The 15 best bakeries to get your daily bread (and a lot more) around Boston

Boston Globe

7 days ago

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Bricco Panetteria
Photo by Adam DeTour for The Boston Globe; Food styling by Shiela Jarnes
You can judge a North End restaurant by the contents of its bread baskets, and, in this realm, Bricco excels. But if you can't get a reservation, you can still get the goods. Follow the smell of fresh bread down a narrow alleyway to its modest panetteria. A fragrant (often still warm) Italian or French baguette costs $3 — or spend more for a gorgeous olive-studded loaf. With some prosciutto or fig jam and cheese from Bricco's salumeria next door, that's a picnic.
Address:
11 Board Alley (behind 241 Hanover Street), North End
Phone:
Find online:
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Clear Flour Bread
Nathan Klima for The Boston Globe
Clear Flour Bread has been open since 1982, and may it stay that way forever. We salute this Brookline mainstay for its longtime excellence, but we love it for its roster of European-style loaves and pastries: olive rolls, sourdough variants, the cheese-ready New England Night (wheat, rye, pecans, and cranberries), and German pretzels; morning buns, chocolate pretzel croissants, fruit tarts, and perfect chocolate chunk cookies. Check the schedule to see what's available, or just stop by often and try it all.
Address:
178 Thorndike Street, Brookline
Phone:
Find online:
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Colette Bakery
Expanded from Medford to Melrose and now the South End, this French bakery practices culinary diplomacy wherever it goes. This is thanks to eggy, burnt sugar-y canelés, perfectly buttery croissants, and baguettes to carry home like a real French person, plus an assortment of other appealing goodies. It's particularly welcome in the South End, which missed French bakery Cafe Madeline, previously open in this location.
Address:
517 Columbus Avenue, South End
Phone:
Find online:
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Flour Bakery + Cafe
Kristin Teig
This Boston-area institution could also fairly be called 'Butter,' serving up flaky, rich breakfast pastries such as a corn chili cheddar bialy, homemade Pop-Tart, or, best of all, the supremely gooey 'sticky sticky bun.' With 10 locations across Boston and Cambridge, it's easy to find an excuse to try the breakfast sandwich: custardy slabs of egg with tomato and cheese all piled on a brioche bun and slathered with dijonnaise — a creamy, punchy mixture of mustard and mayonnaise that founder Joanne Chang calls her 'secret sauce.' A new location was added downtown this year.
Address:
131 Clarendon Street, Back Bay, and other locations
Phone:
Find online:
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Ho Yuen Bakery
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Grace Young, a James Beard-winning advocate for all Chinatowns, practically swooned over this unassuming spot during a visit in 2024, telling the Globe it's 'the type of Cantonese bakery you don't see much of anymore!' Find labor-intensive delicacies such as savory taro rolls flecked with scallions and dried shrimp, glistening egg custard tarts with flaky crusts, moon cakes in different flavors, and soft buns filled with slow-roasted barbecued pork. A bit of the past still in the present. Cash only.
Address:
54 Beach Street #1, Chinatown
Phone:
Find online:
Not available
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La Saison Bakery
In both of their shops, Iranian-born pastry chef Soheil Fathi and his wife, Sarah Moridpour, bake eclairs, croissants, pain au chocolat, kouign amann (a delectable, multilayered, buttery pastry), and other French classics; American favorites such as sourdough bread and chocolate chip cookies; and barbari, a Persian flatbread. Perfection everywhere you look.
Address:
407 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, and another location
Phone:
Find online:
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La Sultana
Linda Rose Campos for The Boston Globe
From the time it opens its doors, this Colombian bakery never stops moving. Locals fill the Maverick Square cornerstone in search of freshly baked goods and quick lunch plates. Of the dozens of options this cafeteria-style spot offers, the oven-hot pandebono — cheese bread — is a standout: sweet, moist, and subtly cheesy. It's the best $2.50 you will spend anywhere.
Address:
40 Maverick Square, East Boston
Phone:
Find online:
Not available
