6-Month Membership

£15.99 / month for 6 months after an initial 1 month period for £149.00 including joining fee

ONE-OFF JOINING FEE: £149 for Silver 6-Month Community Membership
MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION: £15.99
TYPE: LIFESTYLE PRESCRIPTION COURSE
SUPPORT: Weekly (term-time) open live Q & A session with Vanessa
BAKING LEVEL: Beginner/Intermediate
STYLE OF LEARNING: Self-guided
TUTORIALS: 100+
RECIPES: 130+
FOCUS: Baking for better physical and mental health
SUPPORT: Feedback and guidance via the website
TEAM: Supported by the Sourdough School Team
AVAILABILITY: Start today

Membership Benefits

Gain access to the Community recipes, including our classic sourdough recipes, with new recipes added regularly.
Get access to symbiotic eating recipes designed to nourish your gut.
Read in greater detail the research behind each recipe and how they will nourish your gut microbiome.
Enjoy in-depth features on grains such as spelt, rye and other heritage grains.
Learn all about our Botanical Blends and how to mill your own fresh diversity flour.
Get access to a comprehensive glossary.
Interact with other members in our friendly baking forum.
Get access to our library of live webinars with Vanessa and guests.
Share your bakes and get reposted on the Club Instagram account.
Enjoy Club discounts.
Take part in exclusive competitions and give-aways.
Gain access to exclusive articles by Vanessa Kimbell on sourdough and gut health.
Receive our e-magazine with tips, offers, articles and more.

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This Community Membership online sourdough course is a lifestyle prescription. Now in its 11th year, this unique approach to learning uses baking sourdough as preventative medicine. Not only will you learn to make sourdough and nourish your gut microbiome, you will also learn how to make changes to your own diet and lifestyle for better health. Our approach to baking is evidence-based, and all our recipes have been researched, tested and developed as part of the The Bread Protocol that is central to Vanessa Kimbell’s Doctorate in Nutrition and Digestibility of Bread.

The Sourdough Club was rated 5 stars by the Telegraph. It is part of the Sourdough School. We can tell you ourselves how wonderful our courses and memberships are, of course, but you can also read our member reviews.

A Community Membership gives you access to recipes, videos and core knowledge tutorials, as well as support from our live Clinics and baking forum. You bake according to your abilities and in your own time, to suit your lifestyle, and you join our community.

Supporting others

Part of our philosophy is to support people who have the potential to solve community-based problems. It is about helping individuals who are willing to take on the risk and make the effort to create positive changes in society through their initiatives. We believe ] this practice is a way to connect to Vanessa’s life’s purpose of sharing knowledge to change our bread for the better.

For every new Community Membership subscription, we give away multiple bursary memberships as part of our Systems Change Programme. We have calculated that during 2022, we have given away £150k worth of Sourdough School places – that is more than twice the School’s annual turnover. During the same period (January to September 2022) we also gave away £70k worth of Club memberships either as a gifted membership or in the form of a bursary.

Sourdough Club Review:

‘I’d like to take a moment to appreciate The Sourdough Club and share my feelings regarding the delightful journey I’m currently experiencing. A gift of membership for any of us would be divine, I have been exceptionally blessed with mine! My life has become invigorating and I sparkle each day because The Sourdough Club has offered me the ability to shine, grow, blossom, and flourish!

Yes, I could be one of the ingredients of Vanessa’s Botanical Blends! A flower waiting patiently to enhance a little flavour into someone’s day, to remind ourselves of all that is great with the world instead of being disappointed and dismayed by all that troubles us.

To be honest, if your heart is with sourdough, this Club will present you with an opportunity to learn, challenge yourself and embrace the knowledge provided online.

Vanessa offers recorded video guidance for us all to watch and participate in, and there is also the option to share conversations online with like-minded members. I do all of these things and more; I’ve watched webinars and I post my bakes via the member’s Sourdough Club group.

Goodness, am I beginning to sound like an advertisement?! If I were, I’d implore you to join. I would love those of you reading these reviews to be inspired, to be invigorated and enthusiastic about what we have to say. The truth, for me, is that The Sourdough Club has changed my life for the better. Through my membership, I’m learning to bake wholesome, nourishing sourdough bread, cakes, puddings, and sweet and savoury treats. I’m also being stimulated, and this in turn has improved my mental health. I want to learn more, I want to embrace the opportunity, I want to succeed – and I can because The Sourdough Club has enabled me to do so.

It’s given me my happiness back and it’s reminded me of what’s important to me. If you have the slightest interest in baking, in sourdough, if you’re interested in the microbiome, in diversity, in the environment, then it’s all here in The Sourdough Club. Do you want to share our joy, our purpose, our pleasure?

Depending on how you’d like to personally develop, I feel that membership of The Sourdough Club will give you the confidence to achieve so much more than just the ultimate bake. I am now in my eighth month of membership and gosh, how those months have flown by!

You, my friend, are at the beginning of a fabulous journey. Don’t be shy – come join us! You’ll feel welcomed and supported from day one. If you choose to take this step, to commit, you may surprise yourself and, in time, become a sourdough mentor who wants to help others. You may enjoy a new hobby or even make new friends. There are no limitations to your potential. I haven’t reached mine yet, but in the meantime, Happy Baking!’
– D. K.

What will I learn?

