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.
Follow on Instagram

+44 (0)1604 881274
bookings@sourdough.co.uk
Follow on Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
Soil Association
Our sourdough starter and our gardens are certified organic by the Soil Association.
Navigation
  • Courses
    • Bake For Health Certificate
    • Diploma in Nutrition & Digestibility of Bread
    • Teaching Bread for Health Diploma
    • Request a Prospectus & Enquiries
    • Club Membership
    • Reviews
    • Information on Attending Our Workshops
    • My Bookings
  • The School
    • The Team
      • Guest Lectures & Contributors
    • Subscribe me to the Newsletter
    • Terms for The Sourdough School Ltd
  • Our Values
    • Our Systems Change Programme
    • A call to action
    • Seeded Solidarity Porridge Recipe
  • Learn
    • To Make Sourdough
    • Recipes
    • Bread & The Gut Microbiome
    • Bread & Nutrition
    • Health
    • Bread & Health
    • Sweet Sourdough Gut Microbiome Trial
    • Gallery
  • Students
    • My School Payments
    • Club Login
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Equipment
    • Ingredients

What is real Sourdough & Why Does it Matter?

19 June 2020 by

What is real sourdough?

  • Sourdough is the oldest way of making bread.
  • It uses naturally occurring wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria.
  • Sourdough bread has a distinctive taste, which can be slightly to very sour depending on the type of lactic acid bacteria and the bread making process used to make the bread.
  • Sourdough bread is made from flour, water and salt fermented using lactic acid bacteria and wild yeast.
  • Sourdough bread is known in almost every country around the world. Each culture has a different name for it. The French call it levain, Italians call it lievito madre or lievito naturale, the Germans call it sauerteig, in Denmark it’s called surdej, the Spanish call it masa madre, and the Russians say zakvaska.
  • Sourdough is both a verb and a noun. The word is used to describe the process of fermenting flour, water and salt to make bread, and as a name for the bread itself.
  • There is no legal definition of sourdough. My definition is a bread made with live cultures that have been given the time to naturally ferment the dough, thereby producing bread that has been transformed through fermentation.
  • To ferment bread, bakers culture and nurture a colony of symbiotic microbes, including lactic acid bacteria and wild yeast, both of which are naturally occurring in the environment.

What are the differences between real sourdough and fake sourdough?

The key differences between commercially produced, industrial bread and sourdough are –

Real sourdough is fermented by lactic acid bacteria.

The lactic acid bacteria produce two types of acid – lactic acid and acetic acid. It is a combination of these different strains and the production of these two acids that give the bread its sour tang and contribute significantly to the transformation of the nutritional profile.

The yeast is wild  – there are many different. strains of yeast, whereas commercial baking uses just 3 strains of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. 

The time taken to ferment the dough – the Chorleywood process used in industrial baking means that a loaf of bread can be made in one hour. The sourdough process takes between 18 and 36 hours depending on the baker’s approach. The yeast produces carbon dioxide which is what makes the bread light and airy

Why does it matter if your sourdough is real or not?

Flavour

When a consumer has bought a sourdough flavoured loaf, they have been misled into purchasing an inferior product. The long slow fermentation is transformative on many levels. The flavour for example between a real and fake sourdough is significanly different. – Real sourdough is long slow-fermented and transformative.  This give time for flavour to develop. and 196 volatile compounds have been reported in sourdough bread including 43 aldehydes, 35 alcohols, 33 esters.

Nutritional Profile

Vitamins & Minerals

Real sourdough is long slow-fermented and so almost all of the vitamins and minerals in the. flour are significantly more bioavailable.

Digestive issues – Short term – on the day

IBS

For certain people, the long slow fermentation is what makes the bread digestible.  For example, ( 1 n 5) people suffer. with IBS ( Check facts & Add link) can be affected with digestive discomfort from FODMAPS. Real sourdough is long slow-fermented and this has been shown to reduce FODMAPS and so they are able to eat bread without pain, bloating or digestive discomfort.

Blood Sugar Management

Studies have shown that the rate of assimilation of carbohydrate in sourdough is reduced in comparison to yeasted bread.  So the long slow fermentation may. well contribute to helping manage blood sugar.

NCGS

 

Long term  – over a lifetime

 

Gut health

 

Satiety

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

THE GENDER GAP IN HEART DIAGNOSIS
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
🌾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.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
❤️ 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)
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
#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
Follow on Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Email Sign Up:

Terms & Conditions | Competition Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2022 Vanessa Kimbell | Login
Call +44 (0)1604 881274 - Email bookings@sourdough.co.uk
Registered in England and Wales: 08412236
Website by Callia Web