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Lyndell's Bakery
From Lyndell's
A Somerville classic: In a world of fast-casual breakfast grain bowls, toasts, and free Wi-Fi, Lyndell's, which opened in 1887, remains refreshingly rooted in the past. At this simple spot — inhale deeply for yeast and sugar overload — stand in line and gaze at the case until it's your turn to point: at saucer-sized M&M's cookies; glistening hot cross buns; red velvet cupcakes … all oversized and gloriously fresh. Pro tip: The intricately decorated custom cakes with lifelike designs are true works of art.
Address:
720 Broadway, Somerville
Phone:
Find online:
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Mahalab Bakery
Skip the line outside Bagelsaurus in Porter Square and stop by Ayham Haddad's Middle Eastern bake shop instead for a calmer — but no less tasty — experience right next door. Country sourdough pitas are the mainstay here, but spinach and feta fatayer (essentially a stuffed bread boat) and ajvar sfiha (flatbreads with roasted bell pepper and eggplant) steal the show. Grab a dip — muhammara, baba ghanouj, or hummus — to go with your delicacies. The naturally fermented bread is moist enough that it doesn't need it, but why miss out on more savory, spiced goodness from Haddad and his team?
Address:
1786 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Phone:
Find online:
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Modern Pastry Shop
Park yourself at a window seat and watch nonstop passersby as you bite down on the crunchy shell and creamy ricotta filling of a classic cannoli at this North End fixture, owned by the same Italian family since 1930. Save room for a slice from the selection of decadent cakes — a Tiramisu drenched in espresso, or the Boston cream cake, a tasty take on the Boston cream pie.
Address:
257 & 263 Hanover Street, North End, and another location
Phone:
Find online:
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Petsi Pies
From Petsi Pies
The ultimate move at Petsi Pies (pronounced peet-see) is to double up: one savory, one sweet. That makes dinner and dessert. It's picnic food, or dinner party food, or I-really-cannot-deal-with-any-more-dishes food. We're partial to the silky quiches. And in addition to regular sweet offerings, which include a dense, decadent chocolate bourbon pecan pie, there are seasonal favorites such as a bright lemon chess with blueberries. A limited selection of Petsi Pies goodies is also sold in markets.
Address:
285 Beacon Street, Somerville
Phone:
Find online:
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Sofra Bakery and Cafe
Lane Turner/Globe Staff
Fans of this small Middle Eastern bakery, cafe, and specialty shop in Cambridge rejoiced when a second, larger spot (35 seats) opened last year in Allston, where all of its baking now occurs. The bold and savory delights from Oleana chefs Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick are found at each locale, including the popular spicy shakshuka. But a glorious cardamon-spiced morning bun with orange blossom glaze is among the pastry offerings that alone are worth a visit.
Address:
1 Belmont Street, Cambridge, and another location
Phone:
Find online:
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Violette Bakers
Mona Miri for The Boston Globe
Its tagline is, 'If it tastes gluten-free, we don't sell it.' To the uninitiated, the bakery cases piled high with fluffy, frosted cupcakes; crispy, chocolatey cookies; and indulgent breads such as the challah or English muffins look, well . . . glutenous. But for the gluten-free crowd, the Cambridge shop is a gem. The tiny bakery also offers pizza by the slice, sandwiches made to order, and bagel sandwiches every Saturday.
Address:
1782 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Phone:
Find online:
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Yafa Bakery & Café
Nathan Klima for The Boston Globe
This Palestinian bakery and cafe is a labor of love and culture, presided over by hospitable owner Abdulla Awad. Sip some tea or refreshing citrus-ginger lemonade with pistachio-filled mamoul cookies and nut-rich baklava, or try hummus with manaqeesh flatbreads, or eye-candy stuffed dates. Many of the recipes are traditional and historic, originating in Jerusalem, where Awad's family has long lived in the Beit Safafa Somerville. Pick up some Palestinian olive oil to go.
Address:
594 Somerville Avenue, Somerville
Phone:
Find online:
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