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The Sourdough School Magazine

How to fix your relationship with bread by Dr Vanessa Kimbell

Long-form writing by Dr Vanessa Kimbell.

Vanessa is a fourth-generation, time-served baker. The daughter of an Italian chef, she trained in France, is a bestselling author, founded The Sourdough School over twenty years ago, and holds the world’s first doctorate in Baking as Lifestyle Medicine (BALM) and Preventative Health. She will teach you to use your bread as a delicious strategy to deliver fibre, diversity and nourishment as the foundation to health every day. Begin anywhere, and a single loaf will lead you into the soil it grew from, the farmer who grew it, the fermentation that transformed it, the gut and the genome it nourishes, and a way of baking that transforms how you bake, eat and share your bread. For in person courses, consultations and training in BALM visit The Sourdough School, or book a 1:1 meeting to get your bread personalised.

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Sourdough Soap

Sourdough School Handmade Sourdough Soap

£4.50

Vanessa at the The Sourdough School has worked with The Raw Soap Company to develop and make this sourdough soap. It is a gentle, natural soap containing sourdough breadcrumbs for the gentle cleaning of dough-covered bakers’ hands.

Categories: Sourdough Baking Equipment, The Sourdough School Shop
  • Description

Description

A natural goat’s milk soap made especially for Vanessa at The Sourdough School by The Raw Soap Company. We have worked together to produce a gorgeous rich soap, studded with sourdough breadcrumbs to gently exfoliate the skin. It’s perfect for bakers. Made in small batches, using traditional cold-pressed methods, each bar is packed with the moisturising qualities of goat milk. Perfect for keeping by the kitchen sink to cleanse and nourish a baker’s hands.

When I got dermatitis in 2012 I thought that I was going to have to stop baking. My hands were so sore that I just couldn’t shape the bread. Flaking skin and rawness was not just painful, it was unsightly and I was at my wits end. I had to wash my hands often working as a baker and with food. It was being shown round Neals Yard Cheese that the MD showed me a cheese that had been handled by someone who had washed their hands with an anti-bacterial soap and there were two hand shaped dead spots on the cheese like glove marks where the microbes on the cheese had literally died.  The cheese was no good, and in that moment I realised that the anti bacterial soap I had diligently been using was killing my own protective microbes, and what, I wondered might be doing to my bread? We have left over bread after classes so I started experimenting.  It took me a year to make a sourdough soap making goats milk, sea salt and sourdough breadcrumbs. It takes a long time to make soap, and as they cured I stumbled across The Raw Soap Company. They have their own herd of goats and use sustainable and local ingredients to produce beautiful, high quality soaps. So I called them and hurrah…we both thought that we could team up to produce this creamy soap made with our very own sourdough breadcrumbs. From the moment I swapped to the goats milk soap my hands started to heal. It took a month and I’ve not had a single flare up since.

To be fair the soap is far nicer than anything I made.  It is richer and beautiful. The natural moisturising power of goat milk, combined with the exfoliating breadcrumbs, leaves your hands feeling cleansed and softened. It’s great for using in the kitchen, and helps prevent dry skin caused by frequent washing when you’re busy cooking. The eco-credentials don’t stop at the soap itself. Each bar comes wrapped in compostable packaging and is an environmentally-friendly alternative to a plastic bottle of liquid hand wash.

* Please make sure you leave your soap in a dry spot between washing or, like all real soaps, it will go soft if left in water.

Ingredients: Sodium Rapeseedate, Caprae Lac, Glycerin, Avena Sativa Kernel Flour, Aqua, Sodium Beeswaxate, Maris Sal

Minimum soap weight: 120g

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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.

#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
BAKE, ANALYSE, EAT; RECALIBRATE & REPEAT. 📆 The S 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 👆

#sourdough #sourdoughschool #bread #sourdoughlove #sourdoughlover #naturalleavened #leavening #levain #realbread #breadmaking #bakebread #makebread #makerealbread #learntobakebread #breadmakingclass #sourdoughstories #bakingforlove #bakingtherapy #sourdoughbaking
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.

#guthealth #healyourgut #healthygut #guthealing #guthealthmatters #letfoodbethymedicine #foodasmedicine #gutbrainconnection #nutrientdense #micronutrients #digestivehealth #nutritionfacts #microbiome #breadandguts #ibsawarenessmonth
THE SOURDOUGH SCHOOL – HAND CARVED WOODEN LAME On 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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