A bestselling sourdough book with a foreword by Richard Hart
This book is groundbreaking. Vanessa has compiled her teachings in a beautifully illustrated book for the home baker. In it, she explains the what, when, how and why of sourdough and demystifies the baking process as well as the science and the nutrition, before applying it to bread that you can bake by hand at home.
You know it is time to sit up when Tim Spector, author of The Diet Myth and the head of Epidemiology at Kings College London says: ‘Master the art of sourdough with Vanessa and you will learn how to look after your own gut microbes and health.’
Beginning with how to create a starter from scratch, the book shares Vanessa’a formulae in order of difficulty, going from a basic loaf to porridge loaves to baguettes. There are section on sprouted grains, smoking grains for flavour, and experimenting with starters to control flavour and produce the kind of loaf you want.
There are also sourdough loaf record forms and baking schedules, making it an interactive bible that you can write in and personalise as you adapt the formulae to suit your own kitchen. With step-by-step photography, detailed instructions, specialist advice and Vanessa’s indispensable encouragement, this book took over seven years to research, using over 300 studies, and the chapter on nutrition and digestion was validated over 12 months by Dr Amrita Vijay, who has a PhD in digestion and works at Kings College London.
The Sourdough School is an internationally recognised centre of excellence in sourdough, bringing together the timeless craft of artisan baking with the latest research on 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.
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
‘You will never ever meet anyone else in the whole world who is more knowledgeable – or, indeed, more passionate – about sourdough bread.’ – Gut health expert Miguel Mateas
‘Vanessa’s work on sourdough and the gut microbiome is changing the way we think of food, health and baking.’ – Tim Spector, author of The Diet Myth
Vanessa has been baking sourdough since she was eleven years old in southwest France, and is renowned for her understanding of the nutrition and digestibility of bread. She teaches a range of courses at the Sourdough School, covering advanced sourdough techniques, higher hydration sourdoughs, enriched sourdough breads, pastries and cakes, as well as sourdough bread for people with diabetes and IBS, and also for individuals facing life-changing illness. The Sourdough School was named in the top three courses in the UK by the Times, and in the top 10 in the UK by the Telegraph and 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, and was the category leader of the home bakers sourdough section of the World Bread Awards. Vanessa is also the author of the award-winning ethical and sustainable recipe book Food for Thought, which was published in November 2015.
