It’s time to break bread at Sydney’s best bakeries.

Sydneysiders love a quality breakfast, particularly when it’s baked fresh. The best Sydney bakeries are known for everything from flaky croissants to chewy sourdough or cookies with molten chocolate centres. Use your loaf and leave a trail of crumbs around the NSW capital as you sample sweet and savoury treats of the highest order.

1. FLOUR Coffee & Doughroom

Best for: Seeded white sourdough and cardamom rolls

This 40-seater cafe and glass-walled dough room in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire has lines snaking out the door each day. And, for many locals, Flour is a strong contender for best bakery in Sydney. The recipes at FLOUR were developed by bakers Nathan Martin (ex-Humble, Brasserie Bread, The Grounds and Sonoma) and pastry chefs Emily Demetriou and Patrik Svab. And they don’t change, as the customers have committed to memory the taste and texture of everything from the magic madeleines to the iconic finger buns. Five Foot One drew inspo for the interior palette from biscuits and butter, icing and oats.

Address: 277 Willarong Road, Caringbah South

2. Buttered Bakery & Cafe

Best for: Salty Boi, a mash-up of a croissant and dinner roll injected with sweet or savoury fillings.

Pass the tissue bread. You’ll be crying tears of joy when you encounter the cool Gen Z K-pop-loving cousin of the cronut that you’ve clocked on the Tok. Skip your usual order of smashed avo and order the tissue bread, which is all heart and Seoul thanks to those flaky pull-apart layers. Buttered Bakery & Cafe, housed in a heritage-listed building in Chippendale, is also known for its Waterfall Cake, a light and airy sponge filled with fruits and toppings. It’s your go-to gateau for the next office gatho. The bakery is the brainchild of Vuza Hospitality head chef Philip Choi who trained at Le Cordon Bleu Paris.

Address: 5 Central Park Avenue, Chippendale

3. LoDe Bakery

Best for: Pies, croissants and bombolone.

The baking is front and centre at LoDe’s new flagship store in Rozelle. A glass-walled prep station presents the art of making sourdough as performance art, with bakers shaping, folding and baking from scratch throughout the day. LoDe is part bakery, part viennoiserie, part all-day brunch hang. The flagship store cements LoDe’s status as a serious ‘best bakery Sydney’ contender. Designed by Some Studio, the store is chef Federico Zanellato’s most ambitious to date. Best known for its cult-status pies, LoDe now has a full sourdough program locked and loaded. Sit in the sunlit terrace to LoDe up on chicken, jalapeno and egg sangas or big-as-your-head burgers.

Address: Shop A4/120 Terry St, Rozelle

4. Grumpy Baker & Bar @ Potts Point

Best for: An olive boule loaf, which is soft inside and crispy on the outside

Michael and Debbie Cthurmer opened their first Grumpy Baker venue in Darlinghurst in 2002. More than two decades on, there are about a baker’s dozen scattered like sesame seeds around Sydney. The family-bakery runs the gamut from a rustic beach-side bakery in Maroubra to an elegant small bar and bakery in a space that housed Macleay St Bistro for four decades. The bakeries also double as cafes where sipping coffee over house-made jam on toast is also a thing. Pick up a house-made frozen meal of beef cottage pie to go.  Try the Turkish eggs at the Potts Point iteration.

Address: 71A Macleay St, Potts Point 

5. Lune Croissanterie

Best for: Sweet croissants

Lune Croissanterie isn’t a bakery in the traditional sense. But the brand’s flagship store in Rosebery’s Engine Yards Precinct does specialise in baked goods. Lune is a temple to croissants, which are made, baked and replenished here throughout the day. Founder Kate Reid has given her croissant chefs a stage and you can watch them at work in the 6×6-metre glass cube. When conversations turn to best bakery in Sydney, Lune belongs in the mix for its singular and obsessive focus on the laminated pastry. In addition to the classic sweet, plain croissants, there are ham and cheese croissants, Danishes, kouign-amanns, morning buns and more.

