The Sourdough School

Centre of Research & Education in Nutrition & Digestibility of Bread & the Gut Microbiome

Over 25 years ago Vanessa Kimbell recognised that that bread that we eat every day has a powerful, influence on our health. She pioneered an evidence-based approach, reframing the way we bake and eat bread as lifestyle medicine. The Sourdough School was founded to provide groundbreaking education, research and development programmes to support the baking and healthcare sectors.
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Our sourdough starter and our gardens are certified organic by the Soil Association.
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Mentorship is built into our courses

We teach you to share the knowledge.  Being part of a movement for systems change is built in as part of your course.

Through sharing our knowledge we transform our values into systems change. The word “system” derives from the Greek “synhistanai” which means “to place together.” in becoming a student here and baking according to the Bread protocol become this change, aa student on our Diploma courses you join The Sourdough slub.  The club is where we teach your course online and where we deliver our syllabuses.  We do this so you become part of our community, and we support each other.

How do you become the change?

By sharing;  we have built in to the syllabus as your very last lesson a task for you to continue your learning by supporting and sharing your knowledge with someone that you are connected to. This is how we create change together, by sharing knowledge.

Mentorship is built into our coursesWhat to expect

So if you you have requested a Course Prospectus and you are thinking about enrolling on one of The Sourdough School courses to learn to make bread then there are quite literally thousands of courses that you could choose instead. It is important that you know that I don’t teach you to make bread. I teach you to understand bread. So if you are someone who just wants big holes then you in the wrong place.

I don’t think I ever set out to teach people to make bread. My mother described me once as being “defiant.” I don’t suppose she really meant it as a compliment, but making your own bread is a powerful act of defiance. So perhaps the most important thing you need to know if you are thinking about enrolling on a course is that the course is really about understanding that the food system is broke.  Just teaching you to make bread (that nourishes your gut microbiome) is not enough to make a difference.  Likewise, a Diploma or Certificate isn’t really the evidence that you have completed one of our courses.  It is the moment that something clicks, and you will find yourself wanting to be part of a movement for systems change.

How?

We invite you as our student to stay as a member of The Sourdough Club for another year and we gift a Just Bake Membership 1 year for free for you to give a young baker that you nominate as the final step in your syllabus. It is about teaching the next generation of bakers.

This means you can keep baking and learning from your course for a mother 12 months whilst supporting a young baker anywhere in the world virtually through the club and the forum – because our connection to each other is the real secret of why sourdough is good for us.

If you are going enrol then you learn that I personally speak to applicants who want to join the course.  I am not looking for baking expertise, neither am I looking for academic qualifications. I look for students who will complete the final task of the course and become part of the School.

I believe that bread that nourishes, like fresh air and clean water is a basic human right. So the Sourdough School isn’t a place, it is a movement, a political idea, and as a student you become part of a global network of bakers who are essentially food activists. I have mentored hundreds of people around the world, including GP’s, Dieticians, Surgeons, Nutritionists, Domestic bakers, Professional Bakers and every single one of them has gone on to teach and share knowledge of how to bake and eat bread that nourishes with others – now it is your turn.

https://www.sourdough.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Social-enterprise.m4a

THE GENDER GAP IN HEART DIAGNOSIS
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According to a report by the British Heart Foundation, more than 8,200 women died needlessly over a ten year period due to inequalities in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. Concerningly, women fare worse at every stage in their health journey for heart disease globally. 
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DID YOU KNOW?
-	Women get half as much heart attack treatment as men 
-	Women are 50% more likely to receive a wrong initial diagnosis than their male counterpart, increasing the risk of death by as much as 70%
-	Women are less likey than men to recieve standard treatments such as bypass surgery
We can and must do better, starting by tackling the false- and deadly- assumption that women are not at risk of heart attacks. In reality, women are twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease than breast cancer.
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🌾Whole Grain Consumption And Heart Disease Protection
There is a robust body of evidence that suggests whole grains can protect against coronary heart disease, alongside obesity and colorectal cancer.
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❤️ According to a senior dietician at the British Heart Foundation: "Eating more whole grains is a simple change we can make to improve our diet and help lower our risk of heart and circulatory disease." Opting for wholemeal or granary in favour of refined white bread is a simple, effective way to increase your whole grain and fibre intake. #hearthealth #healthyheart #wholegrain #feedthecells #lifestylemedice #bake2give1 #wholegrainbread #internationalwomensday
A NEW APPROACH

👉🏻 For the past 3 years we’ve been working on something incredible … prescription sourdough bread making courses for our @sourdoughclub members 

📈We have had amazing advances in healthcare, but there is no pill to cure poor diet. The best medicine is prevention via a healthy lifestyle, and many studies have shown that people who eat healthily and exercise regularly sleep better, have less anxiety and depression, have more energy, and lower their risk of chronic illness overall.

