The Sourdough School Ltd, The Sourdough School, Pitsford (2025)

13/08/2025

BRITAIN’S DAIRY FARMS UNDER THREAT

Do you like some butter on your bread or a cup of tea and a slice of toast? You need to pay attention because our food securities and a threat under labour .

Breaking news today in The is that almost 1 in 7 UK dairy farmers plan to quit within the next year. This photo is from the farm. I used to get my diary from for the courses here at the School. They already quit.

WE ALREADY LOST OUR LOVAL DAIRY
Rising costs, labour shortages, and looming cuts to inheritance tax relief mean hundreds of family-run farms — the backbone of our food system — are preparing to shut their gates.

If this happens, over 900 dairy farms WILL vanish. We currently produce over 90% of the dairy we consume in Britain. That security is now at risk.

This isn’t scaremongering. It’s a warning. The government has been told it must act quickly to save British farming — before it’s too late.

Food security starts in the field, not in the supermarket. Lose the farms, and we lose control of our food.

17/07/2025

CALLING ALL NUTRITIONISTS WITH ZOTERO + CPD EXPERIENCE

I’m preparing a course for an accredited CPD course and need a sharp, experienced research assistant to help me organise and format my reference list into a Zotero-compatible file (BibTeX, RIS or CSL JSON accepted).

This is a freelance, paid role for 2 full days of focused work – ideally to be completed this month. I will pay a competitive day rate for the right person.

🔍 I’m looking for someone who:
👌 Has prior experience with Zotero or other reference management systems
👉🏻 Is confident with academic referencing, metadata, and exporting files in .bib, .ris or .json formats
👉🏻 Has a background in nutrition or health sciences – ideally BANT-registered or similarly trained
👉🏻 Can work independently, accurately, and understands the importance of precision in CPD submission referencing
😊 Has NO need to learn on the job – this is not a training opportunity
👍 Ideally understands the clinical/lifestyle medicine context of the BALM Protocol (though not essential)

🧠 This is not just admin – I need someone who understands the material, can read and interpret academic papers in nutrition, and knows how to manage citations cleanly and efficiently.

📍Remote working – but you’ll need excellent communication, a high level of organisation, and the ability to deliver within the timeframe.

If you’re the right person, or you know someone who is, please DM me with your credentials, experience, and day rate and WhatsApp.

Thank you
– Vanessa x

09/07/2025

DIVERSITY BREAD

If you swipe across, you’ll see what we’re up to right now. My students have arrived for a three-day Baking as Lifestyle Medicine course, and in one of the clips, you’ll spot us gathering wild strawberries. You’ll also see my daughter, Libiana, who is not only my PA but also plays a vital role—alongside my other children, Isobel and William—in helping to run the school.

William takes care of much of the IT and is always on hand to help Diploma students with technical support. Isobel often helps with social media, photography, and keeping things beautifully tidy. It truly is a family-run school, and Che supports me in the garden, which is integral to everything we do here. It’s quite extraordinary how many plants we incorporate into our bread.

Hosting the courses from home makes them all the more special and personal. If you’d like to join me, please do check the waiting list—although we do have a few places available in November, which I believe is the earliest opening at the moment, aside from Tuscany in September, where we still have some spaces.

28/06/2025

THERES A DARKNESS AT PLAY

Our system is broken. The food system is being controlled by the pharmaceutical associated conglomerates and literally feeding the next generation into the sickness management system. This is one of the things whenever I get the chance to share with younger generations I do.
Junk food is profitable and profoundly disturbing and yet there is light there is hope for the next generation can see. What is ahead and standing In defiance.

ON THE RUN

I read this with both anger and a kick of hope. As shared this post that tells me our young people are having an impact.

Can you believe it?! 😤

After the huge success of our campaign earlier this year, our message has now been rejected by two of the biggest outdoor advertising companies in the UK. Even though we’ve broken NO rules. ❌

Once our message started making waves, the boardrooms of big companies didn’t like what we had to say. Instead, they’re actively choosing to silence the voices of young people, showing who truly holds the power. 👀

Having our hard work shut down is disappointing. 😔

But, now is the perfect time for the Government to step up and end junk food advertising, taking back power from the food industry, and putting child health first. 💪

Are you with us? Share this post! 👉

22/06/2025

HALF RIGHT …. GLUTEN IS DAMAGING BUT JUST FERMENTING GLUTEN ISN’T THE ANSWER EITHER here’s why 👉🏻

I had a short conversation with yesterday discussing the common narrative: long fermentation = less gluten = safer for sensitive people.

The reality is way more sophisticated.

Yes, specific Lactobacillus strains can break down the infamous 33-mer peptide to

27/05/2025

I THINK ITS TIME TO ASK A FRIGHTENING QUESTION

Information is so cheap that is is worthless, and if my own followers are not interested then why should I waste my time sharing. I have better things to do…

After decades of working, research, teaching, baking, writing—I’ve come to realise that when I share something thoughtful, rooted in science, and often quite extraordinary… it’s met with a wall of silence on social media.

