Bakeries
United States
United States Colorful
England
England
Canada
Canada
Bakeries
Alabama
Continental Bakery Chez Lulu // Birmingham
Alaska
Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop // Anchorage
Arizona
Phoenix Area
Noble Bread // Phoenix
Pane Bianco // Phoenix
Tucson Area
Barrio Bread // Tucson
Arkansas
Serenity Farm Bread // Leslie
California
San Francisco Bay Area
The Acme Bread Company // San Francisco & Berkeley
Brickmaiden Breads // Point Reyes
Della Fattoria // Petaluma
The Mill // San Francisco
Two words: Toast bar. Seven words: Best damn toast bar in North America. {more here…}
Morell’s Bread // Berkeley
Tartine // San Francisco
Tartine has been around a while, and it’s still a delight. Don’t miss the bread, of course. I love the walnut and whole wheat sesame. Also, I’d never pass up a pain au chocolate dunked into morning coffee. Stake out a table at the bustling corner spot in the Mission district, and pass away a morning of flour gorging and people watching. One of my friends swears by the bread pudding, which rotates by season.
Los Angeles Area
Bub and Grandma’s // Los Angeles
Baker Andy Kadin doesn’t have a retail space, but I’d go out of my way for his bread. He bakes superb loaves of 100% naturally leavened bread that uses local grains that are milled in small batches by Grist & Toll. This is the bread that dreams are made of…and extremely happy bellies.
Bryan Baker @ Eveleigh // West Hollywood
Bryan Baker was up for a James Beard award in the baking category. Therefore, Eveleigh is on my list to go try for myself. I’ll keep you posted. Please report back if you go here before I do.
Gjusta // Venice
Salt-tinged Venice breeze seems to permeate this open space stocked with good food. It feels like somewhere you’d stumble into from a faraway seaside town with a nod towards the nautical. The cases are brimming with loaves, vibrant with salads of every color, and the shelves are stocked with jars of homemade goods. As far as the bread goes, the bakers know their stuff. I haven’t interviewed them yet, but I can taste the skill. They seem to use mostly Central Milling as far as flour goes, as the first thing I notice when I walk through the doors is that bags of it are stacked high.
Lodge Bread // Culver City
I wake up almost every morning to Lodge’s instagram feed, and I was thrilled to get to visit on a recent trip to Los Angeles. Not only did I sit in the sunny space catching up with my childhood best friend over miso chocolate chip cookies and avocado toast, but I got to see these fellas shaping and proofing loaves. And they sent me home with a bag that brimmed with loaves of all shapes and sizes, each one living up to their mouthwatering feed. These gentlemen worked together at a gastropub and wanted to start something that served the community in a different way. Their breads are 100% naturally leavened, and they push whole grains into as many corners as possible. They primarily use Central Milling for their flour, but sprinkle in other local sources where they can. Don’t miss Lodge if you’re in the Los Angeles area!
Milo & Olive // Santa Monica
Proof Bakery // Atwater Village
Other California Bakeries
The Bejkr // Sonoma
Manresa Bread // Los Gatos (near San Jose)
Miller’s Bake House // Chico
Dave Miller is a baker’s baker. He’s been at it a long time and knows his craft, both the art and the science. I’ve been lucky enough to be in a class with him, and I have immense respect for his modest aptitude. The bread he produces is a testament to the care and reverence he has for his craft. With almost a Taoist spirituality for evaluating each step in his process, I walk away from baking with him feeling like I’ve just engaged in quiet meditation about life and love. So much depth here. And so much good bread.
Colorado
Babette’s Artisan Breads // Denver
Steve & Catherine Scott have created a corner oasis of real bread in the back of an artisan market in Denver called The Source. Each time I’m in the area, I’m compelled to take it to Babette’s at least once for the creamy crumb and open texture of Steve’s well-crafted bread. Also of note: Catherine’s equally well-crafted recommendations. She seems to always know what their customers are after and serves it with warmth of good conversation.
Florida
Born + Bread Bakehouse // Lakeland
Olde Hearth Bread Co. // Orlando
This is Orlando’s most established artisan bakery, and they’ve been at it for several years. Head baker Janice Talty was trained by SFBI bakers. They started in farmer’s markets, but now have a home in the East End Market where you can pop in and buy their naturally-leavened breads or addictive homemade crackers. They also supply many restaurants in town, such as the Enzian Theater and Dandelion Communitea Cafe, with whom they developed a whole wheat organic loaf. They make 90% of their loaves with natural leavening and their flour is sourced from King Arthur.
