Olive Sourdough, Friends and Family, Los Angeles (Feb)

Ate with sardines and plain with butter.

You can find Friends and Family’s breads at Cookbook LA locations, although I think they are switching to using Bub & Grandma’s now. Friends and Family is at 5150 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Sourdough, Bub and Grandma’s, Los Angeles (Mar)

Ate with Ricotta and Olive Oil!

You can find Bub & Grandma’s breads at Cookbook LA locations. I got this loaf from the Echo Park location at 1549 Echo Park Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026

City Sourdough, Jyan Isaac Bread, Los Angeles (Mar)

Jyan Isaac’s city sourdough has a deeply caramelized, burnished crust and yet manages to have one of the moistest crumbs I’ve had in recent memory, rivaled only by Josey Baker in San Francisco. The bread made using yecora wheat is deeply flavorful. I really enjoyed this plain with butter but equally with Bellwether Farms ricotta drizzled with Sabrina’s olive oil.

$10 for a medium-sized dense loaf.

You can find Jyan Isaac’s sourdough at their Santa Monica location at 1620 Ocean Park Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90405o. I learned only much later that you can also find their bread in Silver Lake at Rápido at 3707 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

Ricotta and jam on country sourdough, Lodge Bread, Culver City (Mar)

Bellwether Farms Ricotta draped over toasted sourdough, cocooned by plum jam. Mmm. Lodge is one of my favorite breads in Los Angeles, and this was an absolute pleasure on a template LA afternoon.

One of the things I like to do whenever I ricotta up my bread is to spread the bread with some butter so that the transition between creamy ricotta and crusty bread feels a little less abrupt, that said really good butter has so much flavor that instead of smoothing over that transition it can be an active participant in accentuating the interjection between bread and milk, so perhaps I don’t think it’s such a terrible idea to avoid butter all together, like they did with the toast here.

$12 for a medium-sized loaf.

Lodge Bread is located (sadly) in a typically-uninspired Los Angeles street in Culver City at 11918 Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066

Sourdough, Wayfarer Bread, La Jolla, CA (Mar)

On a day trip to Solana Beach, I got this mild-flavored sourdough with a beautiful crust in La Jolla.

$8.75 for a medium-large loaf

Wayfarer Bread & Pastry is at 5525 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037

Miche, She Wolf, Brooklyn, NY (May)

Purchased from Eastern District at 1053 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222

Country Sourdough, Josey Baker Bread, New York, NY (Jun, Sep)

No, Josey Baker hasn’t opened up a New York City outpost (sadly), but my friend Robin brought for me all the way from San Francisco! I also ate plenty of it when I spent September at Robin’s place.

$9 for a medium-sized loaf.

Josey Baker Bread is available at several Bay Area locations. I normally pick mine at The Mill at 736 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Tori’s Sourdough, Bozeman, Montana (Jul)

Tori’s homemade sourdough is always one of the highlights of my bread-eating year.

Sourdough Pullman, ACQ Bread Co., Brooklyn, NY (Aug, Sep, Nov)

By far the tastiest bread I’ve had in New York City is ACQ Bread, and I feel less resentful (finally!) of not having access to Josey Baker Bread.

ACQ Bread is at 543 Clinton St #1, Brooklyn, NY 11231