Healthy Baking: Nourishing Breads, Wholesome Cakes, Ancient Grains and Bubbling Ferments

UPDATE: We've tried the cardammon chocolate cake and my new go to icing will be the coconut oil cream cheese frosting ( the cake is divine too). All the sourdough recipes (including pancakes) are delicious but I think my all time favourite is the apricot and hazelnut one which is so yum I've banned myself from making it too often. I'm just constantly surprised at how delicious the recipes are, the aubergine barley (Fargo) salad and daal are two that have made it into our regular meals, the daal especially is so easy and quick to make but is full of Unami. I've not yet braved some of the preserves but have tried the preserved lemons recipe which is our new fridge staple, every time I walk past the green grocers I'm on the look out for cheap lemons to stuff into jars! So far they've been used as a dressing on pan fried sole but mainly in hummus. I can't recall all the recipes I've tried but definitely made enough to know this book has won a permanent place on my bookshelf.****************** original post below ******************It's been a while since I've gotten excited about a cookbook, but this is the first book I've ever preordered and I'm so glad I did. I read somewhere about the kimchi sourdough bread but this book has a whole handful of sourdough recipes to try out which has got me itching to feed my sourdough and get baking, including sourdough blueberry pancakes which take only 20 minutes to make up so I expect a delicious way to use up spare sourdough.The author is real about food and alternative ingredients, and I love his section on demystifying the sugar issue and the reality that we should try new sugars for their flavours not their health virtues. It's so refreshing to read after many Pinterest posts raving about all the so called health benefits of things like coconut sugar and villainising the good old white stuff. He goes as far as to say all the sugar can be interchanged with normal sugar which once again I find reasssuring not to mention easier to budget on.All the ingredients are easily sourced and I will definitely post again to update on if the recipes really are as delicious as they look! Recipes I need to try are the gluten free bread, all the sourdough ones (how good does apricot and hazelnut sourdough sound?!?), sourdough pancakes, babka, chia oatcakes and basically I need to progress past the first chapter on bread but it's that good I'm just savouring each page because like all his books, the photos are beautiful as well as the little blurbs before each recipe.Even without having tried the recipes yet I'm am excited and recommend people give this a read. I just can't see how any of them can disappoint. Will update again soon!

Great book. It should be noted that it's not all baking. A variety of recipes plus a chapter on ferments. Particular faves from the book are the spelt sandwich loaf, pitta breads and Tahini cookies. It's great to know you are baking something tasty without lots of additives or preservatives.

I've tried and failed to cultivate my own sourdough starter, and this is the first method I've used that's worked, and I've stuck with! The book is informative and detailed without sounding like an encyclopaedia, and the recipes within are healthy and nourishing.So far I've kept my starter (who I've named Trev - giving it a name helps you remember to feed it and keep it alive!), going for over two months, and with it I've made the spelt sourdough loaf, the rye and maple loaf, and I currently have the buckwheat, hazelnut and apricot sourdough rising overnight to be baked tomorrow. All have been successful so far. I've also made the preserved lemons, which I can't wait to use in other dishes! Everything so far has been simple, with detailed easy to follow instructions. The book has a heavy focus on fermentation and so, by their nature, the recipes require patience (but not necessarily a lot of hands on time). There are lots more earmarked I want to try next.The thing that really stands out for me in this book is the level of information, and the honest, balanced and healthy approach to cooking and eating. Jordan Bourke is very knowledgeable and has a chatty tone which makes his work accessible.The book itself is beautiful, with gorgeous photography.

This book does a good deal to explain different grains, as well as the fundamentals of baking, however, it uses quite a bit of white flours. Even ancient grains that are refined without the husks and brans are not healthy. This isn't even mentioned and is therefore quite deceiving. Because it uses different flours for the different characteristics, it's hard to swap out these flours for the more healthy alternatives and the book gives no guide in which to do so. I've been able to do so only after a lot of experimentation (since even google wasn't helping me with this task!)Overall if you're looking for a soft introduction to healthy living from a standard, commercially available diet then this book is okay, so long as you have access to the ingredients which you will certainly not find at Tesco. If you're already abiding by a strict palatte though, this book will not help you perfect your art.

Great alternative baking