THE RECIPE JOURNAL

These sourdough focaccia muffins are what I make with dough that over proofed. Sometimes I let my classic artisan loaf proof for too long just to make these on purpose. The dough gets divided into a muffin tin, so every piece bakes up with crispy edges all the way around, topped with olive oil, Parmesan, fresh rosemary and thyme, and flaky sea salt. They are herby, golden, and best served warm with a drizzle of honey. Great for a crowd, appetizer, or just if you want to have

Fluffy, chewy sourdough English muffins with all the nooks and crannies, fermented overnight and cooked right on the stovetop.

My classic sourdough loaf with frozen grated butter, chocolate chips, and walnuts folded in, for flaky, buttery pockets that taste like a chocolate croissant.

My classic four-ingredient sourdough loaf with a crackly golden crust and a soft, open crumb, the base recipe for so many of my bakes.

A rich chocolate sourdough loaf made with cold espresso, cocoa, and melty chocolate chips, with grated butter folded in for a soft, tender crumb.

A soft, sandwich-ready sourdough loaf made with active starter, no commercial yeast, that slices clean and toasts beautifully.

This one takes patience, an overnight cold proof plus a shaping technique that turns the loaf into an actual pumpkin, twine and all, but the payoff is a cinnamon-swirled crumb with real pumpkin puree...

Laminating dough with an active starter instead of commercial yeast takes real patience, folds, chills, and a long proof, but it's what gives these croissants their tang along with the usual flake.

An overnight cold ferment is what gives these ciabatta rolls their open, airy crumb and crackling crust, the kind of texture that's hard to get without the long fermentation.

Sourdough starter goes straight into this pizza dough, and the topping combo, pesto, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and a ranch drizzle at the end, is a departure from a standard red-sauce pie.

Twine wrapped around proofed dough before baking is the trick that shapes these into little pumpkins, a fun way to dress up a basic sourdough loaf for fall.

Same shaping method as the mini pumpkin loaves, sized up into bowls, bake them, hollow them out, and they're ready for soup or dip.

Store-bought breadcrumbs are full of ingredients you can't pronounce because they're made to sit on a shelf forever. That's why I created this recipe.

Small sourdough rolls shaped into pumpkins and baked around a cube of Brie, the cheese melts into the crumb as it bakes.

Four ingredients, starter included, make up this pizza dough, with the fermentation doing a lot of the flavor work that yeast alone can't.

Whether you started your culture from scratch, bought one, or, like me, had a portion mailed to you by a family member, feeding it correctly is what keeps it alive and active. Here's how I do it.

Building a starter from nothing but flour and water takes about a week of daily feeding before it's ready to bake with, here's the process, one step at a time.