Modern Sourdough

Sweet and Savoury Recipes from Margot Bakery

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on Waterstones.com
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 10 Sep 2019 | Archive Date 3 Oct 2019

Talking about this book? Use #ModernSourdough #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

In Modern Sourdough, Michelle Eshkeri reveals how mastering the art of sourdough baking can open up a world of sweet and savoury treats at home.
 
Michelle opened Margot Bakery in a dilapidated shop in East Finchley, London in 2016. An instant hit, it became an experiment in pushing the boundaries of what a local bakery could be, by specialising in sourdough leavened pastries and sweet doughs alongside more traditional breads.
 
Bringing together over 100 mouth-watering recipes inspired by Michelle’s heritage, Modern Sourdough expands our understanding of this ancient baking technique. Featuring a step-by-step guide to making a sourdough starter, as well as methods for folding, shaping, scoring and baking, it demonstrates how you too can make Margot signature loaves, as well as naturally-leavened pizzas, challah, focaccia, French pastries, brioche and babka.
 
Covering bread, cakes, buns, savoury bakes and store cupboard wonders, plus a selection of non-sourdough favourites from the bakery, these are recipes you’ll want to make again and again.

‘Michelle Eshkeri’s book Modern Sourdough gives a perfect balance with easy home-style recipes and more invitingly complex challenges, just what every budding baker is looking for. Recipes are well thought out, clear and easy to follow, and will get you on the road to sourdough brilliance in no time.’ Dan Lepard, author of Short and Sweet
In Modern Sourdough, Michelle Eshkeri reveals how mastering the art of sourdough baking can open up a world of sweet and savoury treats at home.
 
Michelle opened Margot Bakery in a dilapidated shop...

Marketing Plan

Key Selling Points: Truly new and exciting with over 100 recipes that open up a new range of recipes for sourdough bakers An authoritative, accessible and relatable author, a strong female presence in a world dominated by male bakers Provides entry-level, ‘sourdough 101’ lessons on how to get your starter started and all you need to know about sourdough baking from a master for those new to sourdough  

Key Campaign Activity Holiday baking excerpt pitch Review pitch to top national newsprint Review pitch to top online food sites  

Pre-publication: Pre-publication campaign to build anticipation of the reveal including: Early copy giveaway at author’s website Margot Bakery (uvm: 5K) and Instagram (10K) GoodReads, Eat Your Books, and Tastebook giveaway

Trade: ARCs to Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Shelf Awareness

Retail: Book launch at author’s Margot Bakery store

Consumer: Blog review, feature and extract push to baking and food sites: Baking Bites, Baking Obsession, The Daily Meal, Joy of Baking, Joy the Baker, My Baking Addiction, Very Best Baking Title promotion at author’s top 20 community bloggers Amazon ad campaign Facebook ad campaign Book trailer at QuartoKnows Giveaway promotion via Quarto social platforms  Free autographed bookplate promotion with proof-of-purchase  

Publicity/Media: ARC to targeted food and lifestyle magazines: AllRecipes, Better Homes & Gardens; Bake from Scratch, Food & Wine, Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart Living, Parade,Real Simple, Redbook Review copy push to top 25 national newsprint w/ holiday extract Review pitch to top food sites; Brit & Co, Delish, Epicurious, Food.com, FoodNetwork, HuffPost-Food, TheKitchn, SeriousEats, TasteofHome, Yummly Review pitch to top news sites: Bustle, Insider, Lifehacker, Oprah.com, PopSugar, Salon, Tasting Table, Thrillist, USA Today, TheWeek

Key Selling Points: Truly new and exciting with over 100 recipes that open up a new range of recipes for sourdough bakers An authoritative, accessible and relatable author, a strong female presence...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781781318768
PRICE US$35.00 (USD)
PAGES 224

Average rating from 52 members


Featured Reviews

Thank you Quarto and Netgalley for a copy of Modern Sourdough for review. Available September 10, 2019, this cookbook is a must for any sourdough fan.

Modern Sourdough by Michelle Eshkeri covers all the basics and then goes into more depth than some of the other sourdough baking books I have read recently. I loved her chapter on sweet sourdough because I have never thought of using sourdough starter in that way. She also included some recipes on how to use some of the discard starter if you wanted and the basics on maintaining and building your own starter.

Very well rounded book, good for all level of expertise.

Was this review helpful?

Who doesn't love sourdough? Okay, some people don't, I suppose. But if you do, you'll find lots of yummy looking recipes here to put your starter to good use! Amounts are given but weight which makes me happy. If you don't already have a digital scale for your kitchen, invest in one. Weighing ingredients is so much more accurate. There are the expected bread recipes of course, but also a variety of pastries and sweets (sourdough rye brownies?) along with savory recipes. In addition to the variety of sourdough recipes, the is also a section of Margot specialties such as salted caramel chocolate chip cookies. This is followed by a section of jama and spreads that will nicely accompany your sourdough creations. Photos accompany the majority of the recipes and additional photos are included when more complicated techniques are used.

