The Sourdough School

Baking eating and sharing bread to improve physical and mental health

A Social Enterprise: Providing Training & Support for Bakers & Healthcare Practitioners to Teach and Socially Prescribe Baking as Lifestyle Medicine.
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Baking as Lifestyle Medicine for Bakers and Clinicians

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reading list

RECOMMENDED READING LIST

We have an extensive library at The Sourdough School

With over 1000 books, spanning over 500 years with our oldest bread history papers in the collection from the 1500s.

We also have all our research papers printed and filed to read and our own bound collections of our favourite studies for our student to really immerse themselves in the subject. These are some of the books I recommend to students coming to The Sourdough School to borrow from the library.

Bread & Flour Books

Tartine Book No. 3: Ancient Modern Classic Whole by Chad Robertson

Perhaps one of my favourite books, not least because the developer of the formulas was Richard Hart who is now head baker at Hart Bageri bakery in partnership with Noma in Copenhagen. Richard wrote the forward to The Sourdough School book.

Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman

Probably one of the single most influential books in bread making. It is technically brilliant. It’s a book that we use here – I often dip in and have a read. It has that lovely technical side to it, which is reassuring when you need it.

The Handmade Loaf by Dan Lepard

This book revolutionised the way we think about artisan bread. Dan is really the father of the bread movement. A friend and mentor.

The Tivoli Road Baker: Recipes and Notes from a Chef Who Chose Baking by Michael James

An incredibly beautiful book. It’s not all sourdough, but it is exquisite and I find it very inspiring.

Sourdough by Martina Goernemann

A lovely collection of recipes and interviews with sourdough bakers from across the world.

How To Make Sourdough: 45 recipes for great-tasting sourdough breads that are good for you, too by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou

Emmanuel is another tutor at the school. His book is a good step-by-step guide for sourdough bakers.

‘Eating to Extinction – The Worlds Rarest Foods and Why We Need To Save Them’ by Dan Saladino

Dan spans the globe to uncover the stories of foods that are at risk of becoming lost to us. He meets the pioneering farmers, scientists, cooks, food producers and indigenous communities who are preserving food traditions and fighting for change.

Health and the gut microbiome 

The Diet Myth: The Real Science Behind What We Eat by Tim Spector

This is a book I really recommend everyone should read. If you buy only one book from this list, this is the one.

Gut and Psychology Syndrome: Natural Treatment for Autism, Dyspraxia, A.D.D., Dyslexia, A.D.H.D., Depression, Schizophrenia by Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride

A book which talks about physical and mental health, and the nutritional biochemical connections between psychiatric and neurological disorders and gastrointestinal functions. Definitely a book worth reading.

The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health by Dr Emeran Mayer

An exploration of neuroscience, brain function and how these are linked to the digestive system.

Missing Microbes: How Killing Bacteria Creates Modern Plagues by Martin Blaser

How the use of antibiotics is damaging our gut microbiome and causing unforeseen problems in human health.

Gut by Giulia Enders

A book that I’d recommend for anyone who is just starting out in learning more about the gut.

The Psychobiotic Revolution by Scott C Anderson

An introduction to the new field of psychobiotics – the relationship between the gut microbiome and mental health.

Fiber Fueled: The Plant-Based Gut Health Program for Losing Weight, Restoring Your Health, and Optimizing Your Microbiome – by Dr Will Bulsiewicz

A ground-breaking book that makes it abundantly clear that elimination diets are in fact hazardous to our health. What studies clearly now show-and what Will preaches with his patients-is that gut health is the key to boosting our metabolism, balancing our hormones, and taming the inflammation that causes a host of diseases. And the scientifically proven way to fuel our guts is with dietary fibre from an abundant variety of colourful plants. A must-read.

The Fibre Fuelled Cookbook: Inspiring Plant-based Recipes to Turbocharge Your Health by Dr Will Bulsiewicz

Will’s latest book packed with delicious high fibre plant-based recipes, as well as a targeted plan for overcoming food sensitivities.

The Circadian Code – by Dr Satchin Panda

Circadian rhythms are biological processes or clocks that exist in each one of our cells. Programmed to turn genes on or off at different times of the day or night, they influence every aspect of our health from weight and energy levels through to resistance to disease and infection, and how well we sleep.

Brain Changer by Professor Felice Jacka

‘A fascinating book by a leading researcher, covering one of the most exciting areas of modern nutritional research about how our diet can impact our gut and brain health. The combination of personal stories and cutting-edge science is a real winner’ DR MICHAEL MOSLEY, AUTHOR AND TV PRESENTER

Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety: Nourish Your Way to Better Mental Health in Six Weeks by Dr Drew Ramsey

In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Drew Ramsey helps us forge a path toward greater mental health through food. He breaks down the science of nutritional psychiatry and explains what foods positively affect brain health and improve mental wellness.

Fermentation

The Art of Fermentation: An In-depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from Around the World by Sandor Katz

Sandor has spent quite some time here at the school and is one of the people I’ve really learned a lot from. He has been a tutor on some of our courses.

Eat Right by Nick Barnard

Another tutor at The Sourdough School. Nick is the owner of Rude Health. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who is wanting to get into fermenting and eating with wellness in mind.

Kimchi: Essential Recipes of the Korean Kitchen by Byung-Hi Lim and Byung-Soon Lim

Dozens of recipes and a great source of inspiration. This is the book I use when I’m making kimchi.

Salted by Mark Bitterman

I couldn’t put this one down. I enjoyed it immensely. A very interesting book on salt, its uses and history – who knew there was so much to learn about salt!

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat

I met Samin in London, we have a lot of friends in common. This is a beautifully illustrated and informative book.

Students and Club Members – if there are any books that you would like to recommend please do leave a Comment below to add them 🙂

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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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