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Sam Dennis

@samcdennis

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🌾baking with UK grain @heylbakery Plymouth with @katelangston. Vegan. 🌱
🥖Previously baking @e5bakehouse. Trained @schoolofartisanfood

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The ovens were off for ten days and the time while they codly idled was a whirlwind of contractors, dust, decisions, lifting, shifting, Covid, insomnia and money (out!).

In some ways, it was a huge decision to move the bakery. There were days early last year when it felt as if it would no longer make sense to still be baking when 2026 came around. And in the meantime the world has only gotten darker and less accommodating of the kind of small business we want to continue to be.

But in other ways, it was also the easiest decision we've made. We're now in a building in the middle of town owned by friends, our oldest wholesale customers, who share our values and inspire us to want to realise them more fully. We now sit alongside three other great vegan businesses that are thriving at a time when it's become as fashionable to hate on the simple choice to kill-fewer-things as it was for comedians to make jokes about mothers-in-laws in the '70s.

Now we're in and the oven stones are warm again, it feels like by taking this massive, expensive, risky leap forward we've somehow arrived home.

We nervously opened the doors on Wednesday for our first week of trading and despite days of, frankly, awful January weather, it's been a success. Our regulars came, we saw new faces and we sold more bread than ever. I'm sure there will be many challenges and bumps ahead, but right now it feels like it just might work and we can finally grow the way we want to grow from here 🚀

A big thank you to everyone who has helped along the way, but most of all to my wonderful lifebuddy, @katelangston for making everything happen. We got this 💪🏼🌱
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#bakerylife #smallbusiness @swgrainnetwork #sourdough #veganbakery taken in Heyl Bakery by @samcdennis

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8 months ago

✨28.09.2024 ✨

Kate and I got hitched in a hella ugly postwar monstrosity of a building in the middle of Plymouth and became civil partners for life - and we did it all in our own joyful way ❤️

There are more people that I would have loved to have shared the day with, but we kept it very small and DIY and it was perfectly imperfectly perfect.

So many wonderful moments to choose from and too many thanks to give. My heart is full and I'm beyond grateful for our incredible family and beautiful friends.

Most of all, I'm bursting with love and pride and pure bloody happiness to be able to call @katelangston my partner and to spend our lives together. I love you, KatyK 💕

📸 Photos: Everyone! Thanks!!
🥘 Epic vegan buffet: by @heylbakery i.e. US!
🧥 The Fit: various, but particularly chuffed with our vintage & second hand velvet/feathery jackets
🍹 Cocktails: Dad and my brother
🎂 Cake no.1: new sis @jo_langston
🍰 Cake no.2: @sue.dennis.66 aka Mum
💐 Flowers: @maggie.langston.1 aka Mum-in-law
🎧 Music: DJ D-Learious and bro-in-law-to-be @danblear
💍 Beautiful sandcast rings: @justinduancejewellery (photos to follow!) taken in Horrabridge by @samcdennis

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2 years ago

From last night, with my immediate tenor family and the big extended family that was the epic coming together of the @thegreatseachoir and @wheelhousefolkchoir to perform our show "A Chorus of Hope".

We sang songs of protest and resistance, songs about people and the earth. We sang about oppression, war, the state of the planet. We sang with anger, joy, allyship and unity. We sang about the state of ordinary people's lives in ordinary places through the words of extraordinary people with extraordinary things to say.

Two of the latter sort of people are @hegbrignall and @juluirvine, who have created so much friendship, meaning and community through their beautiful arrangements and the endless kindness, joy and grace in their leadership of these choirs.

It will take me days to get all the glitter off my face, but the fire in the belly and glow from being part of something special will last much longer.

Go join a choir. Meet some new people. Do the silly warm ups with enthusiasm. Sing like it matters in the hope that it does matter ✊❤️ taken in Tavistock Wharf by @samcdennis

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2 months ago

Shots from a week of pretty sweet bakes @heylbakery, culminating in an enjoyable Intro to Sourdough workshop with a super engaged group of people.

The bakery is at its most orderly and serene right before a Sunday workshop, offering a moment of reflection before the early birds arrive for the day. Talking to the participants helps reflect back at me that what we've built over the last five or so years is worthwhile, even if sales haven't been especially kind, as was the case these Easter holidays.

Our marketing strategy has always been "Be Nice and Make Nice Things", and I cleave to the hope in that maxim religiously.

