SC bakery teaches how to make its popular bread. It’s one eatery offering cooking classes
Geoff Blount is shaping balls of dough, measuring each piece and then rolling it on a floured, wooden table.
He usually makes between 50 to 60 loaves of sourdough bread a day. But on this Wednesday morning, Blount and the staff at Levé are getting ready for the weekend farmers markets, which will require between 450 to 500 loaves.
Blount is the co-owner of the bakery, located at 224 Daytona St. in Conway, along with Audrey Brletich. Levé is a French word that means “rise up.”
Blount has been baking bread since 2022, but the chefs opened the retail store in March 2024. It’s also where they bake their bread, desserts, croissants and cookies that are made with leftover sourdough and can be bought at the store.
The small bakery has gained a following for its bread. So much so, that it began offering classes for people to learn how to make sourdough and every class has been sold out. Classes for January and February, as of Oct. 23, 2024, were close to selling out as well.
Since it is a small bakery, space is limited to six people. However, that means that students get a more personal experience and learn how to make different types of bread, including sourdough. Cost is $100 per person.
“I think bread kind of chooses you,” Blount said.
Blount, who has been in the culinary business for more than 20 years, said bread-making is not glamorous, largely because it takes 18 to 24 hours to make one loaf.
However, sourdough bread making is seeing a resurgence, prompted by COVID-19 pandemic, when businesses and activities were shut down, giving people more time to explore hobbies and interests.
“(The) best thing COVID ever did was to reset sourdough,” Blount said.
After working at several restaurants across the country, Blount eventually became a culinary teacher at Horry-Georgetown Technical College. He wrote the culinary program for colleges in South Carolina, and even was a contestant on Season 6 of the “Holiday Baking Show” on HGTV, making it to the final four.
“I love teaching. I love sharing,” Blount said.
Brletich, who is one of Blount’s former students, uses her pastry skills to make cheesecakes and croissants at the bakery.
On a Wednesday evening in October, Brletich teaches people who signed up for the bakery’s bread class how to score a loaf of bread.
This is the fourth class for the students. They have been able to take Blount’s instructions and bake their own bread at home.
However, it wasn’t without practice and some disappointments. “I made a loaf that you couldn’t use as a doorstop,” said Debbie Phillips of Conway. But now, she’s had more successes than failures.
“We have fun,” Blount said. “Everyone can make (sourdough bread) with practice and time.”
The bakery is not the only place in the Myrtle Beach area you can learn to make dishes. Several restaurants offer classes to teach how to make food items they serve.
Here’s where you can learn:
Sweet Girlz Bakery & Cafe
This North Myrtle Beach bakery offers baked goods, as well as breakfast and lunch. Baked items include cakes and cupcakes.
The bakery located at 4007 Highway 17 S. also offers classes for people to learn how to do what they do.
Upcoming classes include cookie decorating on Nov. 19 and cupcake decorating on Nov. 25.
Class information is available on their Facebook page.
A Cup Full Cafe
Students can learn how to make two loaves of white bread at an upcoming class on Nov. 21. The class at the Conway cafe, which is located at 1022 3rd Ave. in Conway, is $45.
Another class set for Nov. 26 will teach how to make your own charcuterie board just in time for Thanksgiving. The class is $65.
The cafe offers other classes as well. Information is available on their Facebook page.
La Cucina
Chef Jane offers classes on making homemade pasta, appetizers and other dishes such as seared scallops.
The $70 classes are offered each month and are limited to six people per class. Classes are held at 911 Waterbridge Blvd. in Myrtle Beach.
A class on Nov. 20 will teach students how to make chicken and shrimp francaise.
Information can be found on chef’s Facebook page.
IC Pasta
This unique ice cream shop at 304 Main St. in Conway has classes to teach students to not only make ice cream spaghetti, but also offers demonstrations of ice cream-eccentric takes on such desserts as churros and baklava in its World Dessert Studies 101.
You can grab 10 of your friends and become a spaghetti ice cream pro in the restaurant’s workshop which teaches how to create its gourmet creations. The cost is $250.
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Butter + Whisk
Chef Lindsey Rollings offers monthly culinary experiences at her North Myrtle Beach bake shop, including learning to make lasagna, a three-course tapas meal and cooking a steak.
The bake shop’s classes are listed on the restaurant’s website. The shop is located at 613 Main St.
This story was originally published November 14, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
