Maurizio Leo is a software engineer-turned-baker from Albuquerque, Mexico whose blog, The Perfect Loaf, remains one of the most authoritative sources when it comes to all things sourdough! 

To date, The Perfect Loaf is a two-time Saveur Magazine Blog Award winner. In 2016 The Perfect Loaf won both Editors' and Readers' Choice Awards in The Food Obsessive category and the 2018 Readers' Choice Award for Best Special Interest Blog. In addition, The Perfect Loaf was a 2019 Webby Award nominee.

Maurizio is a regular contributor to the King Arthur Baking blog and is the Resident Bread Baker at Food52. Maurizio has written articles on bread baking for Edible Magazine, the Bread Baker's Guild of America, and Bread Magazine.

But how did it all begin?

• 3:21: Growing up with Italian cooking
• 6:27: Latching onto things obsessively
• 8:07: Entering the world of computers & softwares
• 11:41: Founding Terminal Eleven & creating the stargazing app, Skyview
• 17:02: Seeing Skyview go viral (it’s achieved over 10 million downloads!)
• 18:21: How Maurizio first got into the sourdough making world through the book, the Tartine Bread by Chad Robinson
• 20:37: Meticulously planning for his first sourdough bake (and how it turned out)
• 23:25: Using the same starter from 10 years ago
• 25:14: How The Perfect Loaf blog started 
• 29:06: The biggest challenges Maurizio faced from a baking & business perspective 
• 34:46: How Maurizio experiments to create the perfect sourdough recipes
• 36:01: Impact of baking at high altitude in Albuquerque 
• 37:27: Why Maurizio mills his own flour
• 39:14: Learning from Jeffrey Handelman 
• 40:19: Being known in the sourdough community 
• 46:04: Best places to find & get plugged into sourdough communities 
• 50:04: Maurizio’s favourite baking techniques 
• 51:17: Whether he uses high hydration to achieve open crumb
• 52:08: A recipe that Maurizio makes over and over again
• 53:40: Impact of COVID-19 on sourdough making
• 55:23: Why Maurizio uses so much rye flour in his baking
• 59:10: The best investment Maurizio made in his baking journey

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/33