Flour Power

Teacher and baker Tara Jensen introduces new and experienced bakers to approachable techniques and recipes for making sourdough, rye, and desem (hearty wheat) bread. Flour Power is divided into two parts: the workshop and the recipes. In the workshop, bakers learn all about flour and how to build strength in dough by hand, read a bread formula, and troubleshoot sluggish starters and unruly doughs. The recipes section is divided into chapters by flour and bread type. There’s a chapter on sourdough using white flour (olive loaf; milk bread), whole wheat desem (Cinnamon-Raisin Desem; Aloo Paratha), and rye (honey and aniseed rye; mountain rye). And like any good professor, Tara offers a chapter on extra credit too, with recipes like Overnight Waffles, Sourdough Pie Crust, and Cheddar Crackers to make from “discard” (the starter you discard before “feeding” it).