A new artisan bakery has opened in Dartmouth, offering handcrafted breads and pastries alongside locally roasted coffee, baking classes and a mission to support Ukraine.

Knead Peace is owned by experienced baker Andrew Green.

He has been working in professional kitchens since he was 15 in London, elsewhere in the UK and South Africa.

As a child his grandad took him to watch his work at Strand Palace in London which ignited his passion for professional catering.

Knead Peace serves handcrafted breads and pastries , locally-roasted coffee but also organises baking masterclasses.

Andrew said there is a simple rule for achieving perfection; everything is handmade.

“We use top-quality ingredients, wild farm flour, top-quality steak, dairy butter, the very best chocolate from France and Belgium.

“Really good ingredients and no shortcuts,” he said.

Once customers have tasted the produce they may be tempted to take things a step further and have a go themselves.

There are a number of options over the next few months where where you can bake sourdough and focaccia, there's a Dad’s Baking Club, a Bun Club and a master class with baker Ben Costello.

As for the future they don’t plan to open any more shops yet but concentrate on Dartmouth: “We plan to have some great events here and train the future staff in the bakery world,” he said.

Andrew said training is a big part of what they want to accomplish with Knead Peace: “I think there's a big shortage in the industry, if we can help this shortage in the industry by training people and starting their careers off and developing their careers here it will be an added bonus,” he added.

The name ‘Knead Peace’ was born from the Ukraine War and the idea that baking is a community that has the power to make a difference.

Inspired by the resilient spirit of baker Anna Makievska and The Bakehouse, Kyiv, who have continued to bake day and night throughout the conflict, Knead Peace is a unique collection of bakes in support of Ukraine.

Andrew said: “Knead Peace started when the war in Ukraine broke out.

“We spoke to a bakery in Ukraine that's been bombed pretty heavily all around the area.

“We asked the baker there, how we could help them. so we created a cookbook and then all the chefs and bakers from around the world all donated recipes from some of the worlds most famous bakeries and we sold that as a book.

“Part of the profits raised from the sale of the book went to help the people in the Ukraine.”

Andrew says the book was born from the idea that baking is a community that has the power to make a difference.

The book includes sweet and savoury breads, indulgent cakes and cookies, and delicious pies and tarts.

For more information about Andrew and the bakery visit: https://www.kneadpeace.org/