A note for the vegan bakers: They're are recipes here that don't contain animal products but many call for eggs and while some will likely do well using egg substitutes, others likely won't. Maybe borrow it from your local library to see if there are enough recipes for you before purchasing.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

This book is not for those who are impatient! To create a sourdough starter can take up to three weeks. The amazing sourdough recipes in the first half of the book can take up to 2 days to prepare, so you need to be extremely organised and have planned ahead. However, the second half of the book includes cake and biscuit, and jam and spread recipes which look absolutely fabulous.

The layout of each recipe is clear and there is an image to show you the end result. The story, accompanying the recipes, is short and adds a personal dimension to it.

This book is definitely for the sourdough aficionados .

Was this review helpful?

This was a fun and interesting cookbook with a great variety of both sweet and savoury recipes. An added bonus was that they included how to make your own sourdough starter.

Was this review helpful?

I recently became a fan of sourdough breads and am lucky enough to have found a local source to purchase a loaf now and then. While worth every penny, I’m unable to afford the $10 loaves very often. So I was excited to read this arc from netgalley. I am very impressed! Beautifully illustrated and written with a down to earth style, this book may tempt me to try my hand at making my own bread someday. It begins with the process of creating the starter from which all sourdough breads begin. The rest of the book is filled with mouth watering recipes, from the simplest to more complex. I am impressed!

Was this review helpful?

For those who want to expand on their sourdough game. Really nice recipes to try and to me a good variety to start.

Was this review helpful?

This is one of the best cookery books I've read in ages, though the waiting for the sourdough to be ready is going to test my patience.

The instructions for the starter dough is extensive and well laid out with details on what to do every day. Within this book follows six chapters of recipes: Bread, Sourdough pastry, Sweet sourdough, Savoury sourdough, Margot specialities and Jams & spreads.

One of my favourite recipes is included and I've always fancied having a go at making it: Panettone - though 8 days is a long time to make something over - still perfection cannot be rushed!

Also included are recipes I would not normally consider having a starter dough such as brownies, croissants, muffins or scones. Margot specialities do not need a dough starter and included recipes for cookies, shortbreads and cheese & onion pie, to name but a few of the delicious goodies in the chapter. The Jams and spreads chapters includes how to make crème patissiere, almond frangipane, red onion marmalade and slow roasted tomatoes.

Each recipe come with full colour photography, the ingredients are divided into stages and are in both imperial and metric measurements.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for a honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I bake all my own bread, and have done for the last decade or so. Originally I made bread in a bread machine, and then I “graduated” to oven baking – I must admit I don’t knead the bread by hand, I used my beloved Thermomix. I have dabbled in sourdough in the past when I saw Modern Sourdough by Michelle Eshkeri on Netgalley I said "yes please" very quickly. Michelle is a Jewish, London based bakery owner who has a similar cultural background to me, and a lot of the breads are familiar to me from my everyday life - I bake challah whenever I host Friday night dinner and I'm obsessed with bubka.

Even on my tablet this book is exquisite. Very clear recipes, accompanied by stunning photos. The text is interesting, informative and clear. So, will I be getting my starter started and my dough soured? Probably not. We only bake once a week, and this book is quite clear about the extra preparation and planning that sourdough takes. That said, I am very, very tempted. I highly recommend this book, even if it’s just to look at the pictures and dream.

Was this review helpful?

I can say for sure that Michelle Eshkeri has talent, no one can deny that. Her new cookbook "Modern Sourdough" provides an endless array of recipes that utilize sourdough, all of which I hadn't known I could do. The recipes at first glance look complex, including her method for making a sourdough starter; however, once you get your hands dirty its all relatively easy. This book not only walks you through all the complexities of sourdough baking but helps open your eyes to the endless possibilities with your starter. I will admit this book is not for the faint of heart and more for the seasoned baker. The photographs are presented beautifully and compliment the recipes wonderfully. All in all, I will be the first person in line at the store buying this.

Was this review helpful?

A must read book for bread lovers and for bakers.

It is definitely a book that I would happily return to in the future.
Being Italian, it is easy to say I could not live without my daily bread and I would love to be able to bake it by myself.

The author is the owner of Margot Bakery in London and she has learned how to create amazing savoury and sweet treats by herself.It has to be said that baking requires patience and love but the author’s passion for this art is evident throughout ‘Modern Sordough’.