You will learn about every stage of making sourdough, including:

• how to create and refresh a starter

• how to blend and mill flour

• how to mix, knead, shape, prove, score and bake your bread

• how to eat symbiotically for optimal gut health

Some of the bakes you will discover include:

• a 10-minute sourdough tin loaf

• a 10-minute sourdough cake

• a retarded sourdough boule

You will also learn about:

• the variables affecting fermentation

• the fibre, protein and gluten present in flour

• the nutrition and digestibility of bread

• probiotics and prebiotics (including how to make your own cultured butter, kimchi, sauerkraut and pickles)

• the gut microbiome and why the kind of bread you eat matters

• why diversity is key to gut health

In short, you will learn about sourdough and how to bake to nourish your microbiome, but the Community Membership is much more than a course: it is a lifestyle prescription. This is a unique and innovative voyage into the world of sourdough and gut microbiome, and it will show you how to change your own diet and lifestyle for the better.

Is this for me?

Is this the best way for me to learn?

It really depends on what kind of person you are and what interests you. If you are disciplined and self-motivated, and you want to use the Club structure as a resource, then this Community Membership is good way to learn.

The advantage of joining as a Community Member is that you do not have to wait to start learning.

The disadvantage is that the Community Membership is entirely self-guided, so while it is less expensive, it does not include the research level features, tasks, events and tutorials you get as part of our guided courses.

The Community Membership option is often chosen by intermediate bakers who want the flexibility of a rolling monthly membership. It is important to note that you are committed to staying for a minimum of three months before you can cancel your subscription.

Should I join?

If you are a total beginner and have never baked sourdough before, then I would strongly suggest that rather than joining with a Community Membership, you do one of our short prescription courses first. Don’t be surprised by this suggestion! My motivation is not money, but sharing knowledge and making real change, and if you’re brand new to baking, you would be far better off starting with the lower cost option of a mini course, or even by baking from my 10-Minute Sourdough book, which is brilliant for beginners. You can also try out our basic recipes for free here. Then, once you know the basics and are sure that you like baking, you can come back and join.

I suggest you sign up for a Community Membership only if you can agree with the following statements:

I have baked sourdough before.
I am self-motivated and can commit to baking.
I am interested in more than just big holes – I want to understand sourdough.
Healthy bread is something I am very interested in learning more about.
I want to learn about other ways to use sourdough, such as pasta, flat breads, pastries, cakes and buns.
I like to know about how to eat bread to support gut health, including probiotics and probiotic recipes.

If you would like to join, please enroll – I will be delighted to find you in our Club members forum. If not, then please consider taking a guided course – they are amazing.

Vanessa Kimbell

The Sourdough School

Next Guided Course

If you would prefer a guided course and a certificate, then you can join an interactive guided course.

Click this link to find out more about the interactive guided-learning Bake for Health Certificate starting in September 2022.

You can also join the mailing list or make a membership request here.

Bake 2, Give 1

Part of our baking protocol is that we ask all our members to bake two loaves and give one away. So almost all of our recipes are made to follow this principle. Baking is about sharing bread and we encourage people to use it as a way to connect with one another. As a bonus, baking two loaves gives you extra baking practice!

Cost of joining

To join the Sourdough Club with a Community Membership subscription, we charge a one-off initial joining fee, followed by a monthly subscription of with a minimum commitment of three months.

A full list of member benefits

As a Community Member, you will:

Have access to the community library with our step-by-step tutorials and video masterclasses.
Be able to discus your bakes in our live clinics on Thursday evenings.
Be the first to know of any courses run at the Sourdough School and receive preferential rates and booking opportunities.
Gain a deep understanding and insight into sourdough in your own time from core knowledge video tutorials covering topics such as the roles of gluten, salt, water and flour. You’ll also learn how to add inclusions, what bakers’ percentages are and how to troubleshoot.
Have access to a huge archive of recipes, including our classic sourdough recipes and symbiotic eating recipes.
Be able to read in greater detail the research behind each recipe and how it nourishes your gut microbiome.
Enjoy in-depth features on grains such as spelt, rye and other heritage grains.
Have access to a comprehensive glossary.
Be inspired by regular new recipes.
Interact with other members in our forum.
Have access to our library of live webinars with Vanessa and guests.
Share your bakes and get reposted on the Club Instagram account.
Get Club discounts.
Take part in exclusive competition and give-aways
Have access to exclusive articles by Vanessa Kimbell on sourdough and gut health.
Receive our e-magazine with tips, offers, articles and more.

Is there any support?

Yes! We provide support in a number of ways.

• The Sourdough Club forum is an active online forum with hundreds of members that is manned by one of our team daily. It’s a lovely place to get advice and feedback.

• You will be invited to attend live online clinics.

• You will be able to leave comments on lecture pages, which we will respond to.

• If you get stuck with anything, you can reach out and Vanessa will get in touch.

Be part of the change

It it is time to change the system.

Your membership isn’t just about learning to make bread. You will be part of the change.

The Sourdough School is a social enterprise and has been dedicated to researching, developing and sharing knowledge about how changes can be made in the world of bread-making and baking in order to support health and wellness for over a decade. We also take this one step further by teaching and empowering people to implement these changes and challenge the system on both a personal and social level. We do this through our Systems Change Programme, which is informed by our values.

This approach underpins everything we do in the club.