When Michelle Eshkeri moved to North London in her 20s, all she wanted was a really good loaf of bread. When she realized that there was nowhere within walking distance with that bread she wanted, she decided to make it herself. And then she decided to sell it to others, and Margot Bakery was born. Her new cookbook, Modern Sourdough, is a reflection of over 100 recipes that the bakers and customers love.

Eshkeri has developed a way to present sourdough breads in ways that are unusual and flavorful. Her bakery offers savory and sweet varieties, with something for everyone who comes in the door. But she doesn’t just sell bread. She doesn’t just bake bread. She thinks baking is also good for the soul, so she offers up these recipes with the exhortation that anyone can learn to bake good bread. One of her favorite thing about sourdoughs is that even a baking disaster can usually teach you something about the process, and you can still eat your work.

Before you start baking, you need a sourdough starter, and she walks you through the day-by-day process of growing your starter, maintaining it, and using baker’s percentages with it to create some tasty breads. After getting you started with a basic sourdough, she takes you through recipes for Brown Bread, New York Light Rye, Geronimo (a 5 seed bread), Brioche, Focaccia, Baguettes, Challah, Bagels, and so many more.

Then things get sweeter, with pastry recipes for tasty treats like Croissants, Pain au Chocolat, Rugelach, and Danish Pastries, among others. Her sweet sourdough recipes come next, to tempt you with Sourdough Pancakes, Crumpets, Babka, Cinnamon Buns, Hot Cross Buns, Doughnuts, Panettone, Stollen, Sourdough Banana Bread, and Sourdough Rye Brownies, to name a few.

Then it’s back to Savory Sourdough, to feast on Pumpkin Scones, Sourdough Pizzas, Pesto Flatbreads, Onion Focaccia Tarte Tatin, and Aubergine Einkorn Galettes, and so much more. She finishes her sourdough recipes with Margot’s Specialties, from Gingerbread Dinosaurs to Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies, from Banana Split Muffins to Blood Orange Polenta Cake, from a Blueberry Bundt with Fondant Icing to Cheese and Onion Pie.

She also includes an entire chapter of recipes for all the things you need to pair with these sourdoughs to make the most delicious meals: Creme Patissiere, Almond Frangipane, Lemon Curd, Simple Syrup, Jams and Marmalade, Slow Roasted Tomatoes, and a Fermented Red Pepper, Tomato and Chili. Basically, you have everything you need to make a basic sourdough for a base and add anything that speaks to you.

Modern Sourdough is all about the soul of bread, about the warmth of handmade pastry, about the feeling of sharing something you have taken the time to make with the people you love the most. It’s a lovely cookbook, and as I am not close enough to Margot Bakery to buy some of these delectable items, I will just have to make some of them myself.

Galleys for Modern Sourdough were provided by Quarto Publishing Group-White Lion Publishing through NetGalley, with many thanks.