The book contains detailed and step by step recipes.I particularly appreciated how a recipe for starter sourdough is presented in the very beginning of the book.
Being a beginner, I was not aware of the initial process to bake a sordough book.

I loved the fact that so many different delicacies are included such as pain au chocolate,focaccia and muffins.
The pictures are amazing, they really make a difference in the book and they literally made me salivating!

There are many ideas I would like to try and experiment and I am really thankful to the author for making them accessible.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Holy smokes this book is not only drool-worthy it will make a great baker companion book.

I’ve been baking most of my life and at fifty I have collected hundreds of cookbooks and baking books, but there is only a handful I use every week and I could see myself using this one all the time. I love sourdough and have been using King Arthur Flour method for many years and have been happy with it, but I am limited with recipes I can use my sourdough in so before I know it the sourdough is gone and I have to make it again so I need to broaden my horizon and have more recipes I can use sourdough in and this book would most defiantly do that for me.

Not only does this book offer chapter after chapter of recipes for your sourdough, but it also offers specialties recipes for things such as cookies, cakes, muffins and there is also a jam and spreads.



Each recipe offers step by step instructions and wonderful images.

Was this review helpful?

White Lion Publishing and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Modern Sourdough: Sweet and Savoury Recipes from Margot Bakery. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

The recipes contained within the pages of this cookbook highlight the offerings at Margot Bakery, a highly successful shop in London. The cookbook is divided into sections: Introduction; Bread; Sourdough Pastry; Sweet Sourdough; Savoury Sourdough; Margot Specialties; Jams and Spreads. Modern Sourdough starts out with the most important part of the whole cookbook, how to make the sourdough starter. There is a great step-by-step guide, as well as a detailed description on how to prepare and form the bread.

This cookbook is not for beginning bakers and is certainly not for those who are pressed for time. Making sourdough is a detailed process that cannot be rushed through. There are great step-by-step instructions with accompanying photographs where necessary, like for the Sourdough Challah, as the braiding of the loaf can be complicated.

There are wonderful variations of sourdough like Roasted Red Pepper, Garlic, and Parmesan Bread, and sourdough pastries like Croissants, Pain Au Chocolat, Rugelach, and Sourdough Pancakes. Modern Sourdough has a good blend of recipes from the more simple to the more challenging, with all of the finished dishes awe inspiring and delicious. I would recommend this cookbook to the more experienced baker, as the art of baking bread can be frustrating to beginners.

Was this review helpful?

Modern Sourdough by Michelle Eshkeri

The author of this book opened a bakery because she realized there was a need for such a shop in her neighborhood. She is self-trained and has learned much over time and in this book shares some of what she has learned. That her bakery is thriving is something that does not always happen in this economy. And I applaud her for opening the shop and sharing her wisdom and recipes with the world.

Why did I want to read/review this book? First, I have a sister who can only eat sourdough bread at the moment and I thought that if this book was easy to read and had good directions I would recommend it to her since she said she might take up bread baking again and pursue sourdough bread making since that is what she can eat. Second, I have made sourdough in the past while living in countries where I could not find yeast or when I wanted to just see if I could make it and make bread from it. Third, I like cookbooks.

This book has over 100 recipes and I was amazed at how many types of bread can be made with sourdough starter. I loved the idea that so many varieties are out there and all doable with sourdough.

What I liked:
* The gorgeous photographs
* The specific instructions
* The details on making the sourdough and keeping it alive
* The ease with which I could visualize the process by reading the instructions
* The information about recipes in the book – especially those from other countries
* The way I could almost taste the bread as I looked at the photos
* The desire I had when I finished to start making sourdough starter

From muffins and pancakes to laminated pastry and from a daily tasty loaf to tiny filled delicacies this book will have something for everyone. That said...I am off to write to my sister (or her son) to recommend this is purchased for her to read and try baking from. I can see her pizza making husband also enjoying this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group-White Lion Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

Was this review helpful?

I love sourdough bread; the crunchy, thick crust and the tangy, soft bread are delightful. When my boys were little, we made a batch of sourdough starter, but we were not successful at keeping it going for long. In Modern Sourdough, author and baker, Michelle Eshkeri, provides a relatively easy recipe and process for making and maintaining a sourdough starter. Along with the starter, she provides many recipes in which to use the starter.

Beautiful photos accompany the recipes, and this was enough to have my mouth watering! The bread recipes all seem easy enough that even an amateur baker such as myself could produce an edible loaf of bread. The sweet baked goods recipes that utilize the sourdough starter are especially intriguing. I have never thought of using a tangy starter to create sweet rolls or cookies. As soon as my starter is ready, I plan to try Ms. Eshkeri’s cinnamon bun recipe!

The recipes range from bread, pizza, focaccia, sweet rolls, panettone and stolen to cookies, brownies and muffins. There is something for everyone!

