There is both good news and bad news.
I had hoped to write them as two separate announcements, but in some ways writing about this in one newsletter is going to make it easier to see the options. I am going explain how you have the opportunity to enrol on The Sourdough School Online Diploma before the price increase, or apply for an award and enrol for £1.
I’ve been busy, visiting farmers, creating a new botanical blend, developing recipes for the book, working on a new project with Adam Pagor of Grain and Hearth Bakery, and recording with authored broadcaster Dan Saladino this week for BBC radio 4 food Programme. Dan is also working on a new book and like me, also believes that we can make a difference to the world through our food choices. I am also getting ready to teach in Tuscany next week, but today I am writing to explain that I have had to make some decisions about the courses I teach.
Goodbye to The Bake for Health Certificate
After a decade this course has been dropped, I no longer feel it necessary to teach just the healthy baking. The Diploma is far more in depth than just baking. I appreciate that a 2 year course is the total opposite of what is be trendy right now, slowing down seems to be out of fashion, in a world where everyone seems to want everything in an 8 second TikTok – but I am staying true to my work, and offer my students depth, passion and understanding. This course is about falling in love, connecting and deep understanding about nutrition and digestibility, and bringing this quality of teaching is why I invested a decade of my life into a doctorate.
So I have decided to offer the Diploma, which incorporates all the baking from the certificate, and to restrict my intake of students to work personally with people I teach.
Why Choose to Learn to Bake the Way I do?
The way I teach is, like sourdough, longer slower and measured.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people ( many of whom I have taught, )who are teaching the basics lovely breads for free, or reasonable prices in a day or so. My courses re very different – I teach you about bread, flour, microbes and fermentation on another level – it is about personalising the way you connect and bake, and creating breads that are nourishing for your gut microbiome and that can be adapted to suit individuals genetically. We look at the complexities of the bread within the food system, and you develop an understanding about yourself, your environment and health through bread that will change your life and the life of the people around you. And of course, you will learn to make the most phenomenally delicious open crumb fermented diversity bread.
So .. the bad news is that there is a significant fee increase
The registration for The Sourdough School Diploma will be increasing from £999 to £1999 from 8th September. I have maintained the lowest fees possible to make the course accessible to students for as long as I can, however the rising costs means that I must regrettably, increase the fees to maintain the high standards and comprehensive resources our course offers.
The good news is that there is still time to enrol at the current rate and save £1000 – You have until 8th September to register at the current rate of £999
For those of you considering joining the programme, there is still time to enrol at the current rate. I would encourage you to secure your place before the fee increase takes effect. You have until 8th September to register at the existing rate of £999.
Check if you qualify for an educational award and enrol for £1
Despite having to increase the fees, I am delighted to announce that the Sourdough School offers financial support to students who have challenges paying the fees through the Dr Annie Elliot Educational Awards Programme. This initiative is funded by profits from the sale of our Botanical Blend Flour, and it aims to make our Diploma accessible to students who might otherwise face financial barriers.
The Awards are open to bakers and healthcare professionals passionate about using bread as a tool for health, and wellbeing. This year, we are offering a limited number of 20 awards, which cover the registration fee, reduced to £1, with ongoing tuition fees adjusted to £39.99 per month for 24 months. Applications are now open and will close on 13th September 2024.
Successful applicants will be notified by email by 20th September 2024.
Do you qualify to enrol for £1?
Bakers: If you are dedicated to nourishing your community through enhanced bread production, focusing on creating nutritious, personalised bread that supports health and well-being you should apply.
Healthcare Professionals: If you can integrate baking into your practice for social prescribing, using bread as a tool to improve patient health and support lifestyle medicine then you should apply.
Change your life and the life of the people around you.
Based in Northamptonshire, our school is dedicated to teaching the art and science of Baking As Lifestyle Medicine. Our courses are designed to teach you to bake amazingly nourishing bread and to enhance your understanding of nutrition and the digestibility of bread, tailored specifically to support your digestion, gut health, and even your genetics and support your health and the people around you.
The Sourdough School Diploma is a comprehensive two-year online programme, starting on 24th September 2024. It integrates scientific insights, practical baking skills, and a focus on personalisation. Through this course, students will learn to bake, eat, and share bread that enhances both individual and community health. Highlights include:
Personalised Genetic Reports: Understand your unique relationship with bread and digestion. ( the genetic testing is not part of the award)
Live Sessions and Baking Tutorials: Engage with Dr Vanessa Kimbell and fellow students in real-time.
Access to Extensive Research: Benefit from over 750 research papers and a comprehensive library focused on the gut microbiome and nutrition.
Practical Application: Baking and understanding bread and how each of us responds differently
For further details or to register, please visit our website or contact us directly at +44(0)7813308301 or [email protected].
Join Us
Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of this amazing programme about understanding and crafting bread that nourishes both the body and mind. There is nothing quite like it, we are a community and have alumni students who are still learning with us over a decade after attending The Sourdough School, and I believe that the people who want to change the world begin with their own – and bread is the best place to start.
Warm regards,
Dr Vanessa Kimbell
The Sourdough School
Contact Information
WhatsApp: +44(0)7813308301
Email: [email protected]
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Jenni Tree
Dear Vanessa,
The whole R4 programme with Dan Saladino and the Belgian Sourdough Library was absolute nutrition for my soul. And then I heard you, so enthusiastic, and realised that Northants is not far from Lincs, and maybe I could come and learn.
The aspects that were mind-blowing about the programme were about the microbes. I edited a book on “Monera” – single celled organisms and their use as homeopathic remedies in 2007, and continued to understand bacteria, viruses etc, for a further many years. Tim Spector’s input was interesting, but very narrow in its conception and use of sourdough, whereas you have the much wider vision and understanding of the possibilities for the improvement of world-wide health. The fingerprint of the individual sourdough is a template, another form of ‘family’ DNA, widened to include an environment, a culture as well as the strains of grains and plants used. Making bread in the way you suggest might indeed be as useful for healing large swathes of the world. (And maybe the soil if we allowed its microbiota to thrive.)
I loved the way you talked about the qualities of your sourdough – diagnosing its state just as a parent diagnoses the health of a child. Old fashioned doctors also brought all their senses to their diagnosis. These senses have become numbed in the headlong rush into monoculture and monotony.
Thank you so much for your input into one of the most thrilling and informative programmes on Radio 4 this decade.