Sourdough

2016 James Beard Award Winner (Baking & Desserts)


101 recipes for baking with whole and sprouted grains, making the most of the seasonal harvest, and healing the body through naturally fermented food

Sarah Owens spent years baking conventional baked goods, only to slowly realize she had developed a crippling inability to digest or tolerate their ingredients. Unable to enjoy many of her most favorite foods, she knew she must find a health-sustaining alternative. Thus Sarah started experimenting with sourdough leavening, which almost immediately began to heal her gut and inspire her anew in the kitchen. Soon after, her artisan small-batch bakery, BK17, was launched, and with that, a new way to savor and share nutritious sourdough breads and treats with her Brooklyn community.

Sourdough and other fermented foods are making a comeback because of their rich depth of flavor and proven health benefits. In Sourdough, Sarah demystifies keeping a sourdough culture, which is an extended fermentation process that allows for maximum flavor and easy digestion, showing us just how simple it can be to create a healthy starter from scratch. Moreover, Sarah uses home-grown sourdough starter in dozens of baked goods, including cookies, cakes, scones, flatbreads, tarts, and more--well beyond bread. Sarah is a botanist and gardener as well as a baker--her original recipes are accented with brief natural history notes of the highlighted plants and ingredients used therein. Anecdotes from the garden will delight naturalists and baked-goods lovers among us. Laced with botanical and cultural notes on grains, fruits and vegetables, herbs, and even weeds, Sourdough celebrates seasonal abundance alongside the timeless craft of artisan baking.

Complete Recipe List

HARVEST: Squash and Cherry Bread * Coconut Tahini Bars * Buckwheat Crepes with Chocolate Ganache * Harvest Bread with Hard Sauce * Bacon and Sage Cornbread * Carrot Pineapple Donuts with Tamarind Frosting * Sweet Potato Levain * Chicken, Purple Potato, and Olive Empanadas * Friendship Loaf * Persimmon, Pear, and Cranberry Tarte Tatin * Salsify Fritelle * Wild Rice, Herb, and Almond Levain * Beet Bread * Pomegranate and Zaatar-Spiced Focaccia * Roasted Chestnut Bread * Apple Hand-Pies with Cheddar Crust * Pizza con Funghi Selvaggi * Quince and Walnut Tea Cookies * Pear & Buckwheat Cake * Cranberry & Poppy Semolina Bread * Braised Oxtail Tacos in Flour Tortillas with Kohlrabi-Carrot Slaw * Vegetable Breadsticks * Persimmon Spice Cake * Blue Cheese and Walnut Crackers * Gingerbread Cake

DORMANCY: Sprouted Emmer Crisps * Nutbutter & Rye Cookies * Roasted Banana Marble Cake * Drunken Fig & Rye Loaf * Lemon Madeleines * Chocolate, Currant & Cinnamon Babka * Apricot and Pistachio Swirls * Chocolate Chipotle Kumquat Loaves * Walnut and Blue Cheese Fougasse * Lemon Curd Tart * Blood Orange Tartlets with Japanese Sweet Potato Cream * Indian Chutney Bialys * Chocolate Buckwheat Cookies * Saraguro Cheese Bread * Honeyed Spelt and Oat Levain * Lumberjane Loaf * Chocolate & Port Wine Beetroot Cake * Smoky Chili Bread * Bolón de Verde * Root Vegetable Casserole * Sundried Tomato Shortbreads * Pane di Farro

REBIRTH: Strawberry and Rhubarb Coffee Cake * Ramp and Carrot Tart with Hazelnut Rye Crust * Pork and Rhubarb Pot Pie * Spring Tartlets * Garlic Mustard Pesto * Fiddlehead Pizza * Burdock Burgers * Strawberry and Cardamom Dutch Baby * Violet Syrup * Candied Citrus Shortbread * Panna Cotta Cake * Dandelion and Chive Popovers * Seeded Turmeric & Leek Levain * Savory Kale Scones * Compound Butters * Buttermilk Biscuits * Nettle & Ale Bread * Lilac Sugar * Lilac Honey * Brooklyn Sourdough * Semolina Rose Cake * Parsley & Herb Donuts * Green Garlic Naan * Coconut & Lychee Cupcakes * Ploughman's Loaf * Elderflower Cordial

SUN WORSHIP: Gooseberry and Elderflower Trifle * Jalapeño Cheese Bread * Plum and Amaranth Muffins * Chocolate Cherry Pop Tarts * Apricot and Tarragon Scones * Le Pain du Soleil * Lilac-Infused Blueberry Cobbler * Tomato and Lebany Galette * Savory Fig Crostata * Chocolate Blackberry Sprouted Quinoa Cake * Blue Corn and Caramelized Onion Loaf * Tomato & Basil Mini Muffins * Solstice Pie with Buckwheat Crust * Herbed Parchment Crackers * Lahmacun * Saffron Buns * Savory Zucchini and Green Olive Loaf * Peach & Lavender Crumb Muffins * Fennel, Orange, and Almond Biscotti * Mulberry and Millet Buttermilk Pancakes * Geranium-Scented Cake * Corn & Zucchini Griddle Cakes with Sweet Chili Sauce * Raspberry Tequila Lime Tartlets * Scarlet Runner Bean Hummus