I am so glad you have taken a moment to look at this page. I’ve been working with sourdough bakers my whole life and what I know is that all of us bring bread to life. Mixing, proofing, baking, and sharing bread that nourishes, supports farmers, millers, and our own gut health, we ensure that good bread isn’t just for the upper crust but accessible to all. While some might call us the crazy ones, the hippies, or the dreamers, I see genius.
Because those who are crazy enough to believe that good bread matters, and that we can change the world, are the ones who do.
In our world I believe that understanding bread and its deeper connections is central to our health, to the earth beneath our feet, and to the very fabric of community life. I also know that every hand that touches the dough becomes part of this unfolding story. Our programme has been creating delicious disruption as a self-sustaining programme for many years; it’s a quiet, powerful movement, connecting every link in the system to bake better bread, and this has transformed the way we understand bread. We are a community and we’ve come a long way since those early days when we first began, and people would confuse sourdough with soda bread.. but we’ve a long way to go. So how do we make this happen? This transformation is only made possible by funding from:
- Company-sponsored scholarships
- Student fees
- The profits from our Botanical Blend Flour
We support systems change in the way we approach bread for social fairness and environmental consciousness Because those who are crazy enough to believe that good bread matters, and that we can change the world, are the ones who do.
Dr Vanessa Kimbell
How the BALM Protocol is a Framework for Change
Our Mission: to support systems change in the way we approach bread across all sectors for social fairness and environmental consciousness. Our approach is rooted in the principle of microbial equality; our role is to empower people to improve health, reduce environmental damage, and challenge the dynamics of inequalities in the food system using the BALM (Baking as Lifestyle Medicine) Protocol.
BALM Protocol was created as a clear framework for the way we bake bread and the way we bake, eat and share the bread that optimises nourishment to the gut microbiome to support health and well-being and empower others to approach bread to improve social equality and environmentalism, fostering a more balanced relationship between us and the food we consume.
We are committed to inspiring a positive paradigm shift in the way we create, bake, and eat bread by providing a structured systems change approach to baking bread that nourishes both the body and the mind. We aim to instigate, support, and inspire change from two directions:
- Top-down: Supporting the bread-making industry to produce better bread using the BALM Protocol while promoting environmental sustainability and social equality.
- Bottom-up: Empowering bakers and healthcare professionals worldwide through books, social media, and training to use the BALM Protocol to manage and reverse chronic lifestyle diseases in their patients through bread as a lifestyle prescription and preventative medicine.
We achieve this by employing a multi-dimensional approach that links each part of the industry, from soil to slice. By combining open knowledge sharing, original research, and evidence from nutritional, medical, and lifestyle studies, we have developed a comprehensive approach to bread called Diversity Bread, which underpins our mission to bake bread that nourishes the gut microbiome and positively impacts physical and mental health.
Our courses support bakers in actively implementing meaningful, structured systems changes in the way they bake bread, while healthcare professionals are empowered to socially prescribe the BALM Protocol through lifestyle bread-making courses for their patients.
Additionally, we further the paradigm shift of bread by providing consultancy services for industrial product development, focusing on creating Diversity Bread that nourishes and promotes well-being.
