The Sourdough School: The ground-breaking guide to making gut-friendly bread Kindle Edition

I bought the book because the author claims to be an authority on the science of sourdough, its digestibility and nutritional benefits. The book is informative, but...On page 203, it states “Extensive research was completed to write this book, however, there is not room to list the hundreds of studies used. For those interested, all source material and references listed are linked to the original studies at sourdough.co.uk.”The text DOES NOT include a list of references, which would have only added a few more pages and would have gone a long way towards legitimizing its claims, allowing readers to look up the references to evaluate the studies for themselves. Furthermore, the information IS NOT on the author’s website as the book promises, UNLESS it is behind a paywall only available to people who have further subscribed to one of her classes. This is not acceptable. If I were the publisher (Kyle Books), I wouldn’t allow an author to do this.I am not just disappointed, I am pissed. And I wouldn’t have written this negative review had the author addressed my concerns on social media.

I've been trying to learn to make sourdough bread on my own for a while. Read a number of books including The Bread Baker's Apprentice and Artisan Sourdough Made Simple. There's nothing simple about sourdough, and I fully understand this is a discipline that takes many tries (and many failures) in order to really understand what's happening let alone get a loaf of bread that will make all the time (and flour!) worth it.I've also been following The Sourdough School on instagram for some time. I like Vanessa Kimbell's personality. But I think she should have hired a good editor as well as a great number of test-reader/bakers (who've never attended her class or follow her online) to do her recipes from the beginning. It is patently clear she did neither of these.As has been said before, there are grammatical (and technical) errors that make following incredibly difficult. There is page flipping back and forth multiple times within a single process to double and triple check you know what she's talking about--and even then you're never really certain. Terminology is inadequately defined, and steps are unclear.I imagine this is likely a helpful handbook if you've attended one of Vanessa Kimbell's workshops in person, with the ability to ask questions in real-time for clarification. Otherwise, this is not a book for a sourdough beginner. And I do hope a second edition is forthcoming after feedback from all these would-be-bakers who are thoroughly confused, like myself, even after baking her "basic" recipe more than 5 times.

Beautiful book , complicated recipes with too much back and forth following recipes. Returned. For the author, spend less time on fancy photos and more time writing recipes that follow more easily. Encourage you to have people try to follow your recipes using just your book, not easy.

$6.99 for the Kindle edition. Wow! What a deal. The pictures alone are worth it.I understand why some reviewers are a bit disappointed. If you're not already an old hand at sourdough artisan breads, you may prefer Peter Reinhart's or Ken Forkish's teaching style, and book organization. I would recommend them, over this book, if you are a beginner.But if you're already doing sourdough/artisan, this book will expand your knowledge.In Sourdough School, almost all recipes call for a significant portion of all-purpose or white bread flour. So, if you want 100% or near 100% whole grain recipes, get Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads" or Chad Robertson's "Tartine Book #3".But, whether beginner, intermediate, or expert, as long as it's only $6.99.... GET THIS EBOOK.

I like this book because of the information it provides. I have been baking sourdough bread for a few years with varying degrees of success. Sometimes I get a wonderful loaf with a thin crisp crust and a light airy crumb. Most of the time I get one with a thick hard crust and a wet crumb. The crust shatters when you cut it and the crumb is inedible. The baking information she has is different from mine. Hopefully that will solve the problem.There is one problem I see. She has done the same thing I see time and again in sourdough recipes. She has ignored the effect of the leaven on the hydration percent of the dough. On page 114 the recipe says the hydration percent is 73 %. It is if you ignore the flour and water in the leaven. It is 76% if you don't.If you want a 70% hydration dough and use 700 grams of water and 1000 grams of flour,700/1000 = 70%. But if you have 200 grams of leaven with a 50:50 ratio. The real numbers are(700 + 100) / (1000 + 100) = 800/1100 = 73%.I think I read that Chad Robertson of Tartine Bakery also ignores this.

We’ve used this book on an iPad with the Kindle app extensively these past months and are delighted with it. The pictures are lovely and helpful. I just received the hard copy today and am eager to pass it on to my grandson who is a sourdough baking enthusiast as am I. The book clearly explains why sourdough breads (without added yeast) have added immeasurably to my wellbeing. It is indeed gut-friendly! Note to Americans: get a small scale that weighs grams. Thank you Vanessa Kimbell! Wish I could attend your Sourdough School in the UK.

I've been baking sourdough for 25 years. This book has so much vital information...opened my eyes to many details i didn't think about. Worth every penny! Great step by step guides and photos. I know I'll be using this reference book often.

Bought after good review in Waitrose weekend newspaper, and a love of Sourdough bread (and a desire to have a go at making it myself).Lovely looking book - but for me, who wanted just a straight A - Z guide and recipe, this is too complicated, with the theory explained, general steps, then individual recipes at back (not great having to keep turning pages back and forth with doughy hands!)Should have just looked at videos on YouTube - which I have now had to do, which were easier to follow.

I was so looking forward to this book. I have been making yeasted bread for years and sourdough for two years.Of course it looks wonderful and the photos are gorgeous but try making the bread! Far too many conflicting bits of information. The starter- I was very confused about throwing away left over starter but at the same time keeping a mother starter and feeding it.Then constantly having to flick through the pages whilst trying to make a loaf. Then the leaven- the instructions for that didn't match the recipe. If you want to read all about the science then this may be the book for you. If you want to make sourdough- try another book. As I said I have made sourdough for a couple of years and been happy with the results. Today I followed this book and produced two frisbees. I'm going back to my previous books. I'm afraid I feel I wasted my money

I wanted to love this book... I really did! At first, I liked its coffee table appeal of artsy, hipster photos and earthy rusticity. However after reading it from cover to cover then putting it into practice, I have come to loath it! It's so overly complicated and disjointed with 'step by step' approaches that then lead abstractly back to other pages. This clearly is not a beginner book, so maybe if you already have the theory of sourdough firmly grasped then the extra information should be useful to you. I made my first loaf today but ended up having to refer to websites and videos and used their methods and techniques and a much easier 'no knead' recipe instead. It turned out great!

I've been baking sourdough for around 10 years and thought that this might expose me to some different theories/techniquesI have quite a few cookbooks and this one is destined for the 'looks-good/unused' shelfSchool in the title is misleading - I would not recommend this to a starter/beginnerThe layout is so confusing I was convinced that it was probably self-produced/edited but in fact it has had two editors plus an assistant - not sure what they were doingThe method is very prescriptive with no exploration of different techniquesAs mentioned in other reviews layout is messy - you'll find yourself hopping between pages trying to follow a recipeTopics like sprouting/smoking come before foundationTroubleshooting amounts to two itemsAll-in-all most disappointing

Brilliant sourdough book. Much better than a chapter in a generic bread book as this dedicated books explains everything. It’s also an interesting read, which encourages you to try and learn through your own experience of making sourdough. There is no shortcut to being successful in sourdough making and you need to understand the process and this book is just the book.