Another opportunity to review a healthy living cook book.   “Super Loaves & Simple Treats” by Melissa Sharp with Lindsay Stark is all about using the age old technique of fermentation to make delicious breads and other treats.  Making your own sourdough starter for most of the delicious goodies in this book requires patience but what rewards! 

What is the benefit of taking the time to make the starter? Good gut health.  A body that is nourished and energized.  All recipes are vegetarian with clear indications for special diets.  Read Melissa’s story first to learn about her journey from cancer to health and how her passion for nutritious treats turned into a successful, enjoyable career.  

First you will learn about the basic ingredients used in the recipes.  The unique tastes and how they will influence the outcome of the baked good.  Recommended equipment is also included but by no means a mandatory purchase. That’s the last thing we need is more gadgets right? Well some you’ll just really want to have.  The starting point of the breads is the sourdough starter.  You don’t have to visit San Francisco for this, you’ll make your own very unique just to you starter.  What better way to personalize your cooking?!

 

Where I began

The recipes all looked so good in this book.  I am not the baker that Melissa is unfortunately so the results from my first attempts were less that stellar.  The first recipe I made was the Chocolate Hazelnut and Raisin Spelt Sourdough.  The result was dark and delicious but it didn’t look fantastic.  Pretty doesn’t matter if it tastes good.  The draw back to this delicious loaf is that it takes days of planning to eventually get to the point of eating it.  From making the starter, feeding it and finally making the bread requires quite a bit of planning. 

 

The ingredients are simple enough. You’ll use a rye flour starter with white spelt flour, raw cacao powder, coconut sugar, your favorite chocolate chips, raisins and hazelnuts. The result is a deep, dark, moist chocolate loaf that took days to make took less than half that time to eat. Everyone loved it!

Next up, a delicious looking cake but not everyone liked it.  Win some, lose some.  I did enjoy this cake. It is not sweet with sugar but pleasing as a dessert because of the spices and texture.  It is heavy and moist.  A small slice goes a long way.  The ingredients used are carrots, apples, coconut oil, maple syrup, nuts, oats, buckwheat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg finished with a maple cream cheese frosting.

 I liked this book for all the ways healthy ingredients come together to create such enjoyable snacks and treats.  I think making my own starter for breads and other recipes that are based on the fermentation method is something that requires getting comfortable with the procedure. Once familiar with a recipe, a method, a way of baking, it becomes easier and that, in my opinion is the requirement for this book.  Stick with it and reap the rewards.

I can’t wait to try Peanut Butter Oat Bars!

Joanne

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