No fuss. No outrage. No dopamine hit.

Just a quiet void as people have given up.,

Take yesterday: I explained how sunlight and vitamin D impact digestion and the way we metabolise bread. It’s taken me years—decades—to build the BALM protocol and understand how the microbiome and light interact with food. I took the time to write that post with care. Thousands of people have seen it. Yet not a single comment.

This isn’t what most people seem to want. And that’s fine. But it means I’ll be doing far less of this kind of nutrition wellness sharing.

Because the truth is, I could spend that same time with my hands in dough, writing my next chapter, or walking in the sun—doing the work. But my question is what is the reason you didn’t respond? Is because you have been flooded to the point where you’re not meant to think or react anymore to genuine valuable knowledge.

It’s not the world that is changing it’s you - you have changed.

I’m still here. Still working. Still quietly changing the system. I’m just not going to be shouting into the void.

I as I write this I wonder if anyone is even

30/04/2025

STUDY

Tonight, something extraordinary is happening in the bakery. I’ve been teaching today so Sol is helping me to mix the very last batch of Prescription Bread for a landmark study exploring the impact of my prescription bread on mental health. This isn’t just another bake—it marks the culmination of a lifetime of work.

I’m absolutely delighted that this revolutionary project is being formally studied in a long-term trial by brilliant researcher at King’s College London, under the supervision of the incredible Professor David Veale. To see something as everyday as bread being taken seriously as part of mental health research feels like a quiet revolution—one rooted in science, care, and hope.

We’ll be sharing the results this August with a special event here at The Sourdough School. I can’t wait to open the doors and invite you into what could be a new chapter for how we nourish both body and mind.

27/04/2025

REFLECTING ON BEN & BREAD

Last night, I had an amazing meal with and my friend Xanthe at Restaurant, which has so deservedly been awarded a Michelin star. I have to say, I was so pleased — it was everything my friend and student Ben had told me it would be. It’s such an extraordinary place, and the food was just incredible.

Tomorrow is Ben’s funeral, and I think it’s going to be a beautiful, incredibly sad day. But I want to try to remember and hold onto the things I loved about him: his endless curiosity, his gift for making people feel welcome and at home, and the quiet, genuine humility he carried with him always. Ben understood bread — not just how to make it, but what it truly meant. He knew that bread brings people together; it nourishes, it connects, it holds everything and everyone. His delight in giving away his bread was never about pride — it was about sharing something essential, something that spoke of belonging.

Calum has had the incredibly difficult task of going back into Wilson’s Bread Shop after such a short time, and he’s done an extraordinary job getting it back up and running. The bread he made for the meal was wonderful: soft, fluffy, exactly what you needed to mop up the amazing sauces. I’m afraid I had to pull a very French move and mop up the sauce with my bread. It was the kind of meal that demands bread — that perfect tenderness, gathering up every drop of the beautiful sauces. I think Ben would have approved.

Last night, I spoke with everyone about creating a scholarship at the School in Ben’s name, so that his spirit — his energy—will live on, helping future bakers to learn, to nourish, and to support mental health through their craft. More to come on this …

Thank you to Wilson’s Restaurant and team for such an amazing meal. It was bittersweet in every sense of the word. And thank you to Nancy for introducing me to Ben — and for capturing such a brilliant photograph of me eating, for once, with my eyes open and my mouth closed! I think that might be a first.
X###

23/04/2025

GOOD BREAD NEEDS GOOD BUTTER

Oh so maybe put have asked me for this recipe but it’s a technique. – Yes, you absolutely can use a good-quality ready-made butter for this recipe but mostly I make my own butter. But, I’m well aware that not everyone has the time, and frankly, there are some truly excellent butters available. I always go for grass-fed butter – it’s nutritionally superior, with a richer flavour and a higher micronutrient content. I’ve tagged a few of my favourite producers below, in case you’re looking for recommendations.

🌱If you’ve foraged some wild garlic – and you’re certain it is wild garlic – chop it finely. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and a little lemon zest, a small clove of garlic if you like things punchier, a good few grinds of black pepper, and a touch more salt (even if the butter is already salted – trust your taste here). Salted butter is absolutely glorious for this.

🍋Once mixed, shape it into a log, wrap it well in greaseproof paper, and pop it in the fridge. I love to serve it cold – too cold to spread, in fact – so that you can break off generous chunks and let them slowly melt onto a slice of warm sourdough straight from the oven.

I always make extra to keep in the freezer. Now, we all know that butter can suffer in the freezer, so do wrap it thoroughly. I tend to double-wrap it – first in greaseproof, then in foil – and finally pop it inside a Tupperware box or a sealed freezer bag for extra protection.

