One of my favorite towns for bakeries is Portland, Maine. I do happen to live there so my bias is obvious. But setting that aside I think most visitors to Portland would have to agree, that for a town of this size, we are certainly blessed with a high concentration of great bakeries.



Years ago I worked at Standard Baking when it was on Wharf Street. It was literally like a shoe box with a door that opened onto an alley and a single long narrow room that ran back from the street and ended at a wall in the back. There was a single window that let in light from the alley. But it was a great place to work. It got its start when the owner of the restaurant next store teamed up with a couple who a few years before had been waiting his tables but had gone off to learn to bake. They started with one employee (my wife as it turns out) and one account: the restaurant next store. One bread: a baguette and some morning pastries.



Over time they added breads, and pastries and customers and outgrew the place. The moved across town (which sounds further than it is; Portland being a small town) and moved into a place that previously was a pizza place notorious for its good fights. They cleaned the place up and today, have one of the most beautiful bakeries you can find. The bakery stands back from Commercial Street’s east end facing the slip where the ferries pull in. The retail space is narrow, but sufficient. The oven and baker are separated from the customers by a low counter forcing you to witness the bread coming out of the oven, on to the cooling racks, where it will then be put on the racks for sale. There is no hiding day old bread here.



Also from the retail area, you can look through windows and see the shaping area for bread and the pastry room where they are often working on some delight. It’s a great bakery, and the trip to Portland is certainly made complete with a stop here.



I’ve never really been taken by the whole cupcake craze that, I guess, was started by Magnolia in NYC. Standard Baking has a sister bakery called “Two Fat Cats” which is their contribution to the cupcake trend. They would probably take umbrage with me for reducing their sister to a “cupcake bakery” and would probably hope that one would refer to it as an “American-style Bakery”. Or, perhaps, that they bake American style bakery delights. Either way it’s a great place if you like the sweet goodness of a cupcake or a cookie.



Two Fat Cats is on India Street, sort of around the corner from Standard. This section of India is one of the best streets in Portland. Within the span of a block or two, you have Micucci Grocers, a family owned distributor of Italian food products that has a small store front. Two Fat Cats, and Coffee By Design (the best cup of coffee in town in my opinion). So image a Saturday morning: you go to India Street, grab a cup of coffee, a morning sweet and you join the fray at Micucci’s for your dinner ingredients.



We’ll leave Sophia’s for another post, but suffice it to say for now that they are worth a stop for lunch which could simply be an intense slice of whole-grain bread with a slab of asiago cheese on top.



The other place worth noting here on this outing is Scratch Bakery off Williard Square in South Portland. You’re going to need a map but this place is so special. It was originally called 158 because, presumably, that was its address at its first location. Before it moved to Willard Square I lived just across the street and loved the neighborhood with its short walk to the beach. Scratch is owned by Alison Reid, and I believe she has a couple of friends as partