The Year in Crumbs: Good Sourdough in 2023

2023 saw breads from London, Porto, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Mumbai, Berlin and Santa Cruz

Sourdough, Winner, Brooklyn (Jan)

Winner started out with one location in Park Slope and remains a… winner.

Winner is at 367 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215

Crave, Brooklyn (Jan, Feb, Jul)

One of the tastiest sourdough’s in New York is right in Bed Stuy at Crave Sourdough. For some reason their loves are relatively quite pricey at $18, but more importantly I find it very hard to procure a loaf from them because they seem often closed.

Crave Sourdough is at 187 Skillman St, Brooklyn, NY 11205

Tori’s sourdough, Brooklyn (Jan)

Tori: “I used a white whole wheat grown (I think it is a winter white) in Montana and the ABC blend from Central Milling. I might have used a touch of rye too”

Roman, Breid Bakers, London (Feb)

A nice loaf of sourdough from East London’s Breid Bakers. 4,60 GBP for a medium sized loaf.

Breid Bakers is at Arch 72 Dunbridge St, Bethnal Green, London E2 6JG, United Kingdom

Sourdough, Peneira - Padaria Artesanal, Porto, Portugal (Feb)

A nice loaf of sourdough from Peneira - Padaria Artesanal in Porto. Euro 3,8 for a small loaf.

Peneira - Padaria Artesanal is at R. de Tomás Gonzaga 90, 4050-605 Porto, Portugal

Sourdough, Fariña, Porto, Portugal (Mar)

Eur 3,60 for a small loaf.

Fariña is at R. de Belomonte 20, 4050-265 Porto, Portugal

Sourdough, Hakko, Porto, Portugal (Mar)

Hakko was one of our favorite places to go for lunches and breads in Porto. Hakko’s bread was one of the tastiest I have had: dense, moist for days, extremely fragrant and flavorful. I drowned this bread in fantastic Portuguese EVOO almost every day.

Hakko is at Rua do Rosário 313, 4050-522 Porto, Portugal

Trigo, Madan Padaria, Foz do Douro, Portugal (Mar)

Eur 3,70 for a small loaf at this lovely bakery in Porto’s Foz do Douro.

Madan Padaria is at R. do Padre Luís Cabral 973 loja, 4150-464 Porto, Portugal

Trigo, Generosa Pão e Pizza, Porto, Portugal (Mar)

Eur 3,50, small, moderately dense. Super tiny outpost.

Generosa Pão e Pizza is at Rua de Miguel Bombarda 66, 4050-377 Porto, Portugal

Bicho Pāo Artesanal, Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal (Mar)

Bicho is not in Porto, but you can find their breads at Athena at Av. de Fernão de Magalhães 661, 4350-165 Porto, Portugal

Heritage Loaf, Jolene, London (Mar)

Jolene seems to have sprung out of nowhere and quickly extended its reach to various parts of London. I loved the location at Well St, which unfortunately appears to be permanently closed now.

Wholewheat Sourdough, TwentySeven Bakehouse, Mumbai (Mar)

Pretty nice loaf from Twentyseven Bakehouse in Bandra at Videocon Icon Building, Housing Society, Shop No. 3, Glamour Glen, Dr Ambedkar Rd, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050, India

Keit, Berlin (May)

Lucas and Laura with Keit’s sourdough loaf

My favorite loaf of bread was from Keit in Berlin’s Friedrichshain.

Keit is at Grünberger Str. 75, 10245 Berlin, Germany

Wheat and Rye, Gorilla Bäckerei, Berlin (May)

Gorilla is a lovely little bakery with a couple of locations. I went to the Neukölln location.

Wheat, Taktil, Berlin (May)

Small little bakery in Neukolln with unpredictable opening hours and incredible bread, Taktil is at Nogatstraße 38, 12051 Berlin, Germany

Sourdough, Otway Bakery, Brooklyn (May)

Pretty good sourdough from Otway Bakery at 920a Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11238

Sourdough Pullman, She Wolf, Brooklyn (Jul)

She Wolf isn’t special, but it’s pretty good, and easily available at Fort Greene Park Greenmarket

Sourdough, Crust Baker, Brooklyn (Aug)

Incredible crust with a moist interior on this sourdough from a little bakery in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. $15 for a dense, moderately sized loaf.

Crust Baker is at 1149 Nostrand Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11225

Wonder Bread, Josey Baker Bread, San Francisco, CA (Aug, Sep)

Still remains my favorite bread in the world. Ate it with EVOO or butter.

I get my JBB from The Mill at 736 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Levain, Manresa Bread, Santa Cruz, CA (Aug)

Manresa used to be a three Michelin-star restaurant in Los Gatos. With pedigree, I was expecting a lot, but alas, Manresa’s levain was just okay. The Bay Area sourdough space is crowded with a lot of strong competition. Me favorite bread in the world is still Josey Baker Bread, and my recency bias of eating their wholewheat wonder on the regular means it’s really hard for Manresa to even seem close, let alone stand out.

By all means the bread is good, even great if this was in another part of the country.

$10 for a medium-sized loaf.

I picked up my my levain at Manresa Bread’s Santa Cruz location at 330 Ingalls Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060