Was this review helpful?

Klar gegliedert, reich bebildert, ein paar Infos und los geht es mit dem Rezept. Sehr ausführlich und dennoch übersichtlich.
Durch backen Abwechslung auf den Tisch bringen.

Was this review helpful?

Firstly I would like to acknowledge that anyone can start out with nothing, this has been beautifully shown in the pages of this book. The beautiful illustrations and pictures throughout this book make you want to bake every recipe! The instructions can be followed easily and every recipe has a story behind it.
Will become a favourite on many bookshelves!

Was this review helpful?

Good mix of recipes and photos as well as the inspiration behind them. Lots of tasty-sounding things to make, looking forward to getting started with my starter and making some.

Was this review helpful?

Gorgeous book! All the recipes are so appealing, the photography is scrumptious, the recipes are in metric (YAY!), I just love this book. I think from a design point of view it is the epitome of how I like my recipe books to look and read. A very sincere 5 star review and I want to make ALL THE THINGS!
I received a complimentary kindle copy via NetGalley but will be rushing out to buy a paperback straight away. All opinions expressed are my own.

Was this review helpful?

Wow! what a fabulous book this is, beautifully presented, lovely photographs and easy to follow recipes. If you are into making breads, using your own sourdough started (instructions included), one can not go to far beyond this book. From making sourdough bread, savoury to sweet sourdough delights, it is all here and the variety is very impressive. At the end o the book there is even some beautiful jams and spreads.
Fabulous book

Was this review helpful?

Modern Sourdough: Sweet and Savoury Recipes from Margot Bakery is a tutorial cookbook by professional baker Michelle Eshkeri. Despite the author being a professional (albeit self-taught) baker, this is a layman accessible real cookbook full of satisfying sourdough breads, both savory and sweet. The ingredients are easily sourced.

Released 10th Sept 2019 by Quarto on their White Lion imprint, it's 224 pages and available in hardcover format. My criteria when reviewing (most) cookery books is fairly simple: is it neatly and logically presented, does it contain usable recipes (for the book's intended audience), are the ingredients reasonably easily sourced, does it contain wildly expensive specialist equipment which I can't borrow, and are the recipes appealingly photographed? This book honestly ticks all the boxes for me.

The book starts with a short and interesting artist's statement including a little bit of what the author brings to the conversation in terms of gender, background, ethnicity, culture, and philosophy. The sidebar section includes numerous clear photographic still life action snapshots of the bakery and bakers. The author talks briefly about leavening sweet breads and vienoisserie with sourdough alone and that it's a worthwhile process, despite being more time and logistics intensive. Frankly, before reading this book, I didn't even know it was possible to leaven sweet breads with sourdough.

The recipe chapter begins with a solid introductory tutorial on how to make a sourdough starter. Everything is clearly and simply explained including time estimates for a finished culture from scratch. This section also includes very general information about loaf types and how to shape different traditional loaves.

The recipes themselves are varied and include many standard types: focaccia, light rye, challah, brioche, flatbreads, bagels, and many many more. The only small quibble I found was that there is not a comprehensive table of contents in the eARC I recieved, and that the recipes aren't arranged to be found quickly. There are chapters covering basic bread, pastry, sweet and savoury bakes, specialities of Margot bakery, and jams and spreads to accompany the breads. There is a comprehensive index included, but this remains a book to browse through to find recipes to try (and I think that was a conscious editorial/authorial decision).

There is also a pictorial tutorial which is frankly the best I've found for braiding a traditional challah. Clear photos and simple to follow. More generally speaking, the photography throughout is delightful and beautifully presented. Each recipe is photographed in colour and reading through the recipes themselves made me hungry and left my fingers itching to recreate them in my own kitchen.

The author has a wonderful sense of humor, wit, and honest love for her craft and it shines through clearly in the text.

Wonderful book and the ideal book for sourdough enthusiasts. Five stars.

Was this review helpful?

This appears to be the be-all end-all book on sourdough baking. It starts with detailed directions to make your own starter, and continues on to give recipes for items I didn’t even know could be made with sourdough. The photos will make your mouth water and should inspire the baker inside you. Note: I did not try any of these recipes (as I don’t have a starter ready) so I cannot comment on how good the instructions are. There are some delicious sounding recipes for spreads and toppings also, and then some non-sourdough recipes at the end, including cookies. There is an astonishing assortment of sourdough recipes though, and if you’ve been watching The Great British Baking Show, you’ll definitely want to pull this book out to practice “Bread Week”.

I do wish the cover looked a little more up to date, it definitely does not convey “modern” to me, at all. But the inside is useful and inspirational.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I honestly hope someone makes some of these loaves (and bagels) and brings them to my house to share.