Address: 115/151 Dunning Avenue, Rosebery

6. Self Raised Bread Shoppe @ Carlton

Best for: Hoagies

Bread-heads on the hunt for some of Sydney’s best sangas can often be found in the queue that curls out of Self Raised Bread Shoppe in Carlton. Hussein Rachid, sister Amani Rachid, and friend Sal Senan are the trio behind SRBS, an offshoot of pizzeria My Mother’s Cousin, in Bexley’s north. The bakery excels in its hoagies and chicken schnitty sangas and staples like Boston cream doughnuts. Sister venue Self Raised Snack Shoppe also doles out truly great creations that will transport you to another time. The second Shoppe opened next to the pizzeria in 2024. And, like its Carlton cousin, it has a retro milk bar feel. Expect Roman-style pizza by the slice and seafood sangas.

Address: 45 Jubilee Avenue, Carlton Shop 48/20 Sarsfield Circuit, Bexley North

7. Flour and Stone

Best for: Pannacotta lamingtons

Nadine Graham’s passion for baking led her from a dairy farm in the Hunter Valley all the way to Michelin-starred restaurants in London.  That passion shines through at Flour and Stone, where Nadine uses her baking skills to better connect with the community. Pick up a loaf of sourdough alongside sweet little things such as pannacotta lamingtons, flaky croissants and chocolate and sour cherry cookies. The petite bakery is often referenced by chefs asked to name the best bakery in Sydney. But it also has a neighbouring pantry where you can add toasted muesli, yoghurt and chilli jam to your trolley.

Address: 43 Riley St, Woolloomooloo

8. Breadfern

Best for: The GF and vegan-friendly peanut butter signature slice.

Breadfern does as the name suggests: sells bread in Sydney’s Redfern. But the baker’s skill and prowess extend beyond bread and is on show with everything from banoffee pies and lemon meringue tarts to pretty plum puffs. The sausage roll is also a showpiece as are the sweet and savoury treats made from scratch every morning. The bakery is near to the bike lane that slices through Prince Alfred Park toward Central so you can arrive on two wheels and avoid Uber price surges. Two of the most tempting items on the menu are the ham and cheese toastie and wonderfully chewy bagel.

Address: 306-308 Chalmers St, Redfern

9. AP House @ Surry Hills

Best for: Aleppo pepper scrolls

AP Bakery has sprouted outlets all over Sydney. From AP House atop Paramount House, to AP Town in Newtown, AP Place in the CBD and cream bun kiosk AP Supply. Add to the mix, AP Bread & Wine in Darlinghurst doing dinner in a darling sandstone cottage. But let’s keep it simple and start with the OG AP (which stands for all-purpose, as in flour). All hail head baker Dougal Muffet who mills his own grains and uses heirloom wheat varieties grown with sustainable practices. This passion for provenance is what makes AP one of the best bakeries in Sydney. Pair a dark-chocolate croissant with a piccolo from Reuben Hills Coffee.

Address: 80 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills

10. Iggy’s Bread @ Bronte

Best for: A health loaf made with love

Iggy’s Bread supplies naturally leavened loaves to a lot of Sydney’s best restaurants. Helmed by Yugoslavian-born baker Igor Ivanovic, the Bronte bakery also has a cult following for its sourdough, whole wheat and rye breads. The menu is not wide ranging but the naturally leavened bread sees Iggy’s frequently nominated as the best bakery Sydney has. Go all out at your next party by pre-ordering a wheel of rolls with a circle of Pepe Saya butter. The pro play is to bring your eco bag so you look the part and stuff it with carefully curated items placed around the rustic bread shop and pantry. Good news: the cafe is again open on Saturdays.

Address: 145d Macpherson St, Bronte

11. Loulou Boulangerie & Traiteur @ Milson’s Point

Best for: Delicate viennoiserie (the bridge between pâtisserie and French bread)

Loulou is a proper French baker’s bakery. And the boulangerie now has a few locations around Sydney offering a wide variety of baked goods such as not-to-be-missed baguettes, miche loaves and sweet treats. Got visitors you want to impress? Pick up a Toulouse sausage and terrine and artisan products. The French bakery, which began in Milsons Point, now has a kiosk-style cafe in Martin Place (1 Elizabeth St) catering to corporate types who want to eat their feelings. Find comfort at the hole-in-the-wall Petite Loulou in a sausage roll, rotisserie chicken baguette or fresh-baked French croissant.

