The classic sourdough starter can be a struggle but this book made it look easy and more recipes than just bread!

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own!

This book has such clear recipes. I am so excited to start baking sourdough bread with these recipes. They give you such a variety of recipes to use. The pictures are absolutely amazing. They make me hungry just looking at them. I am absolutely amazed! I appreciated that the recipes for easy to follow and gave lots of details that were important to making the sourdough. They also start out with the basics of making a sourdough starter which is super important.

Read if you:
Have been seeing everyone post about their sourdough and you have FOMO.
Love variety of sourdough and want to try something new

Thank you again!

I requested this book because I have never, ever, ever managed to ever get a sourdough starter off the ground. This book is my new bible. I can't tell you if I've been succesful yet, but this book is so clearly laid out, with simple instructions with just the right amount of detail that if I fail again, it is clearly a flaw in my own character. Excited to try the recipes when I finally get Stan (my starter) to live!

I am very, very new to sourdough and doing a lot of research before diving into the world of using and baking with it! I was very pleased with how detailed this book is from making the starter to turning it into over a hundred different masterpieces!

There are so many mouthwatering recipes in this book, both sweet and savory. This is absolutely a staple book I would love to add to my kitchen!

Be on the lookout for this one to hit the shelves!!

5 ⭐️
This book is for bread lovers around the world. (Guilty!) Scrumptious images are included on every page for your visual taste bud’s delight. This is a book I’ll be referring back to often!

The author brought flavors inspired from various countries like Australia, England, Poland, and Hungary all together when she opened her own successful business in North London.

The book starts with the author’s personal backstory, and then dives into how to get started with very clear day-by-day instructions for your “starter” yeast. She shares great info on maintenance and storage between bakes, as well as tips for hydration %, temperature, dough prep (folding, shaping, etc), baking, and cooking.

The rest of the book details ~100 visual recipes for breads and pastries like: brioche, focaccia, flatbreads, danishes, croissants, cinnamon buns, sourdough brownies, banana bread, and so much more. She even includes special treats like edible flower cookies, apricot lavender slice pastries as well as jams and spreads. So many mouth-watering things to try that I truly hope I succeed with my starter dough!

My only dislike of this book was the cover of this ARC. It seems too boring for the delicious secrets that lie inside. But you know what “they” say… (Never judge a book by its cover - yeah, you knew 😉).

Thank you to NetGalley, Quarto Publishing Group, and Michelle Eshkeri for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Props to the author for mentioning that the flour doesn’t need to be expensive. I know that some guides and online bakers encourage beginners to use a particular brand of flour which isn't always affordable or accessible. But I think it would have been great if they could mention which flours will work best for sourdough. It also would have been great if there were photos included on the folding, pre-shaping, shaping, and scoring the dough sections.

When you say stage 2: refreshment, is that the autolyse?

Other than that this seems like a pretty solid book on sourdough and I was also surprised by the addition of some pastry recipes from their bakery. I am very excited to try out a few recipes like cheddar scones, sourdough brownies, and roasted red pepper, garlic and parmesan bread.

Thanks to Net Galley and White Lion Publishing for an ARC of this wonderful cookbook.

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.

Wonderfully vivid photo's as well as step by step instructions. Sourdough is so on point with the trends at the moment and this provides a wide variety of breads, pastries as well as tasty sounding accompaniment's in jams/spreads section. I am very excited to try my hand at some of these recipes to have them become my go to for functions and gifts. These sound delicious as well as something a baker can accomplish. If you are interested or know someone interested in Sourdough this would be a fabulous gift or reference to pull some delightful recipes for your next gathering.

Thank you to netgalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity. Excited to give them a try.

Beautiful photographs and delicious organized recipes! I am so excited to try these in my kitchen. There are a variety of recipes with various add ins or styles to add to any meal. The layout is easy to follow.

I’ve been wanting to try making sourdough bread for a while now but every time I try to look up how-to’s and recipes I end up just feeling overwhelmed and too unsure to actually give it a go…but Modern Sourdough breaks the process down in such an accessible way, while also providing in-depth information without being overwhelming. I actually feel like I can tackle making a starter now and all of the recipes are exciting and so much more varied than I ever thought of sourdough being. Sourdough pancakes?? Sourdough brownies?? Yes, please! And the section of Margot’s specialty recipes is also great, I’ll definitely be making some of those as well!

Great book that covers so many sourdough recipes from the better known bread to pastries, brioche and cakes. Starting with clear and comprehensive instructions for making and maintaining a sourdough starter, the book then features recipes for breads from around the world. The pastries are sweet and savoury as are the breads. The instructions are very clear and the photographs throughout are very appealing and helpful. As well as detailing the story of her bakery and offering some of its recipes, the book also has a section on jams and relishes to make as accompaniments.

Wow! Very in depth book on making different sourdough baked goods, extremely thorough collection of recipes and directions on maintaining your starter