Was this review helpful?

Fantastic cookbook! I struggle with the time and patience to make daily bread but I find the recipes inspiring. I have started and abandoned multiple starters but in-between have achieved some delicious sourdough creations. The pasties are amazing. I applaud those that can keep up with it everyday and I have this book picked out for a few such accomplished friends that will love this book. With that said for me personally this is the motivation to do a starter for a special occasion and keep up with it long enough to provide a delicious healthy creation for the holidays. Despite my lazy tendencies this will be an important addition to my cooking collection (for when I feel like going to the extra trouble). Believe me it is well worth it. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review and I love it!!!

Was this review helpful?

Margot Bakery is a popular bakery in East Finchley, London, and was opened in 2016 by Michelle Eshkeri, who supposed her friends would like to be able to purchase the specialties she had always baked at home. It happened that not only her friends wanted her baked goods, but people all over London wanted her baked goods. Because the bakery has been so popular, and customers have requested recipes so they could duplicate them at home, Eshkeri has published them in an excellent cookbook, Modern Sourdough: Sweet and Savoury Recipes from Margot Bakery.

Anyone who wants to learn the art of baking sourdough will want to purchase this excellent cookbook. It has step-by-step instructions on creating a sourdough starter, and then using the starter in dozens of mouthwatering recipes. The photographs (Patricia Niven has outdone herself) in the cookbook are excellent, and readers will want to stay home and bake for days.

This cookbook is not for those who are inpatient; rather, it is for those serious bakers who want to learn and are willing to put in the time (lots of time!) to make sourdough. I followed the instructions to the letter, and found that even though there was a lot of waiting time (even baking a loaf of bread involves not only the main starter, but another starter and then the shaped loaf has to sit in the fridge 12-16 hours before it’s ready to bake) the loaves turned out pretty good. Because I don’t live in London, I have had to adjust the recipes to work in my different altitude, using American flour, and a dry climate where I live. I’m happy to say, the patience has paid off and my loaves are starting to look better, and most importantly, taste amazing. The Cheddar and Paprika bread is presently in the fridge having a 16 hour sit before baking.

While sourdough is the main focus of the book, there are other excellent recipes for baked goods that aren’t sourdough, i.e., Lily’s Tahini Cookies and Hazelnut Friands.

While this cookbook is well-written and has mouthwatering recipes, it isn’t for everyone. It is for serious bakers who want to bake something a little outside of the box. Those willing to take the time will love it.


Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Was this review helpful?

I had a six month obsession with sour dough before I let my starter go. I just don't have the patience and ability to bake bread daily. If I did. this would be the perfect book. There are many ideas of what to do with your sourdough starter, and many types of sourdough recipes. I will check it out again the next time I dive into sourdough baking.

Was this review helpful?

This book came along at exactly the right time for me. I had a sourdough starter which I was using to make the same loaf of bread each week. This book gave me lots of inspiration for using it to make lots of new and interesting ways. The books also includes some recipes which do not require a starter. I was surprised by this but the recipes do look good so I will give them a try.

This book would make a great gift for keen bread makers.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this title in exchange for an unbiased review.

Was this review helpful?

Recipes include a ton of information and tips to help with successful bakes and the pictures are simple yet stunning!

Was this review helpful?

Coming from a part of the world were 'bread' in the western context is rare in kitchens at home, I was completely unaware of what sourdough actually was till a few years ago. Since learning about its existence, the taste and idea of it have had a meteoric rise in my personal list of favourites. When I saw this available, I had to try and read it. 

The book is very detailed and almost perfect for a beginner like me. I am actually planning to start and invest some time in making my own starter later next week, and hopefully, I will be patient enough to see it through. The first step is an introduction to how to make a starter and to maintain it under different circumstances. Then follow basic and more complicated recipes using the previously mentioned starter. The actual effort seems to be in timing it all correctly, and the well-described and extremely detailed instructions should suffice to make a passable piece of bread, but it remains to be seen how well I work with those instructions. I have picked up a lot of tips from this book, and it has encouraged me to take a stab at experimenting with sourdough, and I have a feeling it would tempt anyone even remotely interested.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own affinity to sourdough bread and my reaction to the recipes included within the pages.

Was this review helpful?

I have toyed with sourdough over the years, never getting it quite right, never quite grasping the whole process, never finding all the information in one place. And finding the recipes limited and bland.

This book has changed all of that for me . It really is a modern guide to sourdough.
Covering all the important aspects such as starters, folds and hydration,
It has a brilliant selection of sourdough bread recipes, including brioche, focaccia, ciabatta, flatbread, bagels and a wonderful selection of others including all combination or herbs and fruits.
There is also a pastry dough, a sweet dough a speciality , a jam and spread section too.
So many mouth watering recipes and photos.
A brilliant collection and everything you could wish to know or bake with sourdough.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Was this review helpful?

A beautiful and attractive, step-by-step guide to Sourdough. Offering a range of flavor profiles and pastry techniques, Modern Sourdough invites you in for an adventure. Can't wait to try the recipes!

Was this review helpful?

Sumptuous, flavourful and infinitely diverse, Modern Sourdough is an incredible resource for the intermediate to advanced sourdough enthusiast. From trendy to classic, traditional to experimental, Eshkeri’s lineup of recipes excites the senses and piques curiosity - even a brief flip through this beautifully photographed volume is sure to wake a feeling of “I can’t wait to make this!” and “this sounds amazing!”.

Eshkeri tells her story with passion and shares her craft freely, giving concise and clear direction to allow readers the best chance of a successful bake, from sourdough starter cultivation through to artisan loaves, voluminous enriched bread and delicate pastries. These are complicated recipes, but the author so successfully breaks them down that even a relative beginner up for a challenge could tackle them with confidence.

There is a strong feeling of international love for good food and a sense of patience and anticipation, the creation of something special, wholesome and delicious over days rather than minutes. This really is a book to be poured over and used time and time again. A slow food triumph.

Was this review helpful?

When Michelle Eshkeri moved to North London in her 20s, all she wanted was a really good loaf of bread. When she realized that there was nowhere within walking distance with that bread she wanted, she decided to make it herself. And then she decided to sell it to others, and Margot Bakery was born. Her new cookbook, Modern Sourdough, is a reflection of over 100 recipes that the bakers and customers love.

Eshkeri has developed a way to present sourdough breads in ways that are unusual and flavorful. Her bakery offers savory and sweet varieties, with something for everyone who comes in the door. But she doesn’t just sell bread. She doesn’t just bake bread. She thinks baking is also good for the soul, so she offers up these recipes with the exhortation that anyone can learn to bake good bread. One of her favorite thing about sourdoughs is that even a baking disaster can usually teach you something about the process, and you can still eat your work.

Before you start baking, you need a sourdough starter, and she walks you through the day-by-day process of growing your starter, maintaining it, and using baker’s percentages with it to create some tasty breads. After getting you started with a basic sourdough, she takes you through recipes for Brown Bread, New York Light Rye, Geronimo (a 5 seed bread), Brioche, Focaccia, Baguettes, Challah, Bagels, and so many more.

Then things get sweeter, with pastry recipes for tasty treats like Croissants, Pain au Chocolat, Rugelach, and Danish Pastries, among others. Her sweet sourdough recipes come next, to tempt you with Sourdough Pancakes, Crumpets, Babka, Cinnamon Buns, Hot Cross Buns, Doughnuts, Panettone, Stollen, Sourdough Banana Bread, and Sourdough Rye Brownies, to name a few.

Then it’s back to Savory Sourdough, to feast on Pumpkin Scones, Sourdough Pizzas, Pesto Flatbreads, Onion Focaccia Tarte Tatin, and Aubergine Einkorn Galettes, and so much more. She finishes her sourdough recipes with Margot’s Specialties, from Gingerbread Dinosaurs to Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies, from Banana Split Muffins to Blood Orange Polenta Cake, from a Blueberry Bundt with Fondant Icing to Cheese and Onion Pie.

She also includes an entire chapter of recipes for all the things you need to pair with these sourdoughs to make the most delicious meals: Creme Patissiere, Almond Frangipane, Lemon Curd, Simple Syrup, Jams and Marmalade, Slow Roasted Tomatoes, and a Fermented Red Pepper, Tomato and Chili. Basically, you have everything you need to make a basic sourdough for a base and add anything that speaks to you.

Modern Sourdough is all about the soul of bread, about the warmth of handmade pastry, about the feeling of sharing something you have taken the time to make with the people you love the most. It’s a lovely cookbook, and as I am not close enough to Margot Bakery to buy some of these delectable items, I will just have to make some of them myself.

Galleys for Modern Sourdough were provided by Quarto Publishing Group-White Lion Publishing through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Was this review helpful?

Disclaimer I received a copy of this as an ARC from NetGalley.

As an avid home baker, I was excited about reading this recipe book. I have always been intimidated by the idea of sourdough bread from scratch and was hoping for some insight to starting. I was not aware of the book being by an author who has a famous bakery or more books to her name. So now those books are on my list to read.

I couldn't make up my mind if the recipes were intimidatingly hard or easy enough for the home baker. I definitely wanted to eat all the recipes but felt maybe some instructions were glossed over or assumed a certain amount of knowledge. Overall I did enjoy it and want to try my hand at some recipes.

Was this review helpful?

