Why do we licence? - Diversity Bread ®

Diversity Bread® is licensed to protect the standards, the relationships and the integrity.

Every licensed bakery and mill follows the same standards that for ingredients, fermentation and production, ensuring that customers can trust every loaf while supporting the farmers, millers and bakers who make it possible.

What are the standards?

Every licensed bakery follows the Diversity Bread® Standard, developed by Dr Vanessa Kimbell through over 30 years of baking practice and research into fermentation, nutrition and the gut microbiome.

The standard defines how Diversity Bread® is made, from the flour and ingredients used to fermentation, production methods and quality. It exists to protect the integrity of the bread, giving consumers confidence that every loaf carrying the Diversity Bread® name meets the same principles of craftsmanship, transparency and evidence-informed baking

Diversity Bread® is protected — not to exclude, but to empower. This licence is for small, real bakeries: bricks-and-mortar shops, microbakeries, and Sourdough School Diploma graduates. It allows you to bake and sell Diversity Bread® using the Botanical Blend system, as long as you follow a few key principles.

Diversity Bread® has been taught at The Sourdough School for over 2 decades by Dr Vanessa Kimbell

To be licensed, your bread must:

Use at least 20% Botanical Blend flour (Triple X, Botanical Blend No.2, or 0+)
Be made with a live sourdough starter
Ferment for at least 18 hours (ambient or retarded)
Be made with flour free from glyphosate (preferably organic or regenerative)
Include a QR code for customers to learn more at diversitybread.com
Follow the Baking as Lifestyle Medicine Protocol — a seven-stage process that’s about more than baking. It’s about nourishment, sharing, and system change.

Preferably, you’ll use stoneground, non-fortified flour, but we understand not every bakery can.

This licence allows you to use the terms:

Diversity Bread®
Botanical Blend®
Baking as Lifestyle Medicine ™

It covers loaves, but also things like sandwiches, baguettes, and pizza — as long as the core standards are met.

There are no health claims allowed (except for the Proven Bread™ , which is reserved for clinical use by Dr Vanessa Kimbell).

Licence Fees:

Under 10 tonnes of Diversity Bread per year: £1 flat fee
Over 10 tonnes: £1,000 base licence + £50 per tonne
Diploma graduates may apply for a student licence at £1 (limited to <10 tonnes/year)

2.5p per loaf funds scholarships and social prescribing. All licence income funds scholarships and supports the Scholarships and Bursaries at The Sourdough School.