This year saw breads from Amsterdam, Chicago, Kansas City, Lisbon, London (lots!), Los Angeles, San Francisco, Turin, Zagreb, and of course New York. My favorite loaf remains Josey Baker’s country loaf, but amongst the breads I hadn’t tried before, Gjusta’s country loaf remains very memorable.

Country Sourdough, Lodge Bread, Los Angeles, CA (Jan)

As soon as I arrived at LAX, I took a can to Lodge Bread in Culver City. Lodge Bread’s country sourdough is made using 85% Northern California wheat. It’s a little light on the tang, but it’s beautifully moist with a beautiful crust.

$7 for a boule that weighs around 900g. You can also order a bread and butter plate for $4, which is exactly what I did.

You can find their bread in one of their two locations in Los Angeles, or at couple of weekend farmers’ markets. I got the country sourdough from their Culver City location.

Lodge Bread in Culver City is at 11918 Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066

Sourdough Country Loaf, Gjusta, Los Angeles, CA (Jan)

Gjusta’s country loaf is 90% white flour. The sourdough is incredibly light, and the crust is deeply caramelized, with a nice chew. This was one of my favorite crusts this year.

$8 for a loaf.

Gjusta is a short walk from the beach in Venice at 320 Sunset Ave, Venice, CA 90291

Peckham Rye, Brick House, London, UK (Jan)

Brick House’s Peckham Rye sourdough, a nice play on the grain and the neighborhood in London, is made using organic white flour and dark rye flour. This is quite a light bread, with a mild crumb flavor and nicely caramelized crust.

Brick House has two locations in London.

£4.50 for a full loaf (around $6)

Brick House’s East Dulwich location is at 1 Zenoria St, East Dulwich, London SE22 8HP

Brick House’s Peckham Rye location is at 5, 12-16 Blenheim Grove, London SE15 4QL

Brown Sourdough Bread, Hedone, London, UK (Jan)

One of the tastiest breads in London is at Hedone in Chiswick in west London. They used to use a mix of French and Italian grains, but recently moved to sourcing grains from Shipton Mill, thus making this bread Brexit-free, as one of the wait-staff nonchalantly described it to me.

The brown sourdough is £3.95 (around $5) for a medium-sized loaf.

You can buy Hedone’s bread Bayley & Sage’s Turnham Green location at 33 Turnham Green Terrace, Chiswick, London W4 1RG, UK

You can also buy Hedone’s sourdough at General Store in Peckham Rye at 174 Bellenden Rd, London SE15 4BW, UK

Hedone is at 301-303 Chiswick High Rd, Chiswick, London W4 4HH, UK

HEDONE HAS SINCE CLOSED.

Grano Arso della tradizione Pugliese, Ficini, Turin, Italy (Mar)

Grano Arso literally translates to “burned grain” in Italian, and even if you didn’t know that you would definitely taste that in this loaf from Ficini in Turin. Like most Italian bakeries, most of Ficini’s breads aren’t extra cotto (well-done), but this loaf had a nice burnish on the outside, and the crumb structure on the inside was beautiful, although I wish it was a little more wet, which is another thing that I find isn’t very common in much of Italy.

That said, I really enjoyed this bread. The bread itself has a strong flavor, so you have to be careful what you eat it with. I really enjoyed this with smashed avocado and soft-boiled eggs, drizzled with really good extra-virgin olive oil.

€9 ($10.2) for a full load (€7.98/kg).

Ficini is at Via Claudio Luigi Berthollet, 30, 10125 Torino TO, Italy

Whole Wheat Redeemer, Lost Bread Co., New York (May)

Philadelphia’s Lost Bread Co’s excellent sourdough made using Redeemer, a hard red winter wheat varietal.

$7 for a loaf.

Lost Bread Co. is available in several locations in the Philly area and in some New York City greenmarkets.

I got my loaf at Union Square Greenmarket at E 17th St & Union Square W, New York, NY 10003

Anadama Bread, High Street on Hudson, New York (Jun)

Anadama bread traces its origins to 19th century New England. Made with wheat, cornmeal and molasses, High Street on Hudson’s take uses wild yeast and high-quality ingredients, elevating this humble bread to comforting luxury, demanding only good butter and flakey salt.

$14 for a dense, medium-sized whole loaf.

High Street on Hudson is at 637 Hudson St, New York, NY 10014

Brown Bread, Pavilion Bakery, London (Jul)

£3.5 ($4.6) for a small loaf.

Pavilion Bakery has a couple of locations. I went to the one on Broadway Market in East London at 18 Broadway Market, London E8 4QJ, UK

Spelt loaf, E5 Bakehouse, London (Jul)

£4.5 ($6) for a small loaf.

E5 Bakehouse is in East London at 395 Mentmore Terrace, London E8 3PH, UK

Fresh-Milled Country, Ibis Bakery, Kansas City, Missouri (Sep)

Messenger Coffee Co. on Grand Blvd. shares the space with Ibis Bakery, a bustling, large space (very large by New York standards) with an immaculate baking area, where you’ll some of the tastiest breads in the city.

We ate a lot of our bread while enjoying beers at Strange Days Brewing.

Messenger Coffee Co. + Ibis Bakery  is in the Crossroads neighborhood at 1624 Grand Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64108

Pain au Levain, Fervere, Kansas City, Missouri (Sep)

Fervere is located in Kansas City’s cozy, residential Westside neighborhood. Fereve’s Pain au Levain has a deep, dark crust

$8 for a medium sized loaf.

Fervere is in Kansas City’s Westside neighborhood at 1702 Summit St, Kansas City, MO 64108

Country Bread, Josey Baker Bread, San Francisco, CA (Sep)

Josey Baker’s country bread continues to be my gold standard for sourdough. When I’m in San Francisco, one of my favorite ways to eat this is to coat a thick slice of this bread with a generous spread of local ricotta, topped with fresh mission figs and finished with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil. Ahhh!

$7 for a medium-sized load.

I usually pick up my loaf at The Mill at 736 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117

German Rye, Broodbakkerij Ex, Amsterdam (Oct)

It was at 4850 where I first tried sourdough from Broodbakkerij Ex, where it was served with Guernsey butter. This whole-grain German rye bread has a sweet crust and a hearty interior. This is, by far, the tastiest bread I have had in Amsterdam.

€6 (~$6.5) for a medium-sized dense loaf.

Broodbakkerij Ex is located in tranquil Amsterdam-Noord at Waddenweg 8, 1025 PV Amsterdam, Netherlands

Yoerie’s City Sourdough, Espressofabriek, Amsterdam (Oct)

I ended up chatting with someone at Bocca who was the roaster at Rum Baba and he told me that one of his colleague’s boyfriend’s makes some really good sourdough. And that’s how I ended up at Espressofabriek in Westerpark.

Yoerie’s delicious city sourdough is made using 20% wholewheat, 5% rye and regular wheat flour, milled in a windmill. I also ate Yoerie’s bread with cheese and butter at Friedhats Fuku Cafe in the city’s Bos en Lommer neighborhood.

€4.5 ($5) for a small loaf.

Espressofabriek is in Westerpark at Pazzanistraat 39, 1014 DB Amsterdam, Netherlands

Caraway & Black Treacle, Marksman Public House, London (Oct)

My friend Peter told me about the Marksman. Emily and I shared an excellent chicken pot pie, but we were also impressed with their sourdough bread that night. Turned out, you could buy their breads for £5 on Sundays, but we were lucky that they had enough in stock that weeknight that we were able to snag a loaf of their excellent Caraway & Black Treacle sourdough.

The Marksman Public House is located at 254 Hackney Rd, London E2 7SJ, United Kingdom

Kukuruzni Miješani, Bread Club Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia (Oct)

Kukuruzni Miješani, or corn bread, at Bread Club, is a mix of whole wheat and corn flours. I was really impressed with this dense loaf, with a deeply burnished, caramelized crust. This bread kept well for several days after I bought it, and I continued to it with butter while I was in London.

26 kunas ($3.9) for a small, dense loaf.

Bread Club Zagreb is at Trakošćanska ul. 42, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

Hippy Bread, Bread by Bike, London (Oct)

Bread By Bike’s hippy loaf is made using a blend of organic white wheat and rye flours, and includes sunflower, flax, pumpkin and poppy seeds. 

£4.2 ($5.6) for a medium-sized loaf.

Bread By Bike is located in London’s Kentishtown at 30 Brecknock Rd, Kentish Town, London N7 0DD, United Kingdom

Pão de Trigo “Barbela” de Trás-os-Montes, Gleba, Lisbon, Portgual (Nov)

Located in Lisbon’s Alcantara neighborhood, Gleba bakes bread using locally sourced grains that it also mills in-house. This time I got myself a loaf of their wheat sourdough made using wheat from the Trás-os-Montes province.

We made delicious sandwiches using Isco’s breads for dinner one night, using a mild local cow’s cheese and some charcuterie.

€4.5 ($5) for a medium-sized loaf.

Gleba’s breads can be found at several stores in Lisbon, but we bought ours at Gleba in Lisbon’s Alcantara at Rua Prior do Crato nº 14, 16 e 18, 1350-352 Lisboa, Portugal

Espelta e Centeio, Isco, Lisbon, Portugal (Dec)

I carried this loaf of bread with me to Turin and Bra in Italy where I ate it in a variety of ways: plain with butter; butter, topped with local ricotta and a drizzle of Papa dei Boschi’s Gianduja; butter, topped with local ricotta and Edoardo’s homemade blueberry jam.

€4.5 ($5) for a medium-sized loaf.

 Isco is located a bit away from the center, in Lisbon’s Alvalade neighborhood at R. José d'Esaguy 10D, 1700-267 Lisboa, Portugal

Whole Wheat Round, Bungalow by Middle Brow, Chicago, IL (Dec)

One of the tastiest breads in Chicago is being baked at a brewery in Chicago: Bungalow at Middle Brow. I ate some excellent sourdough with sardines and butter for lunch, and bought a couple of loafs that we ate over Christmas in Missouri.

In addition to breads and beer, Middle Brow also makes delicious kombucha; we tried their persimmon.

Bungalow at Middle Brow is in Chicago’s Logan Square at 2840 W Armitage Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

Miche, She Wolf Bakery, Brooklyn, NY (Dec)

She Wolf Bakery’s miche is pretty large, and moderately dense and comes at $20 for a large loaf.

She Wolf Bakery breads are available at several New York City locations including several NYC Greenmarkets. I bought my loaf at the Saturday Greenmarket in Fort Greene at Washington Park &, Dekalb Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11201