The Sourdough School is not just a center for education but also for research and development, and our team is able to help deliver meaningful, impactful change to the bread-making industry. Our core focus is on bread and its impact on the gut microbiome.
New rules of modern businesses
From one-off initiatives to urgent, purpose-driven imperatives, modern bread manufacturing must move with more empathy and more openness towards creating breads that nourish the consumers. We cannot afford to ignore the role of our gut microbiome on our health, especially as businesses are increasingly being held accountable – our practices and relationships are no longer a simplistic one-way exchange. We have a duty of care to our consumers, not just in the bread we make, but in the way we communicate because, with the privilege of feeding people, comes the great responsibility for those people we feed.
It’s about a legacy and a vision To stand the test of time, businesses need more than just profit. They need belief and purpose. Our approach to bread is about working with our systems. From the soil to baking systems, to the gut and cognitive brain function, our team understands that the food we eat impacts both physical and mental health. We know, better than anyone, that in the end, the only thing that really matters is the way we feel. So, we are uncompromising in our dedication to bake to nourish and support our gut microbiome. At The Sourdough School, our innovation is grounded in our core principles, applying the most up-to-date knowledge of nutritional psychiatry to baking and processes that are in synergy with our systems on both a micro and macro level.
Our core principles
We have a system that follows a rigorous evidence-based set of seven core principles to nourish the gut microbiome with our bread. We call this diversity bread. From rethinking flour with our Botanical Blend flour to using a modular porridge system of fresh and inert porridges in each bread to deliver a wide range of prebiotics, we have a recognizable signature in that each and every bread has a diversity score and is a living bread that is finished with an impactful probiotic. We have a decade of teaching this approach to both bakers and healthcare practitioners in our award-winning school. We teach how to make our bread and how to eat in a way that optimizes wellness and has a positive impact on the producers and the consumers.
Aligning values – ikigai
This Japanese Kanji phrase perhaps most effectively denotes our core principles. The Sourdough School was founded on the clear purpose and personal mission of its founder, Vanessa Kimbell. Our reputation for uncompromising values when it comes to bread that nourishes is our most valuable asset. Known for her open communication about the need to support change, our style is evidence-based, and our superpower is our ability to inspire and encourage positive disruption for constructive outcomes.
What does together mean?
Working together means producing bread to support life. Bread that nourishes our gut microbiome, not just in terms of delivering calories and energy, but baking living breads that have been developed to optimize nourishment to our symbiotic gut microbial community and that have a positive impact on our bodies’ core systems.
It’s about healthy bread that is good for you.
Bread that supports health, balances blood sugar, reduces bloating, helps manage your weight, supports gut health, and most importantly, improves your mood. In a nutshell, you could say that it’s simply about baking that makes you happier.
We know that success is about working with partners whose business aligns with our core values. We operate as a social enterprise, and our currency is not money but time and facilitating meaningful change. While change involves challenging the bread-making industry, we have seen that time and time again it can be done.
Over the past decade, The Sourdough School has developed an international reputation for teaching and sharing the application of research into bread that is eaten and enjoyed globally through bakers and healthcare practitioners. Our unique approach is underpinned by the belief that, like fresh air and clean water, bread that nourishes is a basic human right.
