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]
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Live Support Sessions Are On Tuesdays

https://vimeo.com/746620577 I believe that attending live sessions is crucial for your learning experience. These sessions are designed to be conversational and facilitate discussions around the lessons and bakes from the previous week. Here are a few guidelines to ensure smooth participation:
  1. Attendance: If you are unable to attend a session, please inform us in advance by dropping us a note. This helps us keep track of attendance and engagement.
  2. Participation: If you wish to participate actively, please turn on your camera and unmute yourself when you speak. However, if you are unable to talk (e.g., if you are travelling or in a location where speaking is not possible), kindly turn off your camera and mute yourself. This signals to us that you are present but not participating vocally, and we will not direct questions to you.
  3. Engagement: We encourage all students to participate actively in the live sessions. These sessions are not traditional lectures; instead, they are opportunities for discussion and engagement based on the lessons and bakes you have completed.
  4. Recordings: All sessions are recorded and automatically uploaded to Vimeo for your convenience. If you miss a session or wish to review the discussion, you can access the recordings at any time.
Please do NOT access the Zooms from the website. Add them to your diary, or my website will fall over because 100 people are all on one page at once, and I need my website to teach with! Your active participation enhances the learning experience for everyone, and we look forward to your contributions. Best regards, Dr. Vanessa Kimbell

2024  – YOU HAVE 30 LIVE SESSIONS OVER THE YEAR

Autumn Term Dates11 sessions Spring Term Dates10 sessions Summer Term Dates9 sessions
September 24th – WELCOME January 7th – BREAK April 22nd – LIVE RESUME
October 1st – LIVES BEGIN January 14th – LIVE RESUMES April 29th
October 8th January 21st May 6th
October 15th January 28th May 13th
October 22nd February 4th May 20th
October 29th – HALF TERM February 11th May 27th – HALF TERM
November 5th February 18th – HALF TERM June 3rd
November 12th February 25th June 10th
November 19th March 4th June 17th
November 26th March 11th June 24th
December 3rd March 18th July 1st – LAST LIVE
December 10th March 25th
December 17th April 1st – EASTER BREAK
December 24th – CHRISTMAS April 8th – EASTER BREAK
December 31st – CHRISTMAS

Summer Break

Date Note
Until 3rd week of September 2025 SUMMER BREAK
Please do NOT access the zooms from the website.  Please click on each session below, visit the page, and then add the links to your diary. Failure to do so has led to the website falling over and the server not coping because 100 people are all on one page at once, and I need my website to teach with! Sessions are recorded.
Please note the session pages below with the Zoom links are only accessible to enrolled students. 

Syllabus for Live Sessions Schedule

Back to Main Menu

Total Time: 2 hours and 45 minutes

LessonsTimeWhat you will learn

TUESDAY'S 4PM - OPEN TUTOR ROOM - DROP IN

  1. 4pm Drop in - In Conversation - 45 mins
45 mins

This drop-in session is an open session for anyone to attend. It can be used for anyone needing 1:1 or small group work, from technical issues with your login to discussing your bread or a topic you need help with. Please note that I do not analyse your loaf in this session unless I specifically ask you to discuss your bread.  I will do this in the clinic at 7 pm.

Please remember I prioritise answering emailed questions first, so send your question by filling in the form if you want to ensure your question is answered as this session goes fast!

TUESDAYS 6PM - BALM PERSONALISATION OF BREAD MODULE Q&A

  1. BALM Personalisation of Bread Module Q&A - Core Knowledge - 45 mins
45 mins

This session is conversational, and we keep you on track with the syllabus and discuss the application of baking as lifestyle medicine to the six pillars of Lifestyle Medicine, the research papers, the Research application, and how this ties into prescribing. We will also have guest lecturers, discussions, and sharing of knowledge.

It is a lively, vibrant session on each topic on the syllabus throughout the year. It keeps you on track and focused on the content relevant to baking and eating as preventative medicine and leads to your exam, which qualifies you to prescribe Baking as Lifestyle Medicine.

 

TUESDAYS 7:00PM CONTINUING TO THE CLINIC - BALM BAKE FOR HEALTH MODULE

  1. BALM Bake for Health Q&A - Live Tutorial - 90 mins
45 mins

Bake for Health Session

The baking session is about applying Lifestyle Medicine to baking, eating, and sharing bread and baked goods.

These live sessions are in 2 parts. The first 30 minutes are baking theory on nutrition and digestibility, which is key to personalisation, and the conversations are in place to keep you inspired and motivated throughout the year whilst following the BALM baking syllabus.  This session also incorporates task setting to understand fermentation and its impact better. It is also at the discussion session about the syllabus and feedback throughout the year.  The second part of this session is the clinic.

There is a 15-minute comfort break.

The clinic is for school students to begin with, and club members may then join at 8 pm. This session is about discussing individual loaves. If you want your bread analysed, please ensure that you have added your bake to the forum so I can see photos and your record, and I will look at your bake.

 

TUESDAY 8PM - THE LIVE BAKING CLINIC - OPEN TO ALL

  1. The Clinic - Recorded Clinic - 30 mins
30 mins

Technical baking questions. This session follows up on the previous one and is open to all bakers. This is a clinic, and if you submit your bake for analysis, this session is recorded and added to the clinic library. This means that we can examine the details of your bake, the specifics of the flour, timings, and temperatures from the information you provide, and Vanessa will make suggestions on how you might modify or recalibrate the next time you bake.

BAKE, ANALYSE, EAT; RECALIBRATE & REPEAT.

 

All reasonable care is taken when advising about health aspects of bread, but the information that we share 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.

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