Real Bread Hero: Troels Bendix

One foot inside SØDT (pronounced ‘soot’ and meaning ‘sweet’ in Danish) and that comforting smell of Real Bread and sweet pastries sweeps to greet me. It’s 3pm and the hum of bakery life is in full swing as the last loaves spin in the rotary rack oven, rosemary focaccia cools on trays, and the remnants of a sourdough starter in its container signify that today has been busy. 

Situated on the outskirts of Petworth in West Sussex, SØDT is the artisan bakery of Troels Bendix. Originally a chef, Troels moved to the UK in the ‘90s to cook fanciful fusion food at Peter Gordon’s Sugar Club in London’s Notting Hill. A self-taught baker, Troels started “playing around with bread” in the early 2000s. This developed into a wholesale bakery, producing loaves for heavyweight clients including Clarence House and The Dorchester. Troels then moved on to become the Bakery Development Manager at Celtic Bakers in 2008, the year in which the Real Bread Campaign held its official launch there.

It’s only with the creation of SØDT in leafy Petworth that Troels has found real solace in bread. “I always find it amazing what you can achieve from flour, water and a little salt,” he says. “I could probably make a new bread every day but our recipes deliver every time. A good formula, quality ingredients and a talented team is what gives us consistent results.” What started in 2016 as a small bakery crafting Real Bread for local businesses, has grown into an 18-strong team of bakers, packers and drivers, making up to 1,000 loaves a day.

Attracting 80-100 wholesale customers is a clear indicator that SØDT, armed with Troels’ trusty recipes, are doing things the right way.

Getting back in the saddle

It’s quickly apparent that Troels sits in The Ivy League of bakers. He got friendly with Chad Robertson, co-founder with Elisabeth Prueitt of Tartine Bakery, years ago whilst staying with mutual friends in California. He also counts Tom Molnar (co-founder and CEO of Bread Holdings, parent company of GAIL’s Bakery and The Bread Factory) and Shipton Mill owner John Lister as friends. Both Tom and John supported Troels during the set up of SØDT. 

Establishing his own bakery also morphed into a project of re-discovery for Troels. During the planning stages, he suffered a serious head injury whilst mountain biking. A three-month hospital stint was followed by a slow and steady rehabilitation at home where, equipped with characteristic quiet steeliness, Troels had to re-learn his craft from scratch. “My wife Giovanna is my biggest inspiration and supporter”, he says. “While lying in a coma for three weeks post-accident she would read to me from my favourite bakery books, including Chad’s Tartine Bread. When I came out of the coma, I spent hours studying recipes. Eventually I was making bread every day, producing loaves for Giovanna and I, then for friends and the community. We quickly outgrew the space and that’s when we moved to our current facility.”

On the menu

Based on the edge of a small industrial estate but with rolling green hills to the rear, the location feels like the perfect spot for SØDT. Like any bakery, it’s busy, demanding and fast-moving, but it also feels tranquil. It seems the ideal environment for a baker to hone their skills, find inspiration, nurture a team, reset and recover through the mindful kneading of dough.

Donker rye, a classic white, four-seed sourdough, traditional Danish-style rye and beautifully risen corn breads exit the oven with golden hues, perfect crusts and that heady scent that’s a culmination of simple, honest ingredients. The Original, crafted from a blend of wholemeal, white and rye flours, has earned its title as The OG of SØDT bread. It’s a triumph of a loaf that’s testament to Troels’ skill in creating honest bread, which gains flavour through good ingredients and skilful handling, and is a best-seller. On the enriched list you’ll find challah, Spandauer (a crème patisserie filled Danish pastry) and cruffins: a croissant/muffin fusion (apparently created in Melbourne in 2013) which is light, airy and something really quite special. 

Collectively, it’s the kind of Real Bread that brings people together, forms the centrepiece of celebrations and delivers contentment to all who eat it. Altogether fitting for the hygge, an almost untranslatable Danish feeling, that the bakery is known for.

Saving effort while preserving skill

A typical day starts with Troels prepping and weighing out ingredients - Shipton Mill flour being the preferred supplier of choice. The bakers then take the reins with mixing, shaping and proving, while a hydraulic bun divider accurately splits dough into rounds for rolls and smaller breads. It’s this balance between craft skills and modern equipment that's enabled Troels to scale things up without losing the artisanal results SØDT is valued for. “We use machines when it’s practical to do so,” he says. “They help simplify and speed up some of our processes but what they can’t do is judge when a loaf of bread is ready. That can only ever be done with an educated eye and those learnt cues that come from experience.” 

Despite perfecting a happy rhythm at SØDT, the bakery has met its fair share of challenges, one of which was the early-September 2023 heatwave, which proved problematic for baking. “We had to work hard to control temperatures by introducing cooler water to the mix and speeding up the processes. We’re not yet at the stage of introducing temperature-controlled units, so it’s very much about responding to the climate in the best way that we can. Fortunately for me, I’m supported by a team with a lot of knowledge. If something goes wrong, we find a way to fix it. There is always a solution.”

When I ask Troels what he’s most proud of, he says: “that we’re here and we are doing it, providing Real Bread for people who want to eat good food. I often forget to stop and tell myself how lucky I am. Really, every day that I can do this is a highlight.”

@sodtbakery

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Originally published in True Loaf magazine issue 57, January 2024.

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