Address: 61 Lavender St, Milsons Point

12. Brooklyn Boy Bagels

Best for: Za’atar Bagel

Brooklyn Boy Bagels recently claimed the title of Best Bagels in Asia Pacific and ranked third internationally at the 2024 New York BagelFest. Brooklyn-born journalist turned baker Michael Shafran founded Brooklyn Boy Bagels in 2013 with a clear vision: to bring the best New York bagels to Australia. The native New Yorker has done that and then some with Brooklyn Boy Bagels, which has stores in Marrickville and Surry Hills. Bagel boffins will appreciate the creative schmears such as Tim Tam cream cheese and Bacon Bourbon & Maple Cream Cheese. Arrive by bike as a dedicated path for two-wheelers slices past the bagel bakery.

Address: 19 Carrington Road, Marricville; 1/80 Reservoir St, Surry Hills

13. Fabbrica Bread Shop

Best for: The best shakshuka Danish in Sydney

The Love Tilly Group team have venues sprinkled all over Sydney, including some of the city’s best Italian restaurants and pasta bars. Fabbrica Bread Shop is the group’s dedicated bakery with sites in Rozelle and Coogee. It’s worth your time to roam to Rozelle – where the baking happens – for a coffee, a selection of pastries, cakes and bread and their delightful banoffee tart (only on weekends). Pick up something to go and head to harbourside Dawn Fraser Baths in Balmain for a dip too, so you can enjoy a tortilla sando with thick-cut maple bacon, relish and mayo guilt-free.

Address: 733 Darling St, Rozelle

14. Brickfields Bakery

Best for: Coco Chanel with a praline glaze

Brickfields in Chippendale is busy raising expectations on what a loaf of excellent bread looks like. Expect everything from gravity-defying loaves of sourdough to glorious confections such as fruit Danishes with vanilla-infused custard or a chocolate and almond brownie. Counterbalance the sweet treats by ordering something from the savoury side, such as the light rye and caraway sourdough or slab of focaccia made from milled FPM flour mill in Tamworth. Look out for the bread stalls at weekend markets from Manly to Marrickville, Paddington to Potts Point.

Address: 206 Cleveland St, Chippendale

15. Shadow Baking

Best for: Vegemite and avocado scrolls

This bricks and mortar venue has stepped out of the shadows of its market stall at The Cannery and into a prominent position near sister venue Messina in Darlinghurst. The cupboard-sized outfit is led by Messina’s executive pastry chef Tom Mitchell and his French cohorts Florian Fritsch (Messina sous chef) and Remi Talbot (former head chef of Messina Creative). So it’s French but with a bit of Aussie bogan, as evident by the Vegemite and avocado scroll layered with fermented chilli egg jam and finely grated pecorino. Even ardent aficionados of Sydney’s best bakeries will find instant gratification with the twice-baked croissants topped with Messina-tella spread at Shadow Baking.

Address: 243 Victoria St, Darlinghurst

16. Goodwood Bakeshop

Best for: Seeded sourdough or the tapenade and goat’s cheese scroll.

Goodwood is a portmanteau of owners Jamie Goodin and Alex Alewood’s surnames. The husband-and-wife duo met in 2010 while working at Bourke St Bakery together and the hole-in-the-wall is a mash-up of the couple’s combined experience. The result is a roster of outstanding pastries and baked goods. While the bakery follows the same methods to make bread established thousands of years ago (they mill their own flour to add to dough starters), innovation is also one of the cornerstones of their cooking. The Goodshop Bakeshop weekly playlist is fire, with options such as focaccia topped with potato, chilli, nigella and herbs.

Address: 297 Marrickville Road, Marrickville

17. Bourke St Bakery

Best for: Bacon and egg rolls

Prepare to stand in line at Bourke St Bakery for pastries that walk the tightrope between sweet and savoury. Take the fig and cranberry sourdough. Or the tangy lemon curd tart, which can barely contain its silky filling. Sign up to a Sourdough Masterclass at Banksmeadow HQ where you will use a 25-year-old starter to bake an artisan loaf from scratch. Sydney’s bread-obsessed will be familiar with the many venues freckled around town, from Balmain to Barangaroo, Caringbah to Kirrawee, Neutral Bay to Newtown. For many Sydneysiders, Bourke St Bakery still defines what the best Sydney bakery experience looks like.

Address: See bourkestreetbakery.com.au for locations

18. Baker Bleu

Best for: A poached chicken sanga with roast tomatoes, lettuce, avocado and green goddess dressing.

The first Sydney outpost of Melbourne’s Baker Bleu is in Double Bay. The name of the bakery is a nod to baker Mike Russell’s nickname, Blue, in reference to his red hair. Pick up a loaf of the bakery’s signature sourdough and dine in on options such as breakfast bagels stuffed with salmon pastrami, cream cheese, pickled onion and dill pickle. For lovers of a good old-fashioned sanga, Baker Bleu is regularly cited as one of the best bakeries in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Address: 2 Guilfoyle Avenue, Double Bay

19. Brasserie Bread

Best for: Spinach and ricotta Danishes

Crowds of tradies are often clocked clamouring for the rich buttery brioche sangas stuffed with bacon, eggs and avocado. Brasserie Bread is one of the OG artisan sourdough bakeries in Sydney and was instrumental in the city’s breaducation about the benefits of eating sourdough. Head to the rustic Banksmeadow bakery storefront for sweet treats like chocolate caramel tarts or coconut teacakes. Or grab a deli-style sandwich made on New York-style rye bread. We cherish everything about this bakery cafe, from the service to the squares of testers so you can try before you buy. Take home a loaf of quinoa and soya-seeded loaf, much loved for its texture.

Address: 1737 Botany Road, Banksmeadow

20. Sonoma Bakery

Best for: Sourdough bread or the hazelnut caramel chocolate panettone

Sonoma bakeries have popped up everywhere from Bondi to Bowral and Rose Bay. The pioneering Sonoma, established in 1998 by Kerry Connole and sons Andrew and Christian, is known around the city for its exceptionally good bread. Despite being named after the California state where the artisan sourdough bread movement reportedly began, the bakeries have become synonymous with sourdough in Sydney. In fact, the family have spent decades honing their skills and the bread is used at a multitude of cafes. Order a Three Cheese Toastie on slabs of bread cut from a country white sourdough or tuck into a morning bun chased down by a piccolo.

Address: 32-44 Birmingham St, Alexandria

21. Humble

Best for: Humble won Wotif’s 2024 Uniquely Aussie Award for best finger bun, so decision made.

Humble Bakery is brought to you by Elvis Abrahanowicz, Ben Milgate and Joseph Valore, the hospitality lords behind Porteño and Bastardo, who preside over a backstreet in Surry Hills. Now with three locations, Humble Bakery has become a go-to for top-tier baked goods across Sydney. Watch the bakers in the open kitchen, sending up clouds of flour as they punch down dough for the day’s delights. The finger buns are pretty darn good and the toasties are something else. Post a Humble brag about your mortadella and salami focaccia or the not-so-humble hambo sandwich.

Address: Shop 2, 50 Holt St; Quay Quarter Lanes, Shop 19, 16-20 Loftus Lane, Circular Quay; Sydney CBD, Shop 1, 333 Kent St, Sydney

22. Berkelo

Best for: Family loaves

A vanguard of young, creative artisan bakers at Berkelo are determined to create delicious bread from sustainable stoneground flour. And the community stands united when it comes to supporting the Brookvale bakery, which also has outlets in Mosman, Manly and Terrey Hills. The bakers will make you feel righteous for choosing bread made from organic grains grown by Australian farmers. The long fermentation process means the food is good for your gut. Northern Beaches residents go berko at Berkelo for the signature sourdough as well as the wheat-free seed loaf and sprouted grain loaf.

Address: 8 William St, Brookvale

23. Hearthe

Best for: Paperbark dacquoise cake

Home is where the Hearthe is. That’s certainly the case for Stanmore residents who waited patiently for Black Star Pastry founder Christopher Thé to open his cake shop and cafe in 2022. It was well worth the wait. The creator of the world-famous strawberry watermelon cake keeps it simple at Hearthe with his cakes and baked goods inspired by native Australian ingredients. The baked goats curd cheesecake features desert lime and there’s eucalyptus in the caramel of the paperbark dacquoise cake in the display cabinet.

Address: 16 Douglas St, Stanmore

24. Infinity Sourdough

Best for: Pan au chocolat

Cosplay as a hip city creative working in fashion while wearing a shiny nylon, mocha mousse tee and nose ring ahead of your visit to Infinity Bakery in Redfern. This is a gathering for ‘dough’ nuts you’ll want to be part of. Infinity Bakery has been working its magic as one of Sydney’s first sourdough bakeries for decades. Furthermore, there are now five venues across Sydney where you can sweeten your day with an Iced Vovo croissant, mango and coconut Danish or almond croissant. Our true love lies with the Infinity Sourdough, which you will find used to great effect at cafes such as HAM in the Sutherland Shire or the Hills Cafe & Bakery.

Address: 2-38 Baptist St, Redfern

25. Lucien Baked Goods

Best for: The Persian love cake

Parramatta is having a bit of a moment. Fold up your fixie and commute to Sydney’s second CBD so you can suss out all that is new and exciting. Do a hot lap of the park and then walk into Lucien Baked Goods with purpose. A quick scroll of the bakery cafe hybrid’s Instagram feed will induce a feeling of anticipation. While the Lucien Baked Goods website might use cookies, so do the bakers … to entice unsuspecting passersby. We say roll with it and order a handful alongside a slice of lamington berry cake, and a banoffee choux filled with Chantilly cream. Ponder a move to this vibey vertical village after a night at Sky Suites Parramatta.

Address: 111 Phillip St, Parramatta

26. LoDe Pies & Pastries

Best for: The LoDe pithivier stuffed with caramelised pork, shiitake mushrooms and chicken gravy.

Oh boy. The yummo yuzu tart is an ode to the Lode. Also worth considering is the doughnut-shaped croissant, that wonderfully flaky creation filled with white chocolate crème, glazed with raspberry and dusted with pistachio and rose petals. Apparently, it’s such a time suck for the pastry chefs that only 15 are made each day. The polished cafe is all marble and concrete, with a pared-back neutral palette of whites, greys and pinks that is more bathhouse than bakery. Head to the glass display counter for inspiration at this high-end bakery helmed by Federico Zanellato (LuMi Dining).

Address: 487 Crown St, Surry Hills

27. Sweet Belem

Best for: Portuguese tarts

Finding a Portuguese tart in a display cabinet in Petersham feels like unearthing a hidden treasure. It’s a big call to claim to have the world’s best Portuguese tarts. But we like to be thorough and, after consuming our body weight in pastel de nata, we reckon the bakers at Sweet Belem certainly sling the best version this side of Portugal! Let them throw down that sugar-dusted gauntlet with gusto. If you really want to blow your mind, try the lamington filled with Portuguese egg jam or the doorstop-sized vanilla slice.

Address: 35 New Canterbury Rd, Petersham

28. Rollers Bakehouse

Best for: Vegemite and cheese croissant

The humble croissant has a daily makeover at Rollers. Part the veil of secrecy and have a peep at Rollers Bakehouse TikTok to see how the almond croissant is crowned. We see those bakers rolling, and we like it. The flavour profile of the croissants changes on the regular, and we love those Franken-style creations at the Scandi-industrial cafe. When the conversation turns to croissants, Rollers is firmly in the best bakery in Sydney discussion.

Address: 19 Rialto Lane, Manly

29. Enze Bakery

Best for: Chiffon cakes

Check out pastry chef Stella’s TikTok account @enzebakery where the videos she produces in her Ryde bakery have gone viral. Stella recently opened her second Enze venue in Barangaroo. Chocolate and strawberry, matcha and mango, golden kiwi and coconut are just some of the imaginative flavours on offer. Want to earn Aunty of the year? Order the pretty pistachio and raspberry pillow-soft chiffon sponge. Want something a bit more masc? The chocolate zephyr cream cake with sea salt chocolate mousse cream is killer.

