Why some bread will suit you and other bread will not. Health seems to be trendy all of a sudden. Teaching about healthy bread has, at times, been an uphill struggle, but finally there seems to be some real interest building in personalised brand and people are waking up to the fact that they respond differently to foods in an individual basis. With wellness websites springing up, such as Mindbodygreen writing about integrative health, and Zoe, leading the way with personalised medicine. I like websites with plenty of information on but I tend to find that sites that take about personalised f ..read more

Over the past 2 years, I have been looking at several bread factories and producers to produce Diversity Bread. I have looked at Jasons Sourdough and liked some of the authenticity I have seen on Jasons Sourdough; however after several people sent this clip to me, I have decided to explain why making claims about gut health makes a mockery of the work I have done for the past decade. I am the first to admit that my work highlights that fermentation unlocks the full potential of the flour that you use when making bread. I have never said that sourdough is good for the gut, and I suspect that I ..read more

Limited Edition Workshops with Dr. Vanessa Kimbell This is my first newsletter as Dr. Vanessa Kimbell. It is taking some time to get used to using the Dr, but I am growing into it, alongside the grey hair and glasses I now wear. So, for those of you who have asked, the name of my Doctorate is Lifestyle Medicine: The Examination of Baking, Eating, and Sharing Bread as Lifestyle Medicine & Preventative Healthcare. It formalises the focus of my work over a lifetime on Nutrition and the Digestibility of bread. I use the knowledge and structure of baking as Lifestyle Medicine in how I te ..read more

I am literally just back from Italy. This is my favourite time of year, and the harvest is in, and my preparation for the academic year ties in together. This last two years, I have spent hours (and hours) finishing the writing and research, and finally, I have handed in my Doctorate. I am delighted to announce that there will be a graduation week for the students to create, and we will professionally photograph your graduation recipes. There will be a graduation ceremony in the hall of the most amazing Tuscan Castle. The castle is in the Tuscan hills and accessible from Rome, Florance and Pi ..read more

Black Barley is now available in the UK. The availability of black barley, as facilitated by Hodmedods, is a pivotal moment in British baking – by providing an inexpensive source of polyphenols. Listen to how Hodmedods is revolutionising the accessibility of highly nutritious grains. In this podcast conversation introduced by Josiah Meldrum, one of the founders of Hodmedods, you learn about the introduction of black barley and the remarkable work of Hodmedods, and their collaboration with Vanessa Kimbell, who uses black barley in her bread when Baking as Lifestyle Medicine at The Sourdough Sch ..read more

I am a fan of Jamie Oliver, but this weekend I was disappointed in that fact that his two-ingredient homemade bread recipe this weekend. It is a simple and cost-effective recipe in the mirror that, according to the statistics on the Mirror, reaches 32 million readers. However, in his choice to use white bread flour instead of wholegrain flour, he really misses the perfect opportunity to address key aspects of social justice and promote health. The recipe uses only a 7g sachet of dried yeast and 1kg of strong bread flour. While the recipe is simple and cost-effective – with a 1.5 kg bag of stro ..read more

The United Kingdom is grappling with a dramatic rise in food prices, as evidenced by the once-humble cheese sandwich now costing up to 80% more than just a year ago A steep rise in the price of an unassuming culinary staple, the cheese sandwich, reflects the broader surge in food prices across the United Kingdom. According to recent data from consumer watchdog Which?, food staples such as cheddar and bread, have experienced price increases of up to 80%, with overall inflation on food and drink in supermarkets reaching 17.2% in March, up from 16.5% the previous month. Cheddar cheese has seen an ..read more

The Sourdough School is a social enterprise and at the heart of our practice is the belief that if we can change the way we bake and eat bread then we can change the way a person feels and positively impact the way they live their lives. Baking bread is in fact easy, quick to make and not expensive. Bread is something that draws people together and gives people purpose. Bread is made in every culture.  It has no boundaries, no borders and baking and sharing knowledge and creating a beautiful disruption around our current approach to bread, which is damaging health.  We believe that ..read more

It’s fair to say that we all love eating toast .. and drinking tea so should we be excited about a breakthrough I GM wheat that can reduce the carcinogens in toast? Next week’s part of The Sourdough School syllabus is for each student to create their own diversity blend flour.  The lesson has been about the importance of diversity in the gut and in the environment.  Next month as we look at bread and cancer, and I will teach the Sourdough Schol students techniques to lower their customers, students or patients’ risk of cancer through BALM. So this news is somewhat topical when we con ..read more

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