Filipino-Nigerian baker Aureen Aipoh sells organic, celiac-compatible sourdoughs and a Nordic seed loaf made with rice, buckwheat, oat and tapioca flour at Oshione. Photo: Paula Ragucci
Remember last winter when we were all shut up at home, trying our hands at making perfect sourdough? Well, just because you’ve given up on your lockdown baking projects doesn’t mean these places have. Here are some of Berlin’s very best bakeries.
GORILLA
Upper-crust bread and pastries on down-and-out Hermannstraße? It works, mostly because the crusty loaves and crisp-bottomed Roman pizzas at this German-French-Italian hybrid are an indulgence anyone can afford.
Hermannstr. 211, Neukölln
GRAGGER BROT
Cardamom buns, yeasty Buchteln and hearty organic sourdough in fifty shades of brown, from an Austrian master baker and ex-Sara Wiener collaborator.
Potsdamer Str. 107, Mitte
OSHIONE
The big bakery comeback didn’t mean the end of gluten-free. Just before 2020 lockdown, Filipino-Nigerian baker Aureen Aipoh began selling her organic, celiac-compatible sourdough and banana breads at the Kollwitzplatz market. She’s since expanded into eight bread types, most popular among them a Nordic seed loaf made with rice, buckwheat, oat and tapioca flour – and a brand-new shop near Viktoriapark, where she also offers seasonal fruit tarts, pizza rolls and, soon… gluten- free brioche!
Katzbachstr. 25, Kreuzberg
SOFI
The hype surrounding this Danish import may have died down, but the deeply flavourful sourdough, crust- perfect French baguettes, over-the-top fruit pastries and instantly iconic butter and cheese roll are still worth queuing for.
Sophienstr. 21, Mitte
One of these things is not like the other, but we had to put this fantastic Bosnian newcomer somewhere. The crisp-edged börek baked here, filled with meat or creamy feta, are as flaky and multilayered as any croissant, and the soft, fresh-baked flatbread cradling fat grilled cevapcici is pretty great as well.
Triftstr. 8, Wedding
TERZ
Sourdough bread given plenty of time to proof, baked by young chef Maximilian Hühnergarth and turned into thick Stullen topped with cheese, smoked fish or fresh veggies – could you ask for anything more? Okay, what about cinnamon rolls, English muffins and a sneakily great evening menu, at a café that does justice to its heavenly Schillerkiez location?
Herrfurthplatz 14, Neukölln