Our daily bread.

We are spoilt for choice in Sydney when it comes to artisan baked bread. I cannot understand why people persist in buying preservative laden packaged loaves from the supermarket when we have so many readily available alternatives. Here are a few of my favourites:

Bourke Street Bakery
You queue down the street to get to the counter in the tiny Surry Hills flagship store, but it is worth the wait (and getting wet in the rain at times) to buy some of the best sourdough around (and reasonably priced too). We particularly like the idea of daily specials, the personal sourdough loaf (daily bread for singles) and the tomato and basil pizza is a knockout - even cold!
We shared the disappointment when the Broadway store closed. And now we have discovered the Marrickville bakery cafe. In the middle of an industrial park, this is hardly a cafe with atmosphere, yet you can park your car easily on the weekends and the queues are at least inside.
633 Bourke Street Surry Hills
2 Mitchell Street Marrickville

Sonoma
You don't have to go to the store in Glebe, as these are available in many places such as About Life in Rozelle and the Orange Grove Growers Market on a Saturday. The spelt sourdough and the kalamata olive sourdough are among my favourites. There's also the wholemeal polenta loaf and the soy & linseed is pretty special...
215a Glebe Point Rd Glebe
For a full list of stockists: http://www.sonoma.com.au/retail-outlets.htm

Victoire
A longtime favourite of mine is their Levain, though I have been pestering Herman for a wholemeal version for ages. He tells me this week that they now have a "wholemeal rustic", so I must check it out. Their little olive breads are divine and, though the subject of this blog is bread, their pastries shouldn't be ignored.
I am even more of a fan now that I know they give all their daily excess to OzHarvest. Read about it in the September Village Voice: http://digitaledition.balmainvillagevoice.com.au/
285 Darling Street, Balmain

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