Pane D’Or // Orlando
Head baker & owner Kurtis Baguley has been a pastry chef for 35 years. He lived in the Bay area where he taught baking classes at the California Culinary Academy and was a self-proclaimed Acme baguette junkie. With a few other stops along the way, he opened Pan D’Or in 2013 and has been supplying Central Florida with naturally leavened bread ever since. In a recent phone interview, we veered into home baking territory and he spent a good chunk of his hard-won time talking about my own baking process. To me, this shows the kind of commitment and community that I seek out in the people who supply my food. I haven’t yet been to his bakery, but I’ve tried his loaves in some of the restaurants around town. I’m very much looking forward to his most-prized Country French loaf, which uses freshly-milled wheat and fermented rye. Central Florida does not yet have an established local grain economy, but he does his best by getting wheatberries from a co-op and milling them for a portion of his bread.
Zak The Baker // Miami
Georgia
H & F Bread // Atlanta
Idaho
Acme Bakeshop // Boise
Illinois
Baker Miller // Chicago
Floriole // Chicago
Kansas
Ibis Bakery // Lenexa, Kansas (near Kansas City)
Wheatfields Bakery // Lawrence, Kansas
1900 Barker // Lawrence, Kansas
Kentucky
BK17 // Baker Sara Owens, Louisville
Mozza Pi // Louisville
Louisiana
Bellegarde Bakery // New Orleans
Maine
Forage Market // Lewiston
Standard Baking Company // Portland
Massachusetts
Berkshires
Boston & Cambridge
Flour // Boston & Cambridge
Iggy’s Bread of the World // Cambridge
Sofra // Cambridge
Northampton
Hungry Ghost Bakery // Northampton
Minnesota
Honey & Rye // Minneapolis
Rustica // Minneapolis
Missouri
Kansas City
Farm to Market // Kansas City, Missouri
Fevere Bread Studio // Kansas City, Missouri
Heirloom Bakery & Hearth // Kansas City, Missouri
Heirloom is a cozy spot in the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City (KCMO). They make an effort to source local and seasonal ingredients whenever possible. Their bread is pretty good, and they rock a toast bar, which I’m always a fan of. For the record, I like the whole wheat rosemary toast with butter and fruit compote. That said, where they really stand out is in their biscuits and scones and pies (I guess short dough is their thing!) You can build your own biscuit sandwich, and there is pure felicity in spending a Sunday morning with just such a sandwich, alongside a superbly crafted espresso, of course.
St. Louis
Union Loafers// St. Louis
New York
Brooklyn
Bien Cuit // Brooklyn
Brooklyn Bread Lab // Brooklyn
Runner & Stone // Brooklyn
Hudson Valley
Bread Alone // Boiceville, Woodstock, Rhinebeck & Kingston
New York
Orwasher’s // New York
Pain D’Avignon // New York
Sullivan Street Bakery // New York
Other New York Bakeries
Wide Awake Bakery // Ithica
North Carolina
Asheville Area
Farm & Sparrow // Asheville
Smoke Signals // Marshall
Chapel Hill Area
Chicken Bridge Bakery // Pittsboro & Carrboro
Raleigh-Durham Area
Boulted Bread // Raleigh
La Farm // Cary
Loaf // Durham
Ohio
Fox in the Snow // Columbus
Sixteen Bricks // Cincinnati
Oregon
Grand Central // Portland
Ken’s Artisan Bakery // Portland
Little t Baker // Portland
Seastar Bakery // Portland
Tabor Bread // Portland
Tabor is an unassuming spot that looks like a house plunked down on a quiet part of Hawthorne around 50th. Swerve around this bustling city street only to find yourself suddenly in a quaint neighborhood with Tabor tucked away. When I first heard about Tabor, it seemed too good to be true. A bakery that stone mills its own flour using local and sustainably grown grains? Yup. Pays attention to natural fermentation and a slow rise? Check. Boasts a dreamy wood-fired oven? But of course. They were actually the first of their kind, and ushered in a bakery trend that is hopefully here to stay. The owner Tissa Stein was a longtime home pizza baker, and brings a lot of know-how, but she hires experienced, dedicated bakers such as Brad Holderfield to bring a deft hand to each and every hand-shaped loaf.
