Welcome from Vanessa
It's been ages since I have had time to get a proper newsletter together and I could not have done it without some of my students who have recently stepped up to give me a hand. Lisa Finnimore, Claire Watson and Alice Achilles have been amazing in helping me to research and write this summer edition of our newsletter.
In this edition, I am delighted to be sharing the successes of two of our Sourdough School students, Cherie Hausler and Janet Cruywagen.
Cherie Hausler's beautiful cookbook, A Plant-Based Farmhouse, was published last month. We are delighted to offer our readers a sneaky peek of three of the recipes at the end of this newsletter.
Janet Cruywagen has been a joy to teach over the last few years, and she is now an inspirational sourdough baking teacher in her own right. Janet was kind enough to be interviewed by our new magazine editor, Lisa, about her journey from enthusiastic student to expert practitioner from her home in South Africa.
News from the Sourdough School
IPM Congress London 6-8th June
I am delighted to be attending the Integrative and Personalised Medicine Congress in London. I will be there all this week from Thursday 6th - Saturday the 8th of June, I will be taking a workshop on baking, eating and sharing bread as lifestyle medicine. In this workshop we will examine how BALM (baking as lifestyle medicine) underpins personalised bread and how baking can be used therapeutically, showcasing how BALM is used to support both physical and mental health within the NHS. The social prescription element of my teaching is very close to my heart, and I cannot wait to discuss this further at the IPM Congress. Catch me at 3pm or on stand F65
Enrolling now for courses starting September 2024
The Sourdough School is now welcoming applications for enrollment to courses starting in September of this year. On offer is our popular diploma course in Personalising Bread: baking as preventative healthcare and lifestyle medicine.
May was Mental Health Awareness Month. The theme of Mental Health Awareness Month for this year is ‘Movement: Moving more for our mental health’. It seems like a simple idea, yet so many of us struggle to move as much as we should. This is why the Mental Health Foundation is helping us to build movement into our daily routines.
At the Sourdough School we believe that baking sourdough can provide an opportunity for exercise. However we move our bodies when making our loaves – with the stretching and folding of the dough over a number of hours, or by exploiting the pauses between baking activities to move our bodies in other ways – movement with intention is part of the Sourdough School’s protocol. Read my take on this subject and pick up some tips for how to use baking as a platform for lifestyle changes that can improve your mental health.
For June we've got a great pizza recipe that has been developed with the aim of fostering good mental health. Listen to my interview with Professor David Veale, where we discuss the Guts Cafe project at the Anxiety Disorders Residential Unit in London. David Veale published one of the first studies on treating mental disorders with live probiotics, and his work at ADRU empowers patients to change their gut health as a means to supporting their mental health. The Guts Cafe is a groundbreaking concern, for people suffering with severe anxiety disorders. Residents get to bake and work in a "happy, healthy environment to help them build vocational skills, serve the Bethlem Royal Hospital community and promote food that’s good for gut and mind." This is exactly the sort of project that excites me! I think you are going to love the pizza recipe I am sharing, as it shows you how to make an epic pizza with high diversity, supporting both gut health and mental health, and it's delicious to boot.
As we move into July and August, why not harness the abundance of the garden or your local market and make a seasonal pesto. Summer's bounty does not last forever and, conveniently, you can store this pesto under oil in a jar in the fridge and add a touch of sun to many meals over the weeks to come.
This Summer Season in Sourdough
Claire's Corner
Join Claire Watson, the Sourdough Club's brilliant teaching assistant, in her new column. Claire will be giving us all her top tips for successful baking and keeping us up to speed with the latest trends in the sourdough world. In this edition of Claire's Corner you can find help for managing your starter in the summer heat and find out all about the trend of the "un-loaf" on social media.