Quantities (very loosely):
– A handful of wild garlic
– A pinch of sea salt
– A sprinkle of black pepper
– A little lemon zest and juice
– One small clove of garlic (optional)
– 250g of good-quality grass-fed butter

soften and add the ingredients together and put too much on warm bread….
., so are you a soft and butter kind of person or do you like your butter, cold chunky and unspreadable?

22/04/2025

SWIPE FOR APRIL BAKING IDEAS

April is absolutely bursting with colour – and it’s the perfect time to bring that vibrancy into your baking and delicious polyphenols to your bread.

CONNECT

I love to bake according to wherever I am in the the season and explore the ingredients that connect our bread to our health — nourishment is the foundation of every bite. Bread is so powerful when we understand the nutritional value.

I love this idea for kids - it’s a favourite trick: purple sweet potato. This Okinawan hero food is packed with polyphenols and linked to longevity. it doesn’t just bring a splash of colour—it brings functionality, supporting antioxidant activity and gut health on a genetic level. For anyone recovering from chemotherapy or aiming to reduce their risk of bowel cancer, these are the kinds of beautiful bites that make every mouthful count.

Then there’s the magnolia honey that I make by steeping magnolia leaves—delicate and floral, with a ginger warmth that is divine on toast. It’s just a simple thing, but it elevates the flavour.

I’m also gently reminding my students that the gut is governed by circadian rhythms, and morning light helps reset our biological clock. This impacts digestion, immunity, even neurotransmitter function. So I encourage you to step outside first thing, breathe let the sun warm your face. The spring sun is the sweetest thing to bask in for a moment.

And here’s something that might surprise you: your ability to use vitamin D from sunshine is dependent on vitamin K. And where do we find that? Butter and greens. Especially when it comes from cows grazing on spring pasture. something I have been teaching for years is to use grass fed butter and add black pepper and turmeric for anti-inflammation and the black pepper increases bioavailability of curcumin - a powerful anti-inflammatory.

And of course—green wild garlic. I sometimes wrap loaves in the leaves, but mostly I love it as a pesto and spread thickly over cheese on toast or sourdough sweet potato pasta.

So, just have fun. Laugh, play, experiment and connect your baking to@the season, your families health, and the environment & it all tastes amazing.

Vanessa
x

18/04/2025

A NEW PAN IN AN OLD KITCHEN

This is where I do a lot of the cooking that goes alongside the bread — porridges, spiced ghee, soups. The kind of food that supports digestion and makes bread part of something nourishing. This morning I unboxed a new pan. It is a dark rich blue, beautiful and wonderfully British and by and I think it will fit in perfectly.

This is a space full of stories, and I don’t bring things in to my world lightly. I’m considered, and only choose the things that are going to bring a feeling of joy and authenticity. This pan is an investment piece, an inheritance piece that I hope, that like the wooden chopping board it will have a place in my family long after I am gone. But for now I will use it for my classes here and inspire others to make amazing food to eat with bread.

👆In the top right corner is a basket from the bakery where I first learned to bake pain de levain as a child. The old chopping board belonged to my husband’s grandmother — I met her when I was 24, and I still carry some of her beautiful habits into everyday life.

There’s a bottle of apple cider vinegar on the top shelf — it’s one of the foundations of our sequential eating. The ceramic bowl is from my old home in the Dordogne. And the oven? It was rescued from a skip, rewired, and has been going strong for over a decade.

Even the olive leaves in the vase will be dried and milled into our Botanical Blend flour.

This is my home, but it’s also The Sourdough School. It’s a working space, not staged. Every part of it holds meaning — and often memory. Sharing it can feel a bit vulnerable, but that’s the heart of personalised bread: taking time, paying attention, and connecting in a way that’s real.

13/04/2025

THE FUTURE OF BREAD IS PERSONAL

Exactly what do we mean by this? and how do you learn to personalise Bread ?

The Sourdough School Diploma in Nutrition and Digestibility of Bread is built around two powerful lenses that frame our understanding of how bread can support health.

NUTRITION
Explored through the lens of nutrigenetics, we use genetic insights to personalise bread to individual needs, supporting pathways such as blood sugar regulation, histamine metabolism, and methylation. Students learn to tailor bread based on DNA — nourishing at the most foundational level.

DIGESTIBILITY
Through the lens of gut health, we explore how fermentation, fibre, and botanical diversity impact the microbiome. Students learn to adapt structure, flavour, and fermentation to support digestion, reduce inflammation, and enhance resilience.

INTEGRATED, EVIDENCE-BASED LEARNING
These two lenses form a unique approach — blending clinical research, culinary practice, and lifestyle medicine. This diploma is more than learning to bake; it’s about transforming bread into a personalised daily prescription for health.

ENROLMENT OPENS 1ST SEPTEMBER 2025
Places are strictly limited. To be notified first, sign up to the newsletter via the link in the bio.

The Sourdough School Ltd

13/08/2025

17/07/2025

09/07/2025

28/06/2025

22/06/2025

27/05/2025

30/04/2025

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