The Sourdough School is an internationally recognised centre of excellence in sourdough, and the nutrition and digestion of bread. Vanessa, who has taught countless students the intricacies of sourdough, is passionate about sharing the knowledge of how and why sourdough is a more nourishing, easily digested and more nutritious bread.
In this groundbreaking and beautifully illustrated book, she has compiled her teachings for the home baker, explaining the what, when, how and why of sourdough. She demystifies the baking process, as well as the science and nutrition, and applies it to bread that you can bake by hand at home.
From creating a starter from scratch and how to make a basic loaf to porridge loaves and baguettes, the book has many formulas in order of difficulty. There is a section on sprouted grains, smoking grains for flavour, and experimenting with starters to control flavour to produce the kind of loaf you want.
There are also sourdough loaf record forms and baking schedules, making it an interactive bible that you write in and personalise as you adapt the formulas to your own kitchen. With step-by-step photography, detailed instructions, specialist advice and Vanessa’s indispensable encouragement, this book too over seven years to research, used over 300 studies, and the nutrition and digestion chapter was validated over twelve months by Dr Amrita Vijay, who has a PhD in Digestion and works at Kings College London. The Sourdough School brings together the timeless craft of artisan baking with the latest research on nutrition and digestion of bread.
You know it’s time to sit up when Tim Spector, author of The Diet Myth and the head of Epidemiology at King’s College London, says: ‘Master the art of sourdough with Vanessa and you will learn how to look after your own gut microbes and health.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
‘Vanessa won’t just teach you to make Sourdough bread; she will blow you away with how you can incorporate it into your everyday baking.’ – Baker and author Dan Lepard
Vanessa has been baking sourdough since she was eleven years old in South West France, and is renowned for her understanding of the nutrition and digestibility of bread. She teaches a range of courses at the Sourdough School, including advanced sourdough techniques, higher hydration sourdoughs, enriched sourdough breads, pastries and cakes, as well as sourdough bread for people with diabetes and IBS, and for individuals who are faced with life -hanging illness. The Digestion & Nutrition of Bread course Vanessa teaches to health are professionals is accredited by the Royal College of General Practitioners. The Sourdough School was named in the top three courses in the UK by the Times, and top ten in the UK by the Telegraph and the Evening Standard.
Vanessa has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme, including programmes on heritage grains, vanilla, chocolate, nutmeg and tea. She is the category leader of the home bakers sourdough section of The World Bread Awards. Vanessa’s other books include the award-winning ethical and sustainable recipe book Food for Thought, The Sourdough School: Sweet Baking and Ten-Minute Sourdough.
Vanessa runs www.sourdough.co.uk and www.thesourdoughclub.com
