I spent eleven years living in San Francisco and the Peninsula before moving to Sydney.  There is a lot of good bread in San Francisco.  So when we moved here I was initially a bit let down by what I found.  Then I found the fancy french bakery on the main street in my neighborhood, Victoire on Darling Street in Balmain. Their Levain is as close as I’ve found to a San Francisco sourdough bread anywhere outside of the Bay Area.  It’s a bit expensive at $7 a loaf for the medium size but it is well worth it, and it is one of the few things on which I regularly splurge.  Their Rustica is a lovely peasant style bread.  They also have truly excellent croissants.

When we make it to the monthly farmers’ market in Pyrmont I try to stop by the booth for La Tartine which makes an excellent organic wholemeal sourdough bread (also known as whole-grain).  It’s dense and chewy with that sourdough bite.  It works as well with butter and jam as it does with goat cheese and tomato with a drizzle of olive oil.

Another  of my favorites is Sonoma Bakery sourdough.  Love the name.  It brings back memories of San Francisco and the Sonoma Wine Country just north of SF.  They usually have a booth at the farmers’ market and also have a shop in Glebe which is not that far from Balmain.

Last to be mentioned but by no means last is Adriano Zumbo.  They are better known for their out-of-this-world pastries and chocolates but they also have truly yummy breads.  I am lucky that Adriano Zumbo and the Adriano Zumbo Chocolate Cafe are both in Balmain and within rock-throwing distance of Victoire (not that I would be throwing any rocks at them).

One thing to keep in mind if you are hoping to get yourself some bread from one of these bakeries / patisseries is that they often sell out of the best loaves early in the day.  Victoire often sells out of their Levain my mid-day.  Same with Adriano Zumbo.  So if you can’t make it until the end of the day just know you might not get your first choice.  Just this morning at 10am I was in Victoire and they were already out of chocolate croissants and only had three plain croissants left.  Since croissants are one of the treats my daughter loves best, I was lucky to have gotten there just in time.  The woman in line after me bought the very last one.