Community Membership

£29.99 / month after an initial 1 month period for £599.00 including joining fee

ONE-OFF JOINING FEE: £599 for Community Membership
MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION: £29.99
TYPE: LIFESTYE PRESCRIPTION COURSE
SOCIAL CHANGE AWARDS : Please check to see if you are eligible for discounted fees
AVAILABILITY: Start today
BAKING LEVEL: Beginner / Intermediate
STYLE OF LEARNING: Self-guided with support
TUTORIALS: 100+ tutorials
RECIPES: Over 130
FOCUS: Baking for better physical and mental health
SUPPORT: Feedback and guidance via the website
TEAM: Supported by the Sourdough School Team

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.
Get access to a comprehensive glossary.
Interact with other members in our friendly 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 bi-monthly e-magazine with tips, offers, articles and more.

12 in stock

Category: Lifestyle Prescription Courses

This Community Membership 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. All the recipes and approach to baking is evidence based and has been researched, tested and developed as part of the The Bread Protocol that is central to Vanessa Kimbell’s Doctorate in Nutrition and Digestibility for Bread.

The Sourdough Club is now in its 11th year and was rated 5* by the Telegraph. It is part of the Sourdough School. We can tell you how wonderful our courses and memberships are, of course, but you can read our member reviews here.

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

As part of our Systems Change Programme, there are awards available, so please ensure that you check to see if you are eligible for the social change discount before you join.

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 £599.00 initial joining fee, followed by a monthly subscription of £29.99 per month with a minimum commitment of three months.

As part of our social change programme, there are awards available for our courses. Please check to see if you are eligible for the social discount award here before purchasing.

Are there any discounts?

Yes. We offer reduced rate memberships to a number of people, so please check here to see if you qualify.

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 bi-monthly 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 online clinics once a month.

• 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.