Book Review – Wild Sourdough by Yoke Mardewi

Sourdough Recipes for Natural Homemade Bread

Mar 31, 2009

This practical, hands-on guide to making sour dough bread offers 45 easy- to-follow recipes written specifically for baking bread at home.

Written specifically for home cooks looking for easy to follow sourdough recipes, Wild Sourdough (New Holland, 2009) by Yoke Mardewi is a comprehensive guide to making sourdough bread at home.

Homemade Sourdough Bread

Wild Sourdough is a very practical guide to baking bread. Mardewi specifically notes that the book is designed for those baking at home with a standard oven and standard kitchen supplies and utensils. Using natural fermentation techniques and a range of ingredients, she encourages everyday home cooks to produce tasty, preservative-free sourdough bread.

Wild Sourdough contains more than 45 recipes. In addition to a variety of standard sourdough loaves, there are recipes for specialty sourdough breads and cakes including:

Mardewi offers comprehensive information about the process of baking sourdough bread and the role each ingredient and stage of the bread making process plays in creating a perfect sourdough loaf. There are descriptions of a variety of flours suitable for sourdough bread including wheat, spelt, kammut, emmer, einkorn, durum, rye and barley.

Making Sourdough Bread

The list of equipment required for sourdough bread making includes items that are likely to be found in most modern kitchens with the exception of baker’s/pizza peel (available from most kitchen shops) and a granite tile. Mardewi recommends a granite tile of 10mm (0.4 in) as the best way of ensuring that heat is distributed throughout the loaf in a manner that is most likely to produce a perfect loaf of sourdough bread.

Wild Sourdough includes recipes that use three different methods of preparing dough; a Straight and Starter method in addition to a Dough Retardation method that allows dough to be prepared days in advance.

Mardewi includes detailed instructions for establishing a sourdough starter and information about the various stages of the bread making process including how long is required for each stage. The recipe layout is very clear and easy to follow and also includes the time required for each step.

Yoke Mardewi

With an obvious passion for both sourdough bread and the bread-making process, Yoke Mardewi runs sourdough cooking classes in Perth, Western Australia. She is an enthusiastic supporter of organic/biodynamic farming.

Mardewi’s cooking classes and her sourdough cookbook Wild Sourdough are as much about embracing a passion for life and creativity as they are about baking bread. Her own desire to achieve her dreams and to encourage others to do the same permeates Mardewi's approach to teaching and sharing her own passion for home-baked bread.

Enjoy Making Sourdough Bread at Home

While some may find the concept of baking sourdough bread from scratch intimidating, Mardewi’s style and the easy-to-follow format of the recipes make it possible for anyone to make their own bread. An email contact for Mardewi is included for anyone seeking further assistance or problem-solving advice.

Mardewi’s approach is both practical and informative. She promotes the process of bread-making as an experience that is soothing, and the baking of sourdough bread as a way of investing in the wellbeing of both the baker and the recipients.

The copyright of the article Book Review – Wild Sourdough by Yoke Mardewi in Home Decor/Cookbooks is owned by Susan Whelan. Permission to republish Book Review – Wild Sourdough by Yoke Mardewi in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.