I want to be the sort of person who makes sourdough, but I just can't. I'll bake loaves of bread, cakes, biscuits and pies, but beginning and maintaining a starter seems daunting. Reading Modern Sourdough almost changed this for me. Eshkeri sets out the steps in a clear, precise way and I became so close to jumping up to get my starter going. I still might.

This contains a lot of recipes that requires a starter, but there are many to enjoy otherwise. I can't wait to try the lamingtons, Marina's apricot lavender slice and the goat's cheese, pear and walnut galette.

The photographs are beautiful, the recipes are detailed and there a plenty of new ideas to satisfy any baker.

Was this review helpful?

With fewer traditional bakeries around that aren’t part of a grocery chain and even fewer bakeries that make bread, it’s a great time to start learning to bake your own bread. While I have been baking since I was old enough (and tall enough) to stand on a chair and stir, my family baked sweets and not breads. I’ve dabbled in bread making while baking for restaurants and catering but rarely dealt with sourdough from beginning to end. I found that the layout of the recipe and instructions for starter to be well done. I also like how it shows you each recipe at completion so you know what it can look like. Let’s face it, a large part of any good food is how it looks. It gives you step by step & day by day instructions on your starter with ways bring the starter back to life. I love that this book has more than just breads but has cookies, pastries, jams, and more. I love her stories and statement to include the background and culture for some of the recipes. The recipes are very time consuming and not good for the impatient baker. I would recommend this more for the intermediate or more advanced bread baker. It Is necessary to consider the chef is from London so the baker needs to consider altitude, climate, and different quality ingredients in their area. I had some difficulty with some of the recipes because of these differences and am still trying to find a good balance to make a perfect loaf of bread.

Was this review helpful?

This is, hands-down, the most exciting recipe book I've read in a long, long time. I now deeply, deeply want to go dough. Brb, buying loads of mason jars so I can make starters and stuff.

Was this review helpful?

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. As someone who has kept a sourdough starter and made bread before, what I love about this book is that there are many recipes other than bread. The rye sourdough brownies have caught my eye, Im also going to try the pumpkin scones, cheese scones, panettone, and sourdough banana bread. I have some digestive problems and fermentation makes it easier for me to digest foods. All of these recipes for scones, cookies, and even pizza with fermented dough give me the ability to enjoy treats I can’t always have. The book is beautiful as well as informative for beginners to sourdough. There is a section on starting and maintaining your own sourdough.

Was this review helpful?

This is perfect for anyone who is really really into sourdough - the first chapters are the base on which to build all your future bread a.nd they were really easy to understand. The recipes are varied and the pictures are lovely

Was this review helpful?

Modern Sourdough is FANTASTIC!!

SO many incredible recipes - simple, delicious, fantastic! A definite must-read for anyone who... well... likes bread!

I'll be using the recipes from this book for years to come!! Thank you!!

Was this review helpful?

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I know and love sourdough. I was delighted to see this particular cookbook at one of my book review sites, and I knew I had to check it out. The author owns a bakeshop in north London called the Margot Bakery. This book is simply divided into an introductory section which gives you basic skills and techniques required for sourdough baking, and this is followed by the recipe section which starts off with breads before going into other sweet and savory sourdough options (including pastries!). The book ends with a collection of specialties from the bakery that don't include sourdough starter.

As someone who has worked with a sourdough starter, I found her introductory section helpful. If someone was interested in working with sourdough starters and the resulting goods made from them, this would be a good primer for sourdough baking. In very detailed steps, she tells how to make a starter. Other information includes how to care for and bake with starters and the dough process. After this introductory section, she dives right into the recipes. Most of the recipes in the bread section are the standard and typical breads from various countries around the world as well as favorites of different ethnicities. Probably most cultures that enjoy leavened bread are represented here. Of course, there are a lot of French and Italian breads, like brioche and ciabatta; however, there are a few surprises as well, like Lepeshka (Jewish) and Jachnun (from Yemen).

Things start to get interesting when the book moves on to pastries. In all my time working with sourdough starters, I had never considered making pastries. There's even a laminated dough recipe that you use to make croissants, pain au chocolat, and several other pastries. There are definitely recipes that will get you thinking about sourdough baking in a completely different way. I love that. There’s a sweet sourdough section separate from the pastries; some interesting cultural staples like babka, panettone, and stollen. The savory sourdough section had more unusual delights, like Pugliese Potato Focaccia and Onion Focaccia Tarte Tatin. Some recipes from the basic bread chapter are repurposed in these later chapters. For instance, the brioche dough is used to make a recipe called Brioche Feuilletée and the focaccia dough is used to make Sourdough Pizzas. The author even gives some ideas to do with day-old breads, like stuffed twice-baked croissants and a bread pudding.

