The Sourdough School

PIONEERING A NEW APPROACH TO BAKING AS LIFESTYLE MEDICINE

Learn to bake, teach & prescribe Baking as Lifestyle Medicine
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Can a 10 minute Sourdough Bread Really be healthy

Quick to make, slow to ferment

Our approach to baking bread is about baking as lifestyle medicine.  Whilst most bakers on social media are obsessed with big holes but my interest is in baking that fits in with real life and that also helps you to live life to the full. You don’t need to read this bit to bake, and even though the bakes are fast to make they are optimally fermented, light with an open crumb structure, and they will be just as good for you whether you read this or not.

Why this approach is different to other quick recipes

Our recipes are different not just because they fit in to a busy life, but because they are created in conjunction with an extraordinary team of medical experts and we apply the knowledge and techniques of both fermentation and nutrition from the most up to date studies about health, wellness and the gut microbiome.

Why?  because all the evidence points towards the fact that the kind of bread and baked goods, we each every day affects your long-term health, and in the end the only thing that really matters is the way you feel.

Studies to date

Sourdough is very much associated with slowing down to bake. In almost every case study in our research has shown that bakers have improvements in the balance of their gut microbiome, and that people feel better, sleep better and report lower levels of anxiety eating sourdough, but what about the rest of the week when there is very little time to spend baking?

Applying the knowledge to all your baking

Compromising your diet by eating non fermented bakes and refined white carbs because you are time poor is a fool’s game because it is when you are busy that you need the most nourishment, but what if you could have it all?  What if sourdough bakes, made in just 10 minutes were still good for you?  To answer this and other health questions about the recipes in this book, we have asked our in-house team of doctors, nutritionist and medical specialists to answer specific questions about how you can create breads for optimal health in just 10 minutes.

 Overall Health

How does eating sourdough bread impact your long-term health?

Answer: Dr Alex Davidson  – GP

True sourdough process transforms starch and sugars, meaning that the bread you eat is digested more slowly, giving you much less of a spike in blood sugar. Bread is an integral part of a Western diet, so the bread you choose everyday over a lifetime can have a major impact on your health in terms of weight management and risk of chronic disease.

 Nourishing your gut

Can sourdough made in just 10 minutes really nourish your gut microbiome?

Answer: Dr Miguel Toribio-Mateas – Nutritionist & Gut Heath Expert

Vanessa’s approach to increased diversity through using different flours feeds a wider range of bacteria in your gut, and this is important because having a diverse range of gut microbes is associated with better whole-body health. The microbes in the starter transform the dough, increasing the bioavailability of key nutrients including minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. In addition, fibre plays a crucial role in gut health, giving your microbes the substrates, they need to create short chain fatty acids such as butyrate, and other molecules known to balance inflammation and to lead to better health.

 Protecting your Brain

How can bread made in just 10 minutes potentially be neuroprotective?

Answer: Dr Elisabeth Philipps   – Neuroscientist and Nutritionist

The sourdough process breaks down gluten and supports a healthy gut microbiome. This reduces any potential inflammatory response in the gut and the brain, which is underpins physical brain neurodegeneration, as seen in conditions like dementias and Parkinson’s disease, and mental health ranging from depression to anxiety. In addition, the fermentation

process increases bioavailability of ferulic acid, a potent anti-oxidant that scavenges inflammatory free radicals. Eating wholegrains rich in ferulic acid is associated with lower rates of neuroinflammatory conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Can sourdough made in just 10 minutes really help optimise your mental health?

Answer: Professor David Veale, Consultant Psychiatrist

Yes, you can very likely optimise mental health even with bakes that take a short time to make. In the emerging field of nutritional psychiatry good mental health is supported by eating foods that nourish your gut and that supply the fibre needed by the gut for the microbes to make essential metabolites that the brain needs to function optimally. Including more fibre, diversity and inclusions known to have high levels of nutrients found lacking in people with mental health issues is a great way to optimise your mood and anxiety.  Our approach of gradually including more fibre in recipes makes baking with sourdough and wholegrain far less intimidating.

Sourdough is also beneficial as the fermentation helps the breakdown the gluten which can helps to lower inflammation, a known factor in mental health issues. Our 10 minutes recipes are super easy and fast to make which means that sourdough is also much more accessible to people who might not normally consider baking.

 Cancer Preventative

Can eating wholegrain sourdough really help to prevent cancer?

Answer: Professor Robert Thomas Oncologist & Nutritionist

Compared to plain white bread, eating wholemeal sourdough bread will definitely cutting your risk of cancer.  Baking to support your gut microbiome helps to reduce chronic inflammation, improve the health and oxidative status of gut wall cells – both factors which effect cancer risk.  On top of this, the extra fibre, increases gut motility reducing the time harmful chemicals are in contact with the bowel wall and helps with the breakdown and absorption of benefits phytochemical such as polyphenols which have cancer protecting properties.

Globally bowel cancer is the third most commonly occurring cancer and the fourth biggest cancer killer but at least half of these could be prevented by a healthy lifestyle which, in addition to increasing fibre and healthy bacteria by eating whole grain sourdough it includes more exercise, polyphenol rich fruit and vegetables, reducing processed meat, alcohol and cigarettes.

 Controlling Blood Sugar & Mood

Can eating Sourdough help cope with stress?

Answer: GP Dr Alex Davidson

Yes. Changes in blood sugar can affect mood and mental state, especially if they are rapid. Less spikes in sugars means more balanced mental health. Even though the bread in this book is made with just 10 minutes of hands-on effort, the benefit of the fermentation process to our gut microbes has an impact on the feel-good neurotransmitters produced- like serotonin – 80% of which is made in the gut.

Wellbeing

Can making sourdough in just 10 minutes actually have a positive impact on the way we feel about life?

Answer: Pauline Beaumont: Psychological Wellbeing Specialist

However long or short a bread making process we use, we can choose to do it mindfully and making bread mindfully is an excellent way of training our attention, a basic psychological skill that can stand us in very good stead when we need to manage our mood and anxiety levels. Making sourdough is a creative act, it is an expression of ourselves and our values, it gives us a sense of achievement and it connects us with others – all things that benefit our mental health.How to eat sourdough

Is there a healthier way to eat Sourdough?

Answer: Venetia Mitchell BANT – Personalised Nutritional Therapist

In order to get the best out of your sourdough bread, we recommend that you eat it with a wide variety of colourful fruits and vegetables. One of our core principles here at the school is eating bread and baked goods with good probiotic accompaniments too: for example, cultured butter, and fermented foods such as sauerkraut and unpasteurised cheeses, is not only a delicious way to consume sourdough, but it also increases the diversity of beneficial probiotic bacteria helping to nourish the gut microbiome.

What is the secret?

Answer: Baker Vanessa Kimbell

The Secret is gradually increasing fibre, and diversity and transforming the dough using fermentation

A gradual change.

There is no doubt that the healthiest bread is 100% wholegrain, made using diverse flours, and fermented so why then, are many of the breads in this book 50:50 white and wholemeal flour? This book has been written as an entry level book to introduce both fermentation and wholegrain flour into your everyday loaf.

So many people who are not used to 100% Wholegrain flour, which is high fibre, find that changing from a diet high in refined carbs to fully wholegrain sourdough in one go can be very challenging on your digestive system to begin with first – even when  it is fermented.  , So whilst this approach is amazingly beneficial to your gut microbes we’ve seen over many years that introducing wholegrain slowly to your diet, gives both your tastebuds and everyone’s digestive system take time to get used to it and fall in love with the textures and flavours.

Successful change is about taking it slowly.  Introducing wholegrain one bake at a time, gradually increasing the percentage of wholegrain helps to get your family to appreciate a new approach to bread.  Change takes time, and it is worth it. So, I cannot encourage you enough to work towards baking the 100% wholegrain breads and cakes as you get familiar with this approach.

Existing Member Login

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.

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
🧘 LAST ORDERS TODAY 🧘 I’m prepping the st 🧘 LAST ORDERS TODAY 🧘

I’m prepping the starters to post out on Thursday.

I was thinking why sourdough all these years? I guess it’s because is alive… it’s a culture of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria. We might like to think we can control it, but we can’t control everything. Things change when we bake. The flour changes, the ambient temperature changes, or something happens during the middle of the day and your baking routine changes.

We can be very critical of ourselves. Starting the day by looking in the mirror and criticising our physical appearance. Or looking at something we’ve done or said and overanalysing it. Often, without realising, some of us can be incredibly negative.
It’s the same with bread. I notice that many people are self-depreciating and, while they aspire to make beautiful loaves, they have a distinct lack of acceptance that creating a really aesthetically stunning loaves takes time. It’s an art. It takes many years to be able to understand the nuances of each flour and how each one behaves to create bread. There is no instant fix. And I wouldn’t want there to be.

If you want an instant fix, go out and buy a packet mix – that way the work is done for you. In sourdough there’s no instant fix. That is the whole point of it really. That’s why we celebrate when we do make those incredibly beautiful loaves. And what you are actually celebrating isn’t high levels of gluten or high levels of hydration. It’s that person’s ability to have understood and connected to the flour, to their environment, to the yeast, to the timings and rhythm and everything coming together to create something that is joyous to eat.

To learn more about what we do here at The Sourdough Club and the courses we teach, follow the link in the bio to read 

#mindfulbaking #sourdough #sourdoughsclub #bread #sourdoughlove #sourdoughlover #naturalleavened #leavening #realbread #breadmaking #bakebread #makebread #makerealbread #sourdoughstories #bakingforlove #bakingtherapy #sourdoughbaking
🧂 ARTISAN INGREDIENTS FOR ARTISAN BREAD 🧂 A 🧂 ARTISAN INGREDIENTS FOR ARTISAN BREAD 🧂

Artisan bread starts with artisan ingredients. Honest ingredients that have been grown and harvested with respect for both the people and the earth. The flour has to be organic, the water chlorine free and the yeast has to be sourdough, and so it follows that the salt has to be similarly harvested with principles that are in synergy with our own. Salt making was, up until the industrial revolution, an artisanal craft. Much like bread making salt is also an artisan product that has been industrialised, so we use a hand-harvested salt in our bread.
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In our shop, we sell unrefined salt specifically for sourdough - Natural salt contains all of its trace minerals and other elements that are naturally a part of its origin. Our salt is not exposed to chemicals and does not contain anti-caking agents.
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Follow the link in our bio to our shop, where you can find the best artisan ingredients for your bread! 
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#artisan #salt #iamamember #sourdoughclub #sourdough #sourdoughbread #naturallyleavened #realbread #sourdoughbaking #bakingbread #breadmaking #homebakedbread #sourdoughlove
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
🌾 BARLEY - DO AS THE ROMANS DO 🌾
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Oats & Barley. We love both, but this week we have been diving to barley with our students, learning about nutritional value, what role plays in supporting key butyrate producers for gut health and why gladiators were call 'barley-eaters'!
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And naturally, we will be talking about how we can incorporate barley into our baking and our botanical blends.
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To find out more, become a student of the Sourdough Club! 
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#grains #wheat #einkorn #emmer #spelt #heritagegrains #freshlymilledflour #milledflour #milling #freshlymilled #botanicalblend #fromscratch #unrefined #mockmillproud #mockmill
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