🙌 Vanessa’s work on Bread & the Impact on the Gut Microbiome has been turned into something extraordinary. Prescription bread-making courses as a lifestyle intervention, and the Bread Protocol we teach here is designed to address the way you live, exploring behaviour related to nutrition, physical activity, stress management, sleep, social support and environmental exposures. These courses are 12 weeks long, and designed to maintain health and prevent disease not just in individuals bit in patients and populations, so we have 2 ways to enrol on a course: 

1️⃣ SOCIAL PRESCRIPTION 
If your doctor or healthcare practitioner is one of  our Sourdough School graduates and they feel that this bread-making prescription course is something that will improve your health, then they may can prescribe the course for you as a social prescription free.

2️⃣ SELF PRESCRIPTION 
You can self-prescribe these courses by enrolling yourself on a course to improve your health and wellbeing.

📰 If you are interested in learning more about the prescription courses then please sign up to the newsletters as we will be announcing their launch over the coming weeks and months. 

@vanessakimbell
@drmiguelmateas 
@dralexdavidson 
@dksherratt 

#lifestylemedicine #preventativemedicine #systemschange #socialprescribingday #socialprescribing
IN 2016 WE TESTED BLOOD SUGAR RESPONSE TO OUR PUMP IN 2016 WE TESTED BLOOD SUGAR RESPONSE TO OUR PUMPKIN SOURDOUGH IN THE  CLASSES

Our students measured their responses throughout the #breadandguts #sourdoughschool & @vanessakimbell wrote the recipe up in her bestselling Sourdough School book.

✨ So good to read that a recent 2021 study on Glycaemic and Appetite Suppression Effect of a Vegetable-Enriched Bread ( mentioned by @theguthealthdoctor today see last slide ) where researchers looked at the impacts of veg-enriched bread compared to  commercial white bread and commercial brown bread on the insulin levels of people participating. 

The results showed that when the participants ate the veg bread they reported feeling more satiation versus when they ate the white or brown bread. 

👆🏼They also experienced a lower insulin response with the vegetable bread. 
essentially translating this science into practice before it was trendy 😂👆🏼👍

This image is taken from the @sourdoughschool book by @vanessakimbell, produced by @kylebooksuk, with photography by @nassimarothacker, styled by @season_adam & with foreword by @richardhartbaker
DID YOU KNOW WE HAVE AN ONLINE SHOP & CAN PURCHASE DID YOU KNOW WE HAVE AN ONLINE SHOP & CAN PURCHASE MY WHITE SOURDOUGH STARTER?
(with worldwide delivery)
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I have several sourdough starters but The French white starter is one that I have been using since I was 11 years old and originates in the bakery I grew up baking within France. It takes a bit longer to reach it’s peak and is generally slower and sweeter, and much more forgiving of being neglected for a week, so the one I recommend for beginners. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We have verbal confirmation that the starter originated over 115 years ago and If you swipe right in the video you can listen to me chatting to one of the older residents of the village confirming that bakery did not shut during the war either .. & it has been maintained ever since... it’s a lovely story. Although the microbes double every 20 – 30 minutes when they are refreshed ... so it is either over a century old or 30 minutes old depending on how you want to look at it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
You can purchase a pot of my starter, along with a grey moon kilner jar & a mini video course on looking after your starter. 
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TAP THE PICTURE TO SHOP.
 
Swipe right to see the amazing video of the French bakery where the starter originated from @vanessakimbell has been baking with this starter for over 20 years … and first baked almost 40 years ago with it …#romantic 
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#breadbosses #breadporn #flourwatersalt #breadtalk #bread #breadstagram #sourdough #sourdoughschool #bread #sourdoughlove #sourdoughlover #naturalleavened #leavening #levain #realbread #breadmaking #bakebread #makebread #makerealbread #learntobakebread #breadmakingclass #sourdoughstories #bakingforlove #bakingtherapy #sourdoughbaking #bannetons #bakery
UNDERSTANDING SOURDOUGH … starts, not in the bak UNDERSTANDING SOURDOUGH …
starts, not in the bakery, but in the soil.
#sourdough
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