I regularly see things on Instagram that look too good to be true. So when I found a
“Microbakery” in my neighbourhood, delivering artisan bread and treats to my door, I was a bit skeptical.
The term “microbakery” was new to me. While there’s no official definition, the clue is in the
name. It’s a small bakery, often with a sole baker and a single premise. The Real Bread
Campaign says a micro-bakery has no more than 9 employees. Some bakeries have a single baker in a home kitchen, or there can be several full-time bakers with a small commercial space. Bakers listed on the Real Bread Campaign also focus on their ingredients - avoiding additives, and improvers, and trying to use local, organic ingredients.
The Instagram bakery that caught my eye was Dainty Monkey Baking, run by Canadian ex-pat Tara Heron, and I’m delighted to say it delivers the real deal.
Dainty Monkey is probably Europe’s smallest microbakery. Tara began by baking for her
neighbours, but it gradually turned into a business and she registered her bakery in 2019. Tara bakes alone, in her kitchen, and delivers 1 day a week. She has a strict catchment area and no plans to expand.
For her, part of the pleasure is being able to hand deliver to her customers and accommodate their individual preferences.
Tara is largely self-taught, but there’s very little she doesn’t know about bread and baking. But what really comes across is her passion: for using top ingredients, and making excellent
products in small batches where she can guarantee quality. So far I’ve tried Canadian butter
tarts (wonderful), granola (delicious and organic), English muffins (unlike anything you find in
the shops and about twice the size), white sourdough (amazing), and my favourite: Scottish Milk bread. This is one of Tara’s award winners, having placed silver in the Scottish Bread
Championships. The temptation to eat the entire loaf, buttered, in a single sitting was hard to
resist. Her favourite thing to bake is yeasted sourdough, while her most popular is her 100%
wholemeal yeasted loaf.
Sometimes things on Instagram aren’t too good to be true, and this microbakery is the best thing since sliced bread. If you’re lucky enough to live in the EH5 postcode, Dainty Monkey has you covered. But there are other micro bakeries in Edinburgh: have a look at the Real Bread Campaign website to find one nearby. (R. Edwards)
And Tara's Instagram: @daintymonkey