<< Bali Top 6 Bali Bakeries by The Yak >>
Bread, you say? The Yak celebrates six of Bali’s best bakeries.
1. Coffee n Oven
Tel: +6282144485160 www.coffeeandovenbali.com
This rustic café and bakery in Berawa is a fast track to heaven for lovers of European-style bread. Baskets and shelves are piled high with a selection of various breads, from pumpernickel to sourdough, rolls, croissants, tarts, cakes and pastries. German owner, Jirka, has put his own stamp on Coffee n Oven and the crowds are a sure sign that he is doing something right.
Europeans tend to go for denser breads and you’ll find these here, alongside some of the best baguettes, which make for great sandwiches. Holidays are always celebrated here so stop in for your favourite treats. Stay a while and enjoy the menu which features a delicious range of home-made products including their own jams. The sweet café and bakery is a great place to pass some time, cozy and comforting, and the longer you stay, the more you’ll find to take home.
2. Delicioso
Tel: +623618499346 www.deliciosobali.com
There are times when one just wants bread; freshly baked, sliced and fluffy enough to make biting into your sandwich a pleasant past-time. Delicioso to the rescue. Their loaves are baked daily and shipped all over the island to satisfy those who still like their bread to be a trip down memory lane, rather than a gourmet experience. Indonesian breads, sold in the supermarkets, often sweet and frankly, lacking in the texture and flavor stakes.
Delicioso delivers bread as you remember it being. They have a large range but it’s here I stop for my sliced loaves. Delicioso is also the sister company to Ixora, and don’t even get me started on the incredible decorated cakes that are created here, from golf bags to giant, towering dollies and everything in between, they are the masters of fondant.
3. Farine
Tel: +62812-3969-6420 www.farine-sourdough-bakery.business.site
Despite the fact that UK Chef Steven Skelley had a massive job as Executive Chef for The Mexciola group, a sourdough starter gifted to him by a friend sparked a passion he could not deny. Somehow he found time in his impossible schedule to open Farine, a Berawa bakery much loved by locals and restaurant and café owners. It’s the kind of bakery where you walk in for a loaf of bread and leave with bags filled with deliciousness.
With a whole range of sourdough, baked on the premises, including his latest bake; large slabs of Turkish bread, you can satisfy almost any hunger here. Beside the gorgeous piles of sausage rolls, incredible home-made English muffins, brownies and flourless cakes, it is the bread that keeps you coming back. From classic levain to dark rye to country breads and more. The bakers start early, baking on premises, so you enjoy watching them work and the heavenly aroma of freshly baked bread as you scan the range to make your choice. With an extended café outside, you can now eat in and enjoy a great cup of coffee while savouring your purchases.
4. Kayu Api
Tel: +62361285984 @KayuapiKafe
French chef turned baker, Olivier, literally changed our lives when he opened his bakery cum café in Umalas. Overnight, his wood-fired bread showed up on many of our favourite restaurant and café menus. So exacting is he that he rebuilt his hand-made wood-fired ovens three times in the first five years. He mixes his own grains as he doesn’t trust the commercial multi-grain mixes, he uses reverse osmosis water, natural sea salt and regularly expands his familiar recycled paper menus.
He now offers a sourdough loaf, bubbling and big enough to feed a family (although you can buy half), his country bread is legendary, with its crisp crust and loose interior pocketed with air bubbles from the natural yeast. His bread is still among the best value in the south and continues to appear in homes and cafes across the island. Enjoy a seat in his garden café and peruse his selection of savouries, bakes, brownies and gluten free treats as well.
5. Monsieur Spoon
Tel: +6287862808859 www.monsieurspoon.com
When a foodie friend conducted a survey on his food and beverage site for the best bread, Monsieur Spoon’s multi grain emerged as a clear favourite. The bakeries and cafes founded by two cousins, Rafi and Gregory, have expanded and are now found throughout the island including Seminyak, Ubud, Petitenget, Pererenan Canggu and Umalas are a magnet for anyone who loves French patisserie, everything is rich, shining and pretty as a picture.
The bread however can’t be overlooked. Including some of the island’s best baguettes and croissants, they also have a range of wood-fired loaves sold by the 100gram weight. It’s not easy to figure out how much bread you need, as they carve off giant crispy loaves, but you soon get the hang of it. All of it is good but the loaf which came up favourite among Food and beverage’s Facebook followers is indeed delicious. Full of nutty grains, it’s chewy and crunchy at the same time, and makes fabulous toast.
6. Starter Lab
Tel: +6281238290930 www.facebook.com/starterlab.bali
When baker Emerson told his mother that he was leaving his teaching job to become a baker, she wasn’t happy. Emerson and his wife Min opened Starter Lab just over a year ago and they have just launched in Singapore, the future for these two looks very bright. Their mission: to create the best sourdough bread possible, they have come damn close. Enthusiasts swoon over their classic and creative loaves.
Emerson honed his skills in New York and followed with a spell at the birthplace of San Francisco sourdough, Tartine. Their little bakery in Canggu has set our world on fire. In the tiny premises they call home, their team work round the clock, kneading, proving and baking some of the best bread on the island. Working with partners like Locavore to experiment with new flavours including fermented foods, pickles and the like, there is always something new here. The weekends sees them adding piled fresh, hot high cinnamon scrolls, and for Easter they baked the most heavenly hot cross buns. But it is the sourdough loaves that have people lining up outside their door from early in the morning. Passion prevails and this is sourdough lovers heaven.