After so many sourdough wonders, I was surprised at the Margot Specialties section, but I am glad the author included it. Salted caramel chocolate chip cookies, what's not to like? And there are also other cookies and yummy sounding (and looking) recipes like Custard Tart with Caramelised Breadcrumbs and Blood Orange Polenta Cake. Fun stuff!

When I initially flipped through the book for my BookTube review, I had noticed there were both Imperial and metric measurements. However, I hadn't realized that, for the breads at least (not toppings and extras), these are actually done as weights not as dry measures. I will admit I don't even own a kitchen scale. I am a dump cook most of the time and cup-and-spoon measurer when baking. So, be warned, if you are interested in this book, you will need a kitchen scale and be willing to work with the weights of ingredients. The recipes look so good that I may be upgrading my kitchen tools.

Another thing that I noticed is that all of the sourdough recipes require either two or three refreshment stages before the bread (or good) can actually be made. The first refreshment stage is done with the entire starter that you have. Then 8-12 hours after that, there are one or two other stages. It seems that most of the sweeter breads had two refreshment stages, the second stage being one in which sugar was added to the starter. So making any recipe from this book would be a time commitment. It takes mere seconds to do a refreshment of a starter, but timing it around busy lives and schedules is what makes it tricky. And, of course, there is something about our modern human nature that wants results NOW!

The book is well photographed. If you love bread, you’ll be wishing you could jump on a plane to London and try some made by the hands of the author who created the recipes. Every recipe has a photo and truly gives a sense of what these breads and other baked goods look like. The author also included some detailed photos of more complex techniques, like braiding challah.

If you are already an experienced sourdough baker, you will be thrilled with the possibilities that this book opens up for you. If you are new to sourdough baking, this book provides good foundations and explanations as well as recipes that you can use in the early stages of learning as well as ones that will challenge you later.

Was this review helpful?

I am sourdough fan, and have quite a few books on the subject, so the title of this book intrigued me.
To test the basic recipes in Modern Sourdough, I made both the Margot and the Geronimo. They were very successful and the Geronimo, packed with an interesting seed combination is definitely one to add to my list of favourite breads.
The initial chapter on making sourdough – processes from starter to final product are well explained and would a very useful starting point for anyone baking with sourdough. At this stage, I was questioning the title as the techniques described are traditional ; however the recipes that follow range from traditional baguette, focaccia, ciabatta to unusual variations like beetroot bread, apple raisin and rosemary bread, roasted red pepper, garlic and parmesan bread. There are a number of Jewish breads like challah and lepeshka, too.
I liked the layout of the recipes– complex recipes with clear division of ingredients for each stage. There are also useful photos for explaining complex processes such as shaping challah and babka, and the peppering of suggestions throughout the book such as the useful comment for proving a dough (in this case the laminated dough) at 24*C – “if the temperature is less than this, place a tray of warm water in the oven (not turned on) and place the dough inside”
Further chapters include making sourdough pastry (making laminated pastry) , sweet and savoury sourdough . I am not sure I would ever make muffins and scones from sourdough, though making pizzas from leftover focaccia dough does appeal. Again a lot of traditional recipes such as croissants, Danish pastries, hot cross buns, but also modern twists such as smoked cheese and beetroot pull apart bread and aubergine galettes.
The final chapter, Margot Specialities, includes some non-sourdough specialties such as gingerbread dinosaurs and salted caramel chocolate chip cookies. On first reading I found this chapter out of place in a book titled “Modern Sourdough” but then decided I was nit-picking. The recipes are varied and good, so why not include them?

Was this review helpful?

I cannot speak highly enough about this book and my obsession with it! I have always loved sourdough bread and wanted to have my very own starter. I had read that you could send off for some, but did not know if that was still possible, and I did not know anyone who had it themselves. This book gave me a great way to find out how to begin my own starter and how to keep it going. This book had something that I have said before is a true indulgence of mine and something that I always crave, no pun intended, pictures! I always want beautiful pictures of what I am making and this did not disappoint. The recipes are so delicious and if you are lucky, come out looking just like the pictures. I do not say you have to have luck, but sometimes mine are not always perfect. I get creative, but do not worry, they all taste amazing! This takes an art that can seem incredibly intimidating, and make it easy to understand and take away your worries. Get ready for bread that will instantly become a favorite, make your mouth water, and be a go-to recipe. Thank you to the author for sharing her talent, the publisher, and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I love my sourdough starter (which has been handed down for generations), but I needed more ways to use it. This book had excellent recipes for additional ways to utilize sourdough in all sorts of delicious ways!

Was this review helpful?

I LOVED this! I have been working to improve my baking skills and enjoyed trying new recipes - will use again to perfect a few.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: