The Sourdough School

BALM – Proven as one of the healthiest approaches to bread in the world.

Based in the walled gardens of Dr. Vanessa Kimbell's beautiful Victorian home in rural Northamptonshire, UK, we tutor individuals and train bakers and healthcare professionals in Baking as Lifestyle Medicine (BALM). Personalising bread to your lifestyle, gut microbiome, and unique genetics for optimal health—tailoring fermentation, fibre, and diversity so that your daily bread becomes the foundation of your health.

+44(0)7813308301
[email protected]
Follow on Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Student Login

Schedule a Call to Learn More

Navigation
  • Home
    • About The Sourdough School
    • Contact Us & FAQ
    • Request a Callback
    • Practical Information
    • The Team
    • A Social Enterprise
    • General FAQ’s about The School
    • Contributors & Guest Tutors
    • What Our Students Say
    • Login
  • Courses
    • Priority Access: Join the Waiting List
    • Workshops
    • Bake For Health Retreat
    • Tuscan Retreat
    • Diploma
  • Assessments
    • Bread & Health Assessment
    • Gut Health Assessment
    • Nutrigenomic Assessment
  • Our Approach
    • Baking as Lifestyle Medicine (BALM)
    • 12 Week Student Support Pack
    • Bread as Preventative Health
    • Personalising Bread Using Nutrigenetics
    • Training Bakers & Healthcare Professionals
    • Diversity Bread™
    • Prove it – The Case Studies
    • BALM & Bread in The Blue Zone
    • Proven: Bread Podcast
  • Admissions
    • Request a callback
    • Location, Opening Hours & Course Days & Times
    • Reviews
  • Shop
    • Our Flour and Ingredients
    • Our Books
    • Equipment
    • Flours From Farmers Directory
    • Add Farmer to the Directory

To change the system, you have to understand the system.

2016 Sandor Katz spent three weeks at The Sourdough School with the team, teaching and sharing his incredible knowledge of fermentation.

Our Community Spans across many disciplines.  The things all our contributors have in common is a belief in sharing knowledge of how to support both physical and mental health and supporting the environment is key to a sustainable and equitable future.

In addition to the in-house team of Lifestyle Medicine health experts and bakers, Each part of the syllabus on both  the clinical module of Baking as lifestyle Medicine (BALM) Diploma and The Baking  Certificate is supported by esteemed individuals teaching their area of expertise. This incredible generosity brings unique insights and expertise from many esteemed guest contributors, who have provided knowledge, lectures, conversations, and research and have supported the change as part of the social activism and systems change program.

 

Social Justice

Our work on supporting social justice through the democratisation of bread has only just begun. Last year we awarded three times our turnover in scholarships and bursaries.

This year our graduates are socially prescribing BALM to their patients, and none of this would have been possible without some of the world's leading experts donating their time, sharing their knowledge, and contributing to the conversation.

 

Professor Tim Spector

dr carmen piernas sanchez

Dr Carmen Piernas-Sanchez

Dr will bulsiewicz

Dr Will Bulsiewicz

Dr Phil Howell

Dr Phil Howell

Professor Michael Gänzle

Professor Michael Gänzle

Felice Jacka

Professor Felice Jacka

Viola Sampson

Viola Sampson

Eve Kalinik

Eve Kalinik

Dan Saladino

Dan Saladino

Peter Reinhart

Peter Reinhart

professor rob dunn

Professor Rob Dunn

Dr Alex Davidson

Max Blachman-Gentile podcast

Max Blachman-Gentile

Doctor Miguel Toribio-Mateas -Scientific Advisor

Dr. Amrita Vijay, Director of Research

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Email Sign Up

BANT Member
Lifecode GX

Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2025 Vanessa Kimbell
Call +44 (0)7813308301 | Email [email protected]
Registered in England & Wales: 08412236
Website by Callia Web