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

The Sourdough School Population Wheat & Barley

Population Grain Sorted

The current system

At this point in time, we’ve got this global mass of monoculture. This is the enemy of both the macro and the micro environment. If you look at the macro environment, monoculture is actually destroying it – it’s reductionist and single species grain is vulnerable to pests, diseases and to climate change. The way in which we’re growing is heavily reliant on the petrochemical industry and herbicides that destroy biodiversity. It is an unsustainable agricultural practice. This underpins a food system that is depriving our microbiomes of what it needs, which is diversity. Our choice of grains are also lacking in levels of different phytochemicals and, through the breadmaking practice we miss out on bioavailability of these, even if they were available in the bread, i.e. if it’s been made with wholegrain that has natural anthocyanins.

The population wheat is really an example of how we can re-design the system for ground level systems change, whilst maintaining the yield, which is absolutely essential to delivering the level of tonnage per hectare to challenge the monoculture with a realistic alternative. I believe that is what our population wheat shows and is an example of.

The importance of the bread protocol

With the work we’ve done at The Sourdough School on the bread protocol over the years, one of the main understandings about the gut microbiome is the importance of phytochemicals, in particular polyphenols that include anthocyanins, in nourishing the gut. In looking at four of the major positive ways in which we can improve gut health, we have:

  • Delivering high levels of fibre (so wholegrain is essential)
  • Delivering diversity of phytochemicals – this is actually one of the main reasons we’ve created a diversity population wheat, because all of the different colours and phytochemicals within this wheat actually nourish different microbes within the gut. The wider the level of different phytochemicals, the wider the nourishment of different microbes, so the more diverse your gut microbiome is, the more robust your health is. This is the key understanding about the gut microbiome
  • Delivering high levels of polyphenols – these anthocyanins have a very positive impact of delivering high polyphenols to the gut. This is the reason for the high complexity of different colours – those dark blues, blacks, purples and dark browns within the population wheat
  • Increasing the bioavailability of all these fibres and antioxidants – this is delivered through the sourdough fermentation. While these studies are still in vitro, much of the understanding of the mechanisms of how the bread protocol has improved both physical and mental health over the year, Vanessa attributes to this transformation. We still have more work to do on this and we still need more research in this area, but this is something we are working on in real time.

Challenging the system with population wheat

One of the biggest challenges to changing the current agricultural system of monoculture is to create a conventional population wheat. But also to simultaneously create a diverse conventional wheat with great breadmaking properties, which also has the high colour pigments as explained above. That diversity underpins the bread protocol principle number 2 of creating bread with as much diversity as possible. That has to come not just from the botanical blends, milling the whole meadow and including in our bread all of the amazing diversity of grain, diversity through phytochemicals (including from flours, herbs and seaweed), but actually in the population wheat itself.

We must really look at systems change in a way that involves maximising yield, as in conventional agricultural systems, but with incredibly low input and sustainable regenerative farming practices. This would make this grain and this approach to grains into a realistic alternative way of looking at the way we grow our wheat globally.

The Sourdough School Population Wheat & Barley

Higher levels of beneficial phytochemicals: Principle no. 4 of the bread protocol

Vanessa has a long-standing collaboration with wheat breeder Dr Phil Howell and the pre-breeding programme based at NIAB, Cambridge. Dr Howell has worked privately with Vanessa, incorporating diversity through grains gifted to Vanessa from Sourdough School students around the world, including grains from USA, India, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and is now exploring some of the pigmented types within NIAB’s section of the BBSRC-funded ‘Designing Future Wheat’ programme. Vanessa is now working on scaling up an exciting wheat blend made up of several new crosses that combine the rich diversity of these different sources with the proven qualities of leading UK bread-making varieties.

Mixed Barley population: gifted by Dr Ed Dicken

This barley is a diverse population rather than a single variety. Naked or hulless barley is the type of barley best suited for human food, and it is especially important in the most challenging environments, such as Tibet, where barley is one of the few crops that can grow. The diversity of this population gives it strength and resilience. Strong-strawed plants act as scaffolding for their weaker neighbours. Whether the season is very dry or very wet, there will be plants in the population able to cope, so the produce will be more reliable. Each type of barley adds its flavour and nutrition to the mix. The population would be weaker if diversity was lost.

Black Wheat

One of our students gifted us some black high-anthocyanin wheat, which we are growing some here as the dark wheat has a good antioxidant content. Higher levels of these phytochemicals are key to the prevention of lifestyle disorders such as obesity and cardiovascular diseases, and they also nourish key microbes in the gut associated with health. We’ve planted two crops this year, one winter and one summer, to see how they fair. Watch this space.

Read more about our systems change programme

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