Where to buy bread in NYC 🍞

Let's get this bread.

I brag about my beautiful neighborhood all the time. One of these times, while going on and on about how the Italian grandmas set their lawn chairs up on my block every afternoon to gossip, I was interrupted by a friend’s cackles on the other side of the phone. “I just googled Carroll Gardens. I thought she was a woman.”

Carroll Gardens is not a woman, but a quaint and charming place, populated by fat babies, their young parents and a lot of Italians. There is also plenty of really good bread. Some spots definitely have challenging hours or are best for specialty loaves (ones laced with hunks of prosciutto or cubes of fontina), but there are enough that you’ll always be able to get your hands on some kind of bread when you need to. These are all the bakeries in my neighborhood that I like to buy bread from, plus a few more with loaves that are worth the journey out of Carroll Gardens. Frankly, it would be a pretty nice name for a daughter.

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THE BEST BREAD IN CARROLL GARDENS

ACQ bakery, the fermented rye chocolate cookie.

One of the best parts of living in Carroll Gardens is the proximity to ACQ Bread Co. You can find loaves at the Carroll Street greenmarket on Sundays, but the line gets long early and stays that way until every one is sold out. I prefer stopping by the actual bakery, where the smell of crusty, yeasty bread warms the entire corner.

Still-warm chocolate milk bread, the dark crust of a milk bread loaf, toasted milk bread slices with salted butter.

I particularly love the chewy, seedy living bread and the dense, rye-adjacent mountain bread is wonderful when toasted and used to make a sandwich. The most special loaf they sell, though, is the slightly tangy milk bread, which is sold plain (and makes excellent French toast) but also swirled with something sweet. Sometimes it’s cinnamon and walnuts, a lot of the time it’s studded with bitter dark chocolate. The nutty fermented rye chocolate chunk cookies are a treat too. I rarely leave without one.

• Things to know: Their hours are a little funky. The bakery at 543 Clinton St. is open Fridays and Saturdays from 4-7pm. They’re at the Sunnyside greenmarket on Saturdays from 8am until sold out, and at the Carroll Gardens greenmarket on Sundays from 8am-sold out.

I apologize for this terrible photo. It’s the only one I have but I think it still does the job of demonstrating how much fontina is in this bread.

Winner makes a black pepper polenta fontina loaf on Thursdays and Sundays at the original location on 7th Ave that’s really special. The polenta adds a nuttiness, there’s actually a kick from the black pepper and the huge hunks of fontina are equally delicious in a fresh loaf and melted a little in the toaster.

• Things to know: It looks like they rotate this loaf at the new butcher shop and Crown Heights locations, too, but don’t specify which days. It’s still worth stopping in if you find yourself nearby — the ham and cheese sandwich on their perfect baguette is great, as is the malted flour chocolate chip cookie. And I’m praying they bring this corn brioche back this August…

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All of the loaves at La Bicyclette are pretty tasty. Their baguettes are arguably too crunchy, but they'll do the trick if you’re having people over. They also only cost two dollars. I hate when baguettes are seven dollars. The plain croissants here are also very nice.

• Things to know: There have locations in Fort Greene and Williamsburg, too.

These branded bread bags make me really happy.

My old roommate and I used to debate whether Mazzola or Caputo Bakery was better. I am a Mazzola girl — I like their hazelnut iced coffee, pre-made sandwiches and the flaky, lattice top parmesan leek pastry they sell is one of the best savory pastries I’ve ever tasted. They also make a classic seeded semolina loaf that’s soft, airy and perfect for sandwiches or serving to guests with soft butter and chunks of parmesan cheese. Most importantly, they make a rich, peppery lard bread filled with salty chunks of prosciutto and a heroin-esque artichoke and provolone version. Still, I’ll admit that Caputo Bakery makes really delicious classic Italian cookies and an incredible, crusty rosemary loaf that I always end up finishing by ripping off chunks before I can even think of what else to do with it.

• Things to know: You can also get special shapes and sizes of bread from Mazzola, just call them. It’s where I got a three foot long loaf of bread to make a three foot long roast beef sandwich on my roof a few months ago.

If you’re lucky, some of the pre-made sandwiches I mentioned will be made on mini loaves of lard bread. They also make egg sandwiches on little lard bread rolls some mornings.

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THE BEST BREAD IN MANHATTAN

The interior of one of the best loaves of bread money can buy, a BLT I made with said bread.