Bread Abound: Finding it Fresh Around Town
Plus our experience baking bread at home
For Christmas 2024, my brother and sister-in-law gifted us a copy of Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza. It took us a little time to acquire the bread making essentials, but I am happy to report that we successfully made our first whole wheat boule this past weekend. If you are new to breadmaking, I recommend picking up a copy of this book. If you are not interested in making your own bread, I’m going to also tell you about some places around town who will bake it fresh for you.
First and foremost, we needed to acquire a Dutch oven to make the recipes in this book, which we did with the help of our local Buy Nothing group. We were already in possession of another baking essential, an electronic kitchen scale. While the recipes’ ingredients are listed by both weight and volume, measuring by weight will be more precise. As we learned, precision is key with baking bread, from the measurement of ingredients, temperature of not only the oven but the room, and time to rise. Finally, because the recipes yielded two loaves, we wanted to buy proper storage for our extra loaf. I ordered a beeswax bread bag from Sarah Belle’s Soap and More of Holland, NY.
Restaurants Baking Their Own Bread
The inspiration to make homemade whole wheat bread came from breakfast at Nick’s Place Express at 2466 Elmwood Avenue in Kenmore. Choose from homemade white, wheat, or raisin bread to compliment your breakfast.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about Mojo Market, where sandwiches are served on house baked bread and English muffins. Sourdough loaves are for sale as well.
Just this past weekend, Andrew Galarnaeu told us at FourBites, about a Niagara Falls diner that is also offering homemade bread, The Country Hen.
Italian culetto sandwiches are served with house baked bread at daNando and Pham’s Kitchen is baking the bread for their bánh mì, a popular Vietnamese sandwich.
Bakeries
If you’d prefer to bring home the bread, the following local bakeries have you covered. Links below are to each business’s bakery menu or bread baking schedule (if available online).
Five Points Bakery at 44 Brayton Street in Buffalo’s Five Points neighborhood. Our favorite breads here are the oatmeal, extra sharp cheddar, and apple cider bread, but there are also other options that we haven’t tried.
Miller’s Thumb Bakery & Cafe at 258 Highland Pkwy in Tonawanda. Our favorite items here are the sweet treats and breakfast sandwiches on buttery, flakey croissants. Bread, bagels, and fresh milled flour are available to purchase as well.
BreadHive Bakery & Cafe at 402 Connecticut Street in Buffalo. My favorite item here is the variety of sourdough bagels, but they do also sell loaves of bread, baguettes, and pretzels.
Anastasia’s Artisan Bread at 236 Zimmerman Street in N. Tonawanda.
Wheatberry Bake Shop at 3985 Harlem Road in Snyder
Kith and Kin Bakeshop & Bistro at 5850 S Transit Road in Lockport - 100% Gluten Free, sweet and savory baked goods.
What places am I missing out on for fresh, house baked bread? Tell me in the comments.
Elm Street Bakery in East Aurora. One of the best, I think. They have a bredule on their website. It tells you what kinds of bread are available each day.
I know the bread is the point of this post but that pic of the potatoes from Nick's almost brought a tear to my eye. Those look perfect!