Classic Sourdoughs: A Home Baker's Handbook

by Ed Wood

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Editorial Reviews
Product Description
This volume covers the baking, history and cultural anthropology of sourdoughs. It includes 90 recipes, describing the basics of preparing a sourdough culture and how to build, shape and bake these loaves. It mixes hard science with baking traditions and emphasizes ingredient selection and baking techniques. It includes a chapter on baking sourdoughs in bread machines.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 4 out of 5 stars

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

Classic Sourdoughs, 2008-05-31
This book provides thorough coverage of sourdough recipes, techniques to using and maintaining cultures. This book is highly recommended if you buy the Sourdough International cultures. It will help you understand what makes the culture work and how to maintain it. The author includes information about the results he achieved as he experimented with different cultures and ingredients. Love it!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

The Only Sourdough Yeast that is Original., 2007-07-04
I have both of Wood's books and give them five stars, I have bout allot of woods Yeasts and had no trouble with the Cultures, Wood gives you all the knowledge that he can give someone with a small Incubator, I have talked with his Wife on the Phone and they always were respectful and Polite well mannered It has been a Pleasure to read his Books and if he did another book I would Purchase it, This book takes You out of the narrow minded thinking of todays Commercial Yeasts and takes You into the Real World of What makes Cultures and the difference a Culture makes in the hole Bread World wide, You cannot artificially create as good of a Bread. The rest is up to You !

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

Not good enough, 2007-03-29
It is a book with good recipes and very good discussion about sourdough starters but my expectancy was to have more about how to have the starter from scratch and solve problems in beginning the starter.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3 out of 5 stars

Not too bad, 2007-02-18
...but, does not contain enough information. Following Ed's recipes to the letter- including proofing temps- does not make sour bread, too faint a taste for my liking. And this is using his SF starter...the taste is 'correct' but the intensity isn't there.

An explanation of how to twiddle this is in order.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

Excellent reference/ primer, 2006-08-31
I own all of Dr. Wood's books. In my opinion this is the best reference, while World Sourdoughs from Antiquity provides interesting historical information on sourdough baking.

I find the recipes quite adequate if one is familiar with making bread at home. If one is new to bread making then I strongly suggest The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book and a loaf for learning contained therein first. Get familiar with baking a yeasted bread before moving to sourdough.

Regardless, since one person's cup of flour weighs 4 ounces and another's 5 ounces I personally prefer recipes by weight. Thus, the volume measurement in Dr. Wood's book versus weight is less desirable for me personally.

I have two cultures from Sourdoughs International -- the original San Francisco and the Russian. I recently activated the Russian as well as a control of flour and water. Both the Russian and the control activated within 24 hours and both had the aroma of a restaurant dumpster in the hot, summer sun.

Following Dr. Wood's directions in this book I washed both the Russian culture and the control. The Russian revived nicely and over the course several successive washings developed into a fragrant, active starter. However, the control did not.

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