Pennsylvania
Bread & Salt // Pittsburgh
I actually think a divine hand has touched this 100% whole grain, naturally leavened, mixed-by-hand bread from a poetic baker who owns a bakery in a small corner of Pittsburgh. I’d travel distances for a slice drenched in olive oil.
Breadworks // Pittsburgh
Enrico Biscotti // Pittsburgh
Five Points // Pittsburgh
Rhode Island
Seven Stars // Providence
South Carolina
Root Baking Co. // Johns Island (Charleston)
Tennessee
Tellico Grains Bakery // Tellico Plains
Nashville Area
Dozen Bakery // Nashville
Village Bakery and Provisions // Nashville
Texas
Miche Bread // Austin
Vermont
Gerard’s Bread of Tradition // Westford
Red Hen Baking Company // Middlesex
Running Stone Bread // Huntington
Virginia
Sub Rosa // Richmond
Washington
Seattle Area
Cafe Besalu // Seattle
Baker James Miller has been churning out ethereally flaky, buttery croissants in the Ballard neighborhood for 14 years, and he’s still a contender on Seattle’s first-rate pastry map. Again and again, I think I’ve tried one that matches his excellence, and again and again I find Café Besalu’s pastries to be the ones that get me out of bed in Portland thinking about how long it would take to get to Seattle for just one bite. They are seriously that good.
Cereal Box Bakery // North Seattle
Rob Salvino is my micro-bakery hero. He creates these lovely boxes of bread and grain products and delivers them like gifts for a perfect week. We share values about the important cycles of taking the farmers, millers, and bakers into equal consideration for well-nourished eaters. I love his Back of the Box blog, and he sometime guest blogs here, too.
Columbia City Bakery // Seattle
You’d never know from the unassuming neighborhood storefront, but head baker Evan Andres was a semi-finalist for the James Beard Best Baker award. Andres elevates the four modest ingredients of bread—flour, water, salt, and natural levain (yeast)—to new heights of satisfaction. His bread is an expression of skill and knowledge rightly gained by talent and his time at the bench. Don’t miss the chewy spring of his pain de campagne, which is some of the finest bread alchemy around.
Coyle’s // Seattle
Rachel Coyle is a native of Seattle, and she’s worked for some heavy-hitters in the area since she came back from New York City in 2005 with a degree in pastry arts. During a stint at the cookbook store, Book Larder, she started a pastry pop-up one day a month. She embraces the zeitgeist of the Pacific Northwest with her love of local produce with items such as asparagus quiche and rhubarb bundt cake. I can’t get enough of the cherry almond croissant, and of course, she’s known for a mash-up of pretzel with croissant that she calls the cretzel and is addictive with a house-made mustard.
London Plane // Seattle
It’s hard to categorize the London Plane except to say that it’s an enchanting little safehaven for food lovers. Part café, part specialty grocery, part floral and curated goods, the baked goods can’t be missed upon entering this light drenched Pioneer Place spot. In fact, they have a first rate bread program run by Michael Sanders that turns out upwards of 50 loaves of their signature country loaf daily.
Macrina // Seattle
Sea Wolf // Seattle
Other Washington Bakeries
Barn Owl Bakery // Lopez Island
Breadfarm // Edison
Pane D’Amore // Port Townsend, Bainbridge Island, Sequim
Raven Breads // Bellingham
Wisconsin
Rocket Baby Bakery // Milwaukee
Wyoming
Persephone Bakery // Jackson Hole
Canada
Boulangerie Hof Kelsten // Montreal, Quebec
Fol Epi // Victoria, British Columbia
Oh, Cliff Leir, you emerged from an anarchist bookshop and built yourself an oven in your driveway at the age of 18. You’ve been building ovens ever since, but you didn’t stop there. You decided to mill your own flour, and yes, you took the same intrepid spirit—built yourself a mill—into the arena of turning seeds into well-crafted flour, then unforgettable bread. Yet you are humble and adventurous and inspiring. For the love of bread, and for all that is good in life, may food lovers everywhere make their way to your corner of the world at Fol Epi.
Fry’s Bakery // Victoria, British Columbia
England
E5 Bakehouse // East London
Tracebridge Sourdough // London