Twelve years ago, I packed up my newborn son and year-old daughter and boarded a plane for San Francisco. I wasn’t visiting family. I didn’t have any work obligations there.
No, I was subjecting myself to the horrors of carrying on a double stroller, two car seats and a pack n’ play for one reason: a loaf of bread.
Related: With an explosion of new bakeries, Denver is finally getting its just desserts
Not just any loaf of bread, but Tartine Bakery’s country bread, the grandfather of today’s sourdough craze. Because a dozen years ago, Denver’s bakery scene looked very, very different. (It wouldn’t be until 2015 that I was able to score this high-hydration, long-fermented style of loaf locally — shoutout to Louisville’s Moxie Bread Co.)
Fresh sourdough, left, and baguettes at Rebel Bread in Denver Nov. 04, 2021.
If the bread wouldn’t come to me, I figured I’d go to the bread.
It’s become increasingly apparent that I’m not alone in my carb quests. Bakery tourism is a recognized reason to travel, with loads of fans like me traveling miles or time zones for breads, buns and oddly-shaped croissants. Because while booking an overpriced excursion or buying $200 theater tickets might feel out of reach, a $5 cruffin is pretty darn doable.
Bakery tourism has been further fueled by social media and stories like one in last year’s New York Times proclaiming that “the golden age of American bakeries is upon us.” More people than ever want to get in on these pastry pilgrimages, and we’re willing to travel. Carolyn Nugent, co-owner of Parker’s Poulette Bakeshop, which just so happened to be featured in the Times’ story, knows firsthand how far people are willing to go for a macaron.
“We’ve had people visit us from coast to coast — California, Maine, Florida, Texas,” Nugent said. “The exposure from the New York Times article has been wonderful. It’s definitely helped us become a destination bakery.”
Luckily for us Front Rangers, we don’t have to board a plane to get some of the country’s best baked goods. Here are my picks for Denver Metro’s bakery tourism must-eats.
P.S.: That Tartine bread was worth the hassle of juggling an armada of baby gear and subjecting my infants to plane germs (they were fine!).
Poulette Bakeshop
People travel for: Everything. On weekends, a line forms before Poulette opens, with people jostling for the best possible position to score the day’s bakes. Macarons and stuffed croissants are often the first to go.
But you should also get: Canelés, financiers and, at least for a short while, peach fritters.
19585 Hess Road, Parker; poulettebakeshop.com
Reunion Bread
People travel for: Golfeados, innocently called Venezuelan sticky buns, but more accurately described as buttery-doughed, sticky-sweet, salty cheese-topped coils of heaven.
But you should also get: Pasteis de nata, flaky pastry cups filled with creamy egg custard.
3350 Brighton Blvd., Denver; reunionbread.square.site; (And opening soon on South Pearl Street)
Bakery Four
People travel for: The bread. Shawn Bergin learned from Tartine’s Chad Robertson, so Bakery Four’s bread is just as crisp on the outside and almost custardy on the inside as that loaf I traveled a thousand miles for.
But you should also get: Literally everything they are selling, you should buy.
4150 Tennyson St., Denver; bakeryfour.com
Black Box Bakery
People travel for: The cubes. The Internet loves a good croissant shaped like anything but a croissant, but Black Box’s croissant cubes didn’t just go viral for their shapes; in flavors like passionfruit cheesecake and birthday cake, they’re also delicious.
But you should also get: The Nutella Spaceship, but save it for dessert. It’s croissant dough filled with brownies and Nutella, coated in white chocolate and topped with more brownies.
5505 W. 20th Ave., Edgewater; blackboxbakery.com
Get Rights
People travel for: Maritozzi, light, fluffy brioche buns split and generously stuffed with a cloud of whipped vanilla cream.
But you should also get: The Basque cheesecake — crustless, caramelized and impossibly creamy, it’s the absolute best.
6985 W. 38th Ave., Wheat Ridge; goodygetright.com
Banh & Butter Bakery Café
People travel for: The rare-in-Denver split strawberry croissants and lofty, 25-to-30-layered crepe cakes–and to spy the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship finalist Thoa Nguyen in action.
But you should also get: A fruit-bejeweled tart topped with whipped Chantilly cream.
9935 E. Colfax Ave., Aurora; banhandbutter.com
Rebel Bread
People travel for: The peel-apart morning buns, rolled with brown sugar, cinnamon and orange zest. Like if a croissant had a party and their cinnamon roll friend hung around a little too long–but in the best possible way because they love the cinnamon roll!
But you should also get: A loaf of sourdough and/or marble rye.
675 S. Broadway, Denver; rebelbreadco.com
Hearth specializes in sourdough breads, bagels and pastries made with the bakery’s own house-milled flours.
Hearth
People travel for: Almond croissants, because golden, laminated dough filled with frangipane and toasty, slivered almond bits is the best possible reason to travel.
But you should also get: Whatever the seasonal fruit Danish is.
Multiple locations; hearthdenver.com
Olive & Finch
People travel for: Crognets. Like the cronut, the cruffin, the crookie and the gaggle of other croissant-based frankenfoods before it, Olive & Finch’s crognet is a croissant meets-cute beignet, baked and dusted with a blizzard of powdered sugar.
But you should also get: A deliciously tangy/tart lemon bar.
Multiple locations; oliveandfinch.com
Izzio Bakery
People travel for: First, it was La Roulette (round croissant), then it was The Crown (bowl-like croissant), and now the new viral hotness is Le Bar, a thin, long croissant wand filled with flavors like Dubai chocolate and berry mascarpone cheesecake.
But you should also get: A chocolate chip cookie, because that never goes out of style.
2669 Larimer St., Denver; izziocentralmarket.com