So here's some photos of Nice Things we made this week:

1) Nice clean bakery
2+3) 1400g XLs just put the oven
4) Oat & Malted Wheat Porridge, the underrated staple of our bread offering
5-6) Crocodile-y sandwich breads docked with the edge of a baguette peel
7-9) Cute lil wholegrain loaves that kept fresh for days
10) Hand-mixed loaf from yesterday's class, baked at home

#sourdough #naturallyleavened #ukgrain #realbread #swgrainnetwork taken in Heyl Bakery by @samcdennis

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5 months ago

A few shots from a wonderful trip to @landracemilling yesterday for a meeting of bakers from the @swgrainnetwork 🌾

At Westcombe, the team are working with a fantastic number of diverse, interesting varieties of heritage and modern grain, sourced directly from local farms and milled on site in their impressive @newamericanstonemills.

It was beautiful to see each grain presented in both white and wholemeal forms, forming a bakers' palette of different colours, textures and qualities ready to be combined in ways that bring out the best results.

Being part of the network provides us with an invaluable community of like-minded producers across the region, all working together to build a better, fairer food system that benefits people and the land. For us, the network is a source of inspiration and knowledge that helps us to stay true to our vision for the bakery and connects us to the wider importance of making good food on a small scale.

A big thanks to @lukedoesbread for guiding us and being generous with his knowledge, as ever, and @tuesday_tuesday for coordinating the day with joy and humour. The True South West flour we use in the bakery - and therefore the loaves our customers are enjoy - contributes to a levy that funds the network and pays Robyn's wages to coordinate these activities (which is no mean feat: organising bakers is like herding cats!).

Later in the year, we're hoping those cats/bakers will be herded to Plymouth, so stay tuned to see what we get up to next! taken in Heyl Bakery by @samcdennis

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6 months ago

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6 months ago

That 7.30am patch of sun by the door is pretty nice for taking bread pics ☀️

I'll have to wait until 8.30am next week, alas. Early PSA to bakers: don't forget to put your oven clocks forward! ⏰
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#sourdough #baker #realbread taken in Heyl Bakery by @samcdennis

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6 months ago

Fig, Fennel and Rye Loaf 🌾

A compound dough made by taking rye flour, salt and ground toasted fennel and hydrating it with liquid used to soak dried figs overnight. This is then folded through fully developed country dough mid-bulk.

With 30% wholemeal rye - a personal sweet spot for my tastes - the finished loaf comes out at 48% wholegrain overall and 90% hydration.

Lovely and squishy and tasty from the sweetness of the figs & the fennel spice.

🌾🌾🌾

#naturallyleavened #ukgrain #sourdough #rye @swgrainnetwork taken in Heyl Bakery by @samcdennis

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6 months ago

Sourdough, like riding a bike, but one where you're only in control of the handlebars, while your starter is pedalling like a lunatic and the flour likes to randomly squeeze the brakes...Then you all switch positions and hurtle down the hill all over again.

Anyway, yesterday we three all got from A to B in a reasonably organised fashion and the Bread Was Good.

🚴🏼🚴🏼🚴🏼

#sourdough #naturallyleavened #ukgrain #realbread taken in Heyl Bakery by @samcdennis

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7 months ago

To my Intro to Sourdough students; Do as I say, not as I do!

In our workshops I always stress the importance of thinking like a scientist when baking. Make the same recipe over and over, at least to begin with, and change the variables slowly, one at a time to achieve iterative improvement.

With that disclaimer out of the way, I have changed several things about my own baking all at once @heylbakery. Some pretty seismic changes to the mixing schedule, that are perhaps not that seismic at all, but do expel some myths and lore that I have long cleaved to (say hello to the "Nought-olyse"!). At the same time, I have made significant changes to my bake timed and settings based on a better understanding of our oven and how to get the best results from it.

The result has been both in terms of time saved - less time mixing, better scheduling, shorter baking - and improved consistency. Both of which are key and will only become more important as we once again stare down the barrel of higher energy costs thanks to the cruel escapades of brainless warmongers....

Sometimes improvements come slowly, but sometimes several things click into place all at once. For each step in the process, always ask yourself 1) why do I do this this way? and 2) what would happen if I didn't do it or did it differently?
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#sourdough #baking #naturallyleavened #heylbakery #noughtolyse taken in Heyl Bakery by @samcdennis

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7 months ago

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7 months ago

Cinching instead of stitching sourdough loaves can save time (especially when skipping preshape like we do @heylbakery!) and create a nicely tapered loaf. Here's three little things that help to keep the shape more consistent and get good tension:

1. When setting up for the cinch keep the bottom of the dough wider than the top to keep everything tucked in as you roll it up.

2. Don't be afraid to de-gas! This evens the thickness and strengthens the dough. More de-gassing occurs during fiddly stitching than people like to admit, so this makes up for it.

3. A lil' roll back and forth on the bench at the end helps seal the deal and can add a slight taper if you focus on the ends of the loaf.

🥖🌾🥖🌾

#sourdough #sourdoughlove #sourdoughbread #localgrain #naturallyleavened taken in Heyl Bakery by @samcdennis

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7 months ago