Address: 115 Blaxland Road, NSW; 20 Scotch Row, Barangaroo

30. Baked by 22 Grams @ Randwick

Best for: Coffee and a croissant

Twenty-two grams is precisely the measurement of coffee required to make a triple espresso shot. And it’s also symbolic of the 22 Grams baristas and their commitment to doing things with care and precision. But 22 grams is not just a top spot for a brew; it’s also a bakery turning out top-notch bread and croissants. The sourdough is made from flour, water and salt and left to ferment for a total of 36 hours from start to finish. The result is bread that is healthy and nutritious and easy to digest.

Address: 66 High Street, Randwick

 31. Bobo Bakery

Best for: Dulce de leche and sea salt brownies

Sweeten up the team in the office with a round of treats from Bobo Bakery. We’re firmly in our cinnamon scroll era in the Australian Traveller office and this small-batch operation has us sorted. The bakery run by wonder woman Rowan Atwell out of her Kingsford kitchen has also built a following for its gooey brownies and cookies using 70 per cent dark Belgian chocolate. Looking for a last-minute gift? Order a batch of Letterbox Brownies handmade to order and sustainably packaged.

Address: You’ll find Bobo at Paddington Markets on Saturdays; Bondi Markets on Sundays and at The Cannery in Rosebery on the first weekend of each month.

32. Black Star Pastry

Best for: Young Henry’s beer and brisket pie

Black Star Pastry is best known for its iconic strawberry watermelon cake, which at one point was dubbed ‘the world’s most Instagrammed cake’. But what a lot of the single-minded content creators who caused the cake to go viral should know is that the rustic Rosebery warehouse bakery should also get attention for its pies and sourdough. Sure, a hunk of seedy bread or beer and brisket pie is not as photogenic as a pretty pink layered confection. But they’re both hella tasty.

Address: 85-115 Dunning Avenue, Rosebery

33. Banksia Bakehouse

Best for: Catering to hungry hordes with a hot honey pepperoni focaccia slice.

Those looking for Christmas cakes and baked treats will love the whimsical Santa hat croissants on offer at the Banksia Bakehouse, named and inspired by native Australian flora. There’s even an evergreen tart that will appeal to the Grinches among us (you know who you are). Gluten-free girlies are also catered to at the CBD bakery with flourless chocolate brownies, chocolate truffle cakes and black forest trifle.  People-pleasers should plump for the chocolate mud sponge with coconut almond praline cream to take to the office pot-luck party.

Address: 225 George St, Tenancy 4, Grosvenor Place, Sydney

34. Luca Bakery

Best for: Brown Butter Strawberry Cake or Black Olive Focaccia with black garlic and parmigiana.

Luca Bakery has gained a lot of recognition on social media feeds for its commitment to recreating family favourites. That and the fact it was founded by MasterChef Australia 2019 winner Larissa Takchi and her husband Luke Dominello. Bring your yiayia’s recipe in and the team at Luca Bakery will try and recreate it. Talk about a love language. You don’t need to get here before dawn to get your mitts on one of Larissa’s creations: Luca is all about batch baking, pulling freshly made bread and warm pastries straight from the oven.

Address: 83 David Road, Castle Hill

35. Cafe Knotted

Best for: Enjoy Korea’s viral doughnuts without the airfare.

The Korean doughnut shop with the cult following has opened its first Australian outpost in Burwood, in Sydney’s south. The fantastical and brightly coloured pastry creations that sparked queues at Cafe Knotted in Seoul way back in 2017 look like something Dr Seuss might have come up with. The precision-made pastries have been filled with flavours such as matcha, Earl Grey, lemon curd and milk cream with strawberries. No, it’s not a traditional bakery, but for doughnuts alone, Cafe Knotted earns its place on any best Sydney bakery list.

Address: 24 Burwood Road, Burwood