Best Bread In The Inner City

Defy the carb-free craze and indulge your taste buds with traditionally-made sourdough, pillowy white bread or dense, chewy grain-packed loaves from Sydney’s best bakeries.

Most of them offer great gluten-free options too. Here’s our pick of the top bakeries in the inner city.

Breadfern

Locals knew that Redfern had well and truly gentrified when Breadfern opened across the road from Redfern park, specialising in organic and gluten-free breads. Their range of healthy breads includes pumpkin, rye and multigrain sourdoughs, fruit and olive-studded loaves, baguettes and brioche buns. Don’t neglect to take away a treat from their pastry cabinet – perhaps a coconut and chocolate croissant or ricotta and sour-cherry danish? There are also hot pies and sausage rolls in the warmer.

Wild Cockatoo

Wild Cockatoo is easy to miss, as its unassuming storefront belies the exceptional quality of the breads made in this tiny, no-frills bakery. Owner and baker Ray is equally unpretentious, especially considering what a highly skilled craftsman he is. His impressive selection of traditionally-made sourdoughs, as well as pies, sweet and savoury croissants and beautiful fruit tarts, sell out fast daily. (Pro tip: Go early and enjoy them hot from the oven.) Breads are baked fresh each day, and Ray likes to experiment, so options vary, but include winning combinations such as rosemary and potato bread, tomato and olive flatbread or fig and walnut sourdough.

Sonoma Bakery

Sonoma was one of the first bakeries in Sydney to offer true sourdough. They carved out a niche before it existed and to this day continue to hand make all of their breads the traditional way using sourdough starters, filtered water, long, slow fermentation and high-quality freshly milled flours. Try their smoky Sonoma Miche with its dark, caramelised crust or the Sonoma Mission – an ode to San Francisco, the city whose naturally fermented sourdoughs inspired Sonoma’s owners to bring the bread craft back to Australia. Other options include ancient grain, country white or walnut raisin and fig. There are now Sonoma outlets across Sydney, including Alexandria, Waterloo, Paddington and Woollahra.

Bakebar

With outlets in Alexandria, Randwick and Double Bay, Bakebar is doing its bit to keep Sydney’s bread obsessives satisfied. They pride themselves on making goods that are ‘uncomplicated and flavoursome’ without a preservative or additive in sight, using fresh, local produce and organic ingredients whenever possible. Breads and baked goods are made fresh daily and include rye, whole-wheat and multigrain sourdoughs, super soft whites and fluffy focaccia. The open kitchen makes it a fun place to watch breads and pastries being made as you sit and snack. Bakebar’s Randwick outlet took out TimeOut Sydney’s Best Bakery award in 2017.

Brickfields

Given that Brickfields is the lovechild of Simon Cancio (ex Luxe) and Paul Geshos (Mecca Coffee), it’s unsurprising that this hugely popular Chippendale café is serving up some of the best bread – and coffee – in town. They specialise in sourdoughs and their array of European-style breads sit alongside equally stunning cakes, pastries and sweet treats. The bread range at Brickfields includes baguettes, ciabatta, white sourdough, soy and linseed and rye and caraway. For something sweet, it’s hard to go past the miniature Persian love cakes or (our favourite) the to-die-for black sesame and coconut cookies. Be sure to enjoy a Mecca coffee while you’re there.

Bourke Street Bakery

Bourke Street Bakery began life as a little corner bakery opened in Surry Hills by passionate chefs-turned-bakers Paul Allam and David McGuinness. It quickly achieved cult status among Sydneysiders, thanks to the exceptional quality of their delectable, moreish baked goods, and there are now BSB outlets all across town, from Alexandria and Newtown to Kirrawee and Neutral Bay. If you want to master the art of bread baking yourself, their Ultimate Baking Companion cookbook is a tome any aspiring bread baker should own. Or, you could just let the experts do what they do best.

If you’re looking for more local secrets and favourites in the inner city contact our team today.