[Cindy Su · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. Just skimmed it, because I had other sourdough books that I liked better.