Lately I have people asking questions about sourdough, specifically maintaining methods, flours, hydrations etc. But my own experience in baking success or failure is about the starter. It’s both sort of simple and sort of complicated. Beyond that, let’s say that I’m not great at explaining all the finer points of what the hell gets me through the bake, but I can pass on advice through those who have inspired me.

Take Mick Hartley of Bethesda baking fame, one of my former partners on Dan Lepard’s forum. Mick’s advice really helped my own baking efforts, and even school wasn’t as clear as his way to explain things, especially to a lazy baker like me. Well, Mick just sent me his new book. It’s terrific, a great source containing simple methods for budding bakers. Check it out, as it will be your gain!

Susan of Wild Yeast has always made great bread and is a wealth of information on her blog. She’s helped me a lot. I even had the opportunity once to co-blog on a challenging bread from another great source, Wolfgang Süpke. Once in a while I will pass out proven formulas, hoping anyone reading this blog, whether professional or novice, can make sense of my spreadsheets and percentages I spew from this screen. Anyway, thinking of Mick and Susan and Wolfgang and Dan today… led me to one thought… Go bake bread!