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Sourdough - transform your bread & your health

The Healthiest Bread in the World: Science-Backed Baking for a Better Gut Heath

Vanessa Kimbell is a time-served baker who specialises in gut health and trained in the art of sourdough bread in the Dordogne. A bestselling author, she holds a doctorate in Baking as Lifestyle Medicine and Preventative Health and is a member of BANT. Vanessa combines deep expertise in sourdough with unparalleled knowledge of the science of bread and digestion. At The Sourdough School, she teaches personalised artisan bread tailored to optimise gut health and genetics. Discover healthy bread recipes, tips, and techniques featuring sourdough fermentation, wholegrain benefits, and personalised baking advice—designed to inspire a slower, healthier approach to baking, eating, and sharing bread.

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Home Bakers: Learn To Bake As Lifestyle Medicine

Whissendine Mill

6 November 2013 by Dr Vanessa Kimbell

Whissendine Mill -680At the back of the village Nigel Moon and his fabulous 95-year-old mother Ruth Moon run the Wissendine mill north of Oakham, south of Melton Mowbray, selling stoneground flour to the local bakery Hambleton’s for their local loaf. Nigel and Ruth are exactly as you would imagine millers to be. Ask about the mill and their flour covered faces and smiling eyes twinkle with delight as they tell you everything that there is to know about this beautiful mill. Nigel quietly tells me “My mum is still potting about filling the bags and helping.  She gets in a muddle sometimes but she’s bright as a button and she was ninety five last week you know.”

When I ask about the flour today Nigel tells me that at the moment tells me that he’d be happier if he could blend a winter and spring wheat together.  “I am milling with single variety Paragon spring wheat because the last two autumns British grain has been awful. I like to mix a spring and winter mix because you get a bolder, more flavorsome flour and the winter flour tends to be a plumper grain although the gluten is lower, so I mix it with the spring wheat.  The winter wheat is also a better price than the spring wheat because the local farmers tend to get more yield for the winter wheat.”  The Paragon organic flour is easy to bake bread with because it has a high gluten count, although some people find that is not as tasty as some varieties.

There are still ongoing repairs to the mill despite the whole of the top level of Whissendine Mill had to be rebuilt in 2000 and complex renovation work on the gears and machinery had to carried out before Nigel could start milling. In all it took nine years to get the mill going again as parts had to be redesigned as the fan tail drive was missing.

As the cogs and belts started up the noise was astonishing and the building itself seemed to have a life of its own. The whole mill shakes, rattles and rumbles as though complaining at being woken, each pulley and cog making its own contribution to the crescendo of noise.

Nigel shouts information, oblivious to the noise. “The word Whissendine is from an old Anglo-Saxon word for the “Wisingas” who lived near the stream valley of the village that now bears this name.” The mill tower dates to 1809 and its stands 60 feet tall, but it was heavily refitted in the 1860’s. It has a Wegman’s roller mill, which sadly doesn’t work right now, dates from 1878, with porcelain rollers, which came after the stone. Most modern rolls are made of steel. In 1863 the original wooden gearing was replaced in cast iron. The sails of the windmill were totally ruined in a storm in 1922, and the mill stood empty and almost dereliction for 80 years. Although abandoned it was kept water tight and dry.  It limped through until summer 1995 when Nigel Moon bought the mill for £50,000 from a local man called Tony Noton, as the Mill came with a house he bought. For Nigel the renovation work and the running of the mill are a labour of love: he takes huge pride in knowing that this beautiful old building is now fit for its original purpose, to mill local British flour.

It’s really interesting finding out how this locally grown organic wheat is pulled up to the top of the mill by a pulley system and seeing at first-hand how the stone grinds the corn into the flour we then take back to Juniper and Rose to bake with. Once the wholemeal flour was ground, chutes took the mixture to the dressing floor where a large wire mesh drum slowly spun and separated the finer flour from the coarser bran. The fine flour falls to the ground where it was packed into individual paper sacks. The mill produces approximately two tones of flour every week, which I imagine this keeps Ruth rather busy!

Contact Details

Nigel Moon

Whissendine Mill

Melton Road

Whissendine

Leicestershire LE15 7EU

Telephone: 01664 474172

£1.90 for a 1.5 kg bag of Stone-ground British Organic Flour

Ruth Moon Whissendine Mill
January 2015 – It is with sadness that I update this post with news that Ruth died recently.

 

All reasonable care is taken when writing about health aspects of bread, but the information it contains is not intended to take the place of treatment by a qualified medical practitioner. You must seek professional advice if you are in any doubt about any medical condition. Any application of the ideas and information contained on this website is at the reader's sole discretion and risk.

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About Dr Vanessa Kimbell

Dr. Vanessa Kimbell is a leading expert in nutrition and the digestibility of bread. Her doctorate focuses on Baking as Lifestyle Medicine and preventative health, specialising in personalising bread for gut health and genetics. She is the Course Director at The Sourdough School, a world-renowned centre of research and education in bread, the gut microbiome, and the impact of bread on health, based in Northamptonshire. She is currently writing her 6th book and is a best-selling international author.

More information about Vanessa can be found:
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Roger Bettles

    22 May 2020 at 6:55 pm

    We were fascinated when Nigel knew all about the restoration of a mill in Tasmania that our relations supported in funding. Sad to learn that Ruth has died; we were blessed that we did meet her when we last visited the mill. She and Nigel are unique in their knowledge of their business. There cannot be many left who have their knowledge and experience.

    Reply
    • Lucy JenningsLucy Jennings

      2 June 2020 at 10:08 am

      Thank you Roger x

      Reply
  2. Robert McGregor

    19 February 2018 at 5:48 pm

    I met Nigel when rebuilding of the mill at working on the Wymondham mill in 1985. I fear we were more of a hindrance than a help! Lovely man.

    Reply
  3. Malcolm Simpson

    6 September 2015 at 6:56 am

    We met this couple when we visited in 2014 the were delightful and full of information. We are from Australia and when we visit Europe and England we try to visit as many mills can.

    Reply

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Todays live for diploma students will be on 'How t Todays live for diploma students will be on 'How to engage your patient in the lifestyle changes of the BALM' with @vanessakimbell 

In their 6pm live session, we help keep our students on track with the syllabus and discuss the application of Baking As Lifestyle Medicine to the 6 pillars of Lifestyle medicine, applying the research papers, application of the Research, and how this ties into prescribing, along with guest lecturers, discussions and sharing knowledge.

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BAKE, ANALYSE, EAT; RECALIBRATE & REPEAT. 📆 Th BAKE, ANALYSE, EAT; RECALIBRATE & REPEAT.

📆 The Sourdough School Clinic - Thursdays 8pm - for students of The Sourdough School 

✏️ In this weekly live session, we cover technical baking questions. Students can submit their Baking Record Sheets in advance of the session.

📋 We look at the details of our student's bakes - the specifics of the flour, timings and temperatures. Using our sourdough record sheets Vanessa will make suggestions on how they might modify, or recalibrate the next time they bake.

Follow the link in the bio to learn more about becoming a student at The Sourdough School 👆

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IBS AWARENESS MONTH Do you suffer from irritable IBS AWARENESS MONTH

Do you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)? It can be tough to deal with the uncomfortable symptoms of stomach cramps, constipation, diarrhoea and bloating. But did you know that making dietary changes, such as incorporating sourdough bread into your diet, could help alleviate some of those symptoms?

Studies have shown that sourdough's long, slow fermentation process can reduce IBS symptoms. Plus, during #ibsawarenessmonth, we're exploring how adding different herbs and spices to your sourdough can further improve both the flavour and the digestion of your bread.

Let's talk about gut health, fermentation, and how sourdough can be a delicious and healthy addition to your diet. Join the conversation and share your experiences with IBS and sourdough.

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THE SOURDOUGH SCHOOL – HAND CARVED WOODEN LAME THE SOURDOUGH SCHOOL – HAND CARVED WOODEN LAME

One of the biggest issues around using a plastic lame to score sourdough, of course, is that eventually the blade will become blunt and the lame could end up in landfill.  So several years ago I talked to my dear friend EJ about developing a lame with a replaceable blade. And he came up with this very beautiful hand carved wooden lame.

Very sadly EJ is no longer with us. Recently a friend of EJ’s who is also a wood turner and carver offered to make these again for us in remembrance of our dear friend.

Follow the link in the bio to our shop where you can find our full selection of wooden sourdough tools 👆

#sourdough #sourdoughschool #bread #sourdoughlove #sourdoughlover #naturalleavened #leavening #levain #realbread #breadmaking #bakebread #makebread #makerealbread #learntobakebread #breadmakingclass #sourdoughstories #bakingforlove #bakingtherapy #sourdoughbaking
The Baking As Lifestyle Medicine (BALM) Protocol The Baking As Lifestyle Medicine (BALM) Protocol

The current food system is broken at multiple levels, from the pesticides used in our soils to the emulsifiers and additives adulterating industrially-processed foods. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the bread we eat.  The figures reported by the UK Flour Millers say that bread is bought by a staggering “99.8% of British households” and that “the equivalent of nearly 11 million loaves are sold each day. Approximately 60-70% of the bread we eat is white and sandwiches are thought to account for 50% of overall bread consumption. Average bread purchases are the equivalent of 60.3 loaves per person per year.” 

Most bread sold is made by modern processing methods that strip heart-healthy whole grains of their nutrient contents, resulting in low-fibre bread with a high glycemic index. Over time, white processed bread can increase a person’s risk of insulin resistance alongside other lifestyle diseases.

We’re on a mission to revolutionise the bread making process at every level – from soil to slice. The rules governing this are laid out in our Baking As Lifestyle Medicine protocol. 

#lifestylemedicine #health #functionalmedicine #nutrition #integrativemedicine #healthylifestyle #wellness #lifestyle #rcgp #dietitian #nutritionist #healthcareprofessional #holistichealth #healthyliving #plantbased #guthealth #naturopathicmedicine #selfcare #functionalnutrition  #naturopathicdoctor #foodasmedicine #foodismedicine #lifestylegoals #cpd #lifestylechange #mentalhealth #sourdough #sourdoughschool #bakeforhealth
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