The Perfect Loaf, by Maurizio Leo, is the first book from a new generation of sourdough bakers – the home bakers who learned from Chad Robertson’s seminal work, Tartine Bread, and the sourdough bakers who created the now-thriving online sourdough community over the past 10 years.  Maurizio Leo is not a bakery owner or celebrity chef, he is a self-taught home baker and a natural teacher who has helped literally thousands of home bakers hone their sourdough skills over the last 10 years on his award-winning website, The Perfect Loaf (theperfectloaf.com) where he also documented his own sourdough journey.

His new companion book, The Perfect Loaf, builds on the rock-solid foundation laid down by Chad Robertson in Tartine Bread, but Maurizio fills in the white space with answers to the most common challenges faces by the legions of Tartine home bakers. Maurizio’s ability to anticipate the frequently asked questions and common pitfalls demonstrate his deep connection with the struggles of home bakers at all skill levels. Maurizio has created the essential troubleshooting guide for Robertson’s Tartine Bread.

The first half of the book features a detailed, step-by-step breakdown of the sourdough baking process, but also offers alternate methods, troubleshooting tips and helpful guidance based on Maurizio’s own sourdough journey. Maurizio also brings sourdough instruction into the 21^st century with the first workable hybrid book which includes QR codes linking to Maurizio’s online instructional videos where he demonstrates each of the steps in the basic sourdough baking process.  

The second half of the book – the recipes – is an extraordinary compendium of the sixty essential bread recipes, but uniquely, all naturally-leavened sourdough recipes with no commercial yeast.  The recipes include classic country loaves, multi-grain blends, sandwich loaves and rustic loaves with tasty inclusions, but also include sourdough pizza, breadsticks, focaccia, tortilla, pita, naan, pretzels, bagels, ciabatta, rolls, buns, sweets and more.

Maurizio’s “all sourdough, all the time” obsession delivers a comprehensive and unparalleled collection of sourdough recipes.  His time-tested favorites are not the headline-grabbing, exotic varieties (e.g.,“Chile Cheese Polenta Super-Sour Flatbread!”), but rather foundational mainstays spanning the entire spectrum of naturally-leavened bread products.  The recipes are unapologetically all sourdough, only sourdough and everything you ever would want to make with sourdough.

The book is well-organized and easily readable with an attractive layout and beautiful photos.

The Bottom Line: The Perfect Loaf is the heir apparent to Tartine Bread as the new sourdough Bible for home sourdough bakers.

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

Tom Cucuzza

The Sourdough Journey

Cleveland, Ohio ©2022