Mari Bakeshop
have some impressive loaves on their shelves. Mari Bakeshop in Calgary (529 Riverfront Ave SE) is run by pastry chef Lauren Ahn and head baker Doug Gregory, who both worked at Thomas Keller’s famed French Laundry in California before returning to Ahn’s hometown of Calgary and opening their own shop last year. While Ahn takes care of Mari’s specialty roll cakes, Gregory focuses on the loaves: baguettes, pain rustiques, crown-shaped couronnes and much more. Since Mari is a two-person shop and the proprietors do all the baking themselves, they open at 10 am and bake throughout the day, meaning that fresh baked bread is usually available (or on it’s way) all day long. Bon Ton Bakery in Edmonton (8720 149 St NW) touts itself as an artisanal bakery and boasts dozens of
Bon Ton Bakery
different kinds of bread. Everything is baked with traditional European methods. The bakery’s Heritage Organic Sourdough is one of its mainstays and is part of what has kept the bakery an Edmonton mainstay for over 60 years, but customers can also pick up specialties like caraway rye, challah, sandwich loaves, and hamburger buns as well as sweet buns, pastries and other treats. Back in Calgary, no run-down of bread bakeries would be complete without mentioning Sidewalk Citizen (618 Confluence Way SE, and 338 10 St. NW). The independent bakery that started years ago with chief baker Aviv
Fried delivering sourdough loaves on his bike has become a local institution. Sidewalk Citizen’s sourdough has become the gold standard for rustic loaves in Calgary. While organic sourdough will always be king at Sidewalk, the bakery also whips up puff pastry burekas, seasonal sweet loaves, sweet and savoury danishes, and their not-to-be-missed giant sticky buns. Elizabeth Chorney-Booth is a Calgary-based freelance writer, who has been writing about music and food, and just about everything else for her entire adult life. Elizabeth is a published cookbook author and a regular contributor to CBC Radio.
Sidewalk Citizen
Sidewalk Citizen
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