Student Focus: Janet Cruywagen
Janet Cruywagen lives with her husband and son in Pretoria, South Africa. She found sourdough baking in 2020 through a free webinar, which was given by Vanessa Kimbell at the Sourdough School with the intention of reaching out to new bakers during lockdown. Janet’s enthusiasm soon took her from making delicious wholesome bread to discovering more about the techniques and science behind the craft. With her commitment to nourishing the wider community – and to Vanessa’s motto of ‘sharing the knowledge’– Janet was given a scholarship to attend an online course at the Sourdough School.
Now a graduate of the Sourdough School’s Baking as Lifestyle Medicine certificate, Janet is determined to use the impressive social skills she honed while working as a pastor in her community. She describes herself as a woman ‘on a mission to change the perceptions about bread and health and to empower with evidence based research’. She teaches sourdough baking from home and online through her business, Grace and Crumbs.
How did you choose the name Grace and Crumbs for your business?
I was a full-time pastor, working with the elderly, when I started to play around with names with the word ‘grace’ in them. Grace and Crumbs was born from the idea that we can discover grace within crumbs. Crumbs are often thrown away without thought, and we forget that they still actually have a lot to give. We can repurpose crumbs in so many ways, adding them in to different recipes, maybe just to give a dish that extra crunch it needs to make it sing. I’m thinking perhaps on top of a shepherds pie, or of my dad’s favourite – he loves crumbs in his tea with sugar! I also wanted to incorporate something of my profession as a pastor in my name and that’s how it came about.
Read on to learn more about Janet and her inspiring sourdough story
New Book: A Plant-Based Farmhouse by Cherie Hausler
A Plant-Based Farmhouse: Wholefood recipes from my house on the hill, by Australian Sourdough Club student Cherie Hausler, is a cookbook to behold. The book is peppered liberally with stunning photography from Cherie's kitchen in the Barossa Valley, but it's the carefully curated ingredients and the imaginative recipes that really stand out. With a whole section on sourdough baking, and a devotion to the artful preparation of seasonal produce, Cherie's book is a perfect fit for us here at the Sourdough Club.
Cherie has generously given us permission to publish three recipes from her book. The Purple Carrot, Fig and Pearl Barley Salad, the vibrant recipe featured on the cover of the book, is perfect as we start cooking with a lighter touch in the summer season. We also have a Cauliflower Soup to eat with your bread; and finally - a favourite! - a recipe for Sourdough Chocolate and Black Tahini Babka. This uses a voluptuous enriched dough, ideal for practising your sweet sourdough bakes. If you enjoy these recipes, let us (and Cherie) know.
This months Challenge: Bread By Eye
Deadline: 31 Aug 2024
Vanessa has given homework to her students in the School and Club to bake bread by eye. Can you break away from using measuring tools to make your loaf? The challenge is to bake bread using no scales or measuring cups when portioning out your ingredients.
You may use a wooden spoon, proofer, refrigerator, Dutch-oven or cloche to bake the bread. Use any flour you like (although choosing one you have baked with before is a good idea) and feel free to add any inclusions. Don’t forget the salt!
The learning objective is not to follow the formula exactly, but to develop your intuition, make observations and trust in your baker’s hands. This is a really interesting task that can teach you a lot about your own baking.
Good luck!
use #sourdoughclubbyeye to be featured on the Sourdough Club Instagram and Facebook
Product of the Month
There are times in the summer when it is too hot to turn the oven on for a bake. This is a great opportunity to make sourdough pasta for an enjoyable quick light summer meal. It can also be a fun family project to give the kids something to do when they say "we’re bored". Vanessa enjoys her pasta with this delicious anchovy butter; or you can simply toss the cooked pasta with cultured butter and lemon zest, adding young leafy sprouts or fresh herbs of your choice. This will give you an excellent lunch, or a side to a seasonal fish or protein of your choice.
Another tip for using the pasta machine is to roll out crackers made from your sourdough starter discard. Claire finds she gets more use out of her pasta machine making crackers than making pasta! Great for dipping, or alongside a charcuterie board.
Find out more about Marcato Atlas 150 Pasta Machine
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