The Sourdough School

At her renowned Sourdough School, Vanessa has taught countless students the secrets of this healthy, more easily digestible bread, and now she has compiled her teachings for the home baker. From creating your own starter from scratch, you'll then move on to basic breadmaking techniques, before progressing to using sprouted grains and experimenting with flavors to produce Fig and Earl Grey and Cherry Plum loaves. With step-by-step photography, detailed instructions, specialist advice and Vanessa's indispensable encouragement, The Sourdough School celebrates the timeless craft of artisan baking.

Written for the home baker the book explains the what, when how and why of sourdough and demystifies the baking process as well as the science, and the nutrition and applies it to bread that you can bake by hand at home.

From creating a starter from scratch, the book has formulas (the baking term for a recipe) in order of difficulty and from a basic loaf to porridge loaves to baguettes. There is a section on sprouted grains, smoking grains for flavour, and experimenting with starters to control flavour to produce the kind of loaf you want.

The book is also interactive. There are sourdough loaf record forms, and baking schedules, making it an interactive bible that you write in and personalise as you adapt the formulas to your own kitchen. The Sourdough School brings together the timeless craft of artisan baking, with the latest research on nutrition and digestion of bread.

"Master the art of sourdough with Vanessa and you will learn how to look after your own gut microbes and health"Tim Spector, author of The Diet Myth

Vanessa Kimbell is a fourth generation baker and chef, she founded and teaches at The Sourdough School in Northamptonshire and is a regular contributor to the Food Programme on BBC Radio 4