Bread is the staple at any neighbourhood bakery in Toronto. Stock up on loaves of dark rye and spelt sourdough, baked up fresh by your local boulangerie. 

Here are my picks for the top bakeries for bread in Toronto by neighbourhood.

Annex

Find loaves of pain au lait, focaccia, and more at the front of Belle’s Bakery on Dupont Street. Anything they don’t make in house is supplemented by Mabels. 

Avenue and Lawrence

French patisserie La Bamboche bakes up 100 per cent organic bread daily. Find it on Avenue Road just north of Fairlawn Avenue. 

Baby Point

Patissiere 27 does viennoiseries alongside a list of baguettes, sourdough ciabatta, pain de mie, and alsatian potato ryes. Weekends they offer fougasse and epi. 

Bayview and Leaside

Epi Breads menu includes loaves of black olive, flax multigrain, baguettes, cheddar boules and French miche. 

Beaches

COBS has five locations across the city, including on Queen Street East. Popular favourites are loaves like sunflower flax sourdough loaves and bread with four times the regular fibre. 

Blackbird Baking Co. has locations in Kensington Market and Riverside. Photo by Fareen Karim.

Bloorcourt

An Tran has taken over his dad’s old printing shop and turned it into micro-bakery Ba Noi, where he’s baking up beautiful, crusty loaves of sourdough. 

Bloordale Village

Burdock Brewery has partnered with Blackbird to offer bags of their Baldwin Loaf: a thick sourdough made with Red Fife flour and sourdough culture. 

Bloor West Village

Four locations of Hot Oven Bakery include its popular location by Runnymede subway station. Their big selection of breads and baguettes are available unsliced or sliced.

Brockton Village

The bread rack at Brazil Bakery and Pastry is a collection of Brazilian bread staples: paposeco, mafra, bicas, meia viana, and pao de milho.

Cabbagetown

Longtime family-run business Absolute Bakery makes a mix of French and Sri Lankan baked goods. They make challah, buns, and other breads fresh daily.

Brodflour mills its heritage grain onsite in Liberty Village. Photo by Hector Vasquez.

Castlefield Design District 

Flour is imported from Italy for the baked goods made at Amico Bakery on Dufferin Street. You can get the focaccia and artisan bread as loaves or in sandwiches.

Chinatown

Longtime Spadina stalwart Mashion is a go-to for bags of housemade white loaves, green onion twists, and pineapple bread. 

Corktown

Terroni commissary Spaccio on Sackville bakes up bread every morning. Sourdough loaves are made with Spaccio’s own mother yeast.

Corso Italia

Tre Mari has been on St. Clair West for over 55 years. This Italian bakery and market includes semolina loaves, calabrese buns, baguettes, kalamata olive sourdough ciabatta and more. 

Danforth

It’s all about organic, preservative-free dough at Dough Bakeshop. Offerings rotate daily, except for rye and bagels. They also have a shelf of day-old loaves. 

Ba Noi keeps selling out of loves from its location in Bloorcourt. Photo by Fareen Karim.

Danforth East

Celena’s Bakery has been on this stretch of Danforth for a decade. Celena and Richard Cambridge have their low salt, dairy-free breads out of the oven by 9 a.m. daily.

Distillery District

Cross the cobblestone streets of the Distillery to try Brick Street Bakery’s olive sourdough boules, artisan brioche loaves and French country white bread with grains.

Eglinton West

The assortment of bread at Gouter includes French baguettes, sourdough loaves, olive bread, walnut bread, and country loaves. 

East York

Head to O’Connor drive for Arto Bakery. This Greek favourite makes bread, cookies, and koulouria freshy every day. 

Etobicoke

Dimpflmeier is the mainstay German bakery using only natural spring water, trucked daily from a spring in Terra Cotta, Ontario. 

Forno Cultura is the place to get Italian bread including their fresh foccacia. Photo by Hector Vasquez.

Financial District

Sud Forno, another offshoot of Terroni, has multiple locations in the city. You can grab signature goods like Pugliese here. 

Harbord Village 

The institution Harbord Bakery makes incredible bread. They’re most famous for their challah, square hala, nine grains and Russian blacks. 

Junction Triangle

Tucked away on Sterling is the culinary hub Drake Commissary, baking up sourdough loaves and blueberry scones. There’s limited quantity for same-day pick ups so order in advance. 

Kensington Market

The Market’s quintessential bakery Blackbird Baking Co. has been at the forefront of perfect sourdoughs in Toronto for years and is a go-to for baguettes, multigrain ovals, and Danish rye loaves.

King West

The King location of Forno Cultura does the full gamut of their breads using ancient grains and flour from Italy, from cornbread to sourdough and, of course, focaccia. 

Petite Thuet doesn't use any yeast to make its loaves. Photo by Fareen Karim.

Leslieville

After 15 years in Rosedale, Petite Thuet now has a new location on Carlaw. Owner Marc makes all his bread without yeast for that signature Petite Thuet flavour.

Liberty Village

Sitting on Pardee Avenue is the minimalist bakery Brodflour, which mills its heritage ancient grain on site. Loaves of challah, baguettes, and daily rye manage to maintain moisture over time.

Little India

Mattachioni East is the second location of this low-key bakery with fresh in-house bread. They’re also known for their panini.

Little Italy

It’s all about the 100 per cent organic sourdough bread at Prairie Boy Bread. Owner Grant MacPherson only uses natural ingredients and high levels of water, with 18 hours of rest for dough.

Mount Pleasant

Thobors is run by Marc and Sylvie, the former a bread baker trained in Paris. In 2008, Thobor bought Le Comptor de Celestin and transformed it into the beloved boulangerie it is today.

SCJB x Robinson Bread is a collab between Sam James and baker Patti Robinson. Photo by Fareen Karim.

North York

Hermes is a kosher bakery making rustic breads and French sticks. This Bathurst street staple is Sabbath-friendly.

Ossington

Housemade flatbread and other Middle Eastern pantry items are the main draw to Azhar, ahead of it becoming a full-fledged restaurant in the future.

Pape Village

Ever-popular Serano Bakery has been a fixture of Greektown for three decades. You’ll find the whole host of bread varieties plus koulouria and bread baskets.

Parkdale

Baker Patti Robinson has brought Robinson Bread together with Sam James for a shared space collab on Brock Avenue. Buy boules of bread and pair with some drip coffee.

Riverside

Cassoni whole wheat, angeligus, celtic multigrain and country rye sourdoughs are just some of the offerings at St John’s Bakery.

Fresh bread is just one of the many offerings from Gouter on Eglinton West. Photo by Hector Vasquez.

Rogers Road

Golden Wheat is this area’s go-to for freshly baked carbs, including the store’s famous Portuguese corn bread.

Roncesvalles Village

Mabel’s Bakery is the beloved spot on Roncy making breads, baguettes, croissants, and pastries using unbleached local and organic flour. 

Scarborough

Kingston Road’s neighbourhood go-to is Cliffside Hearth Bread Company, which first caught eyes thanks to its outdoor wood-burning oven. 

St. Clair West

The Quebec transplant Les Moulins La Fayette makes about a dozen different kinds of quality French bread, like sunflower sourdough or six grain Belgian bread.

St. Lawrence Market

Find Stonemill Bakehouse at the lower level of St. Lawrence Market, making naturally fermented sourdough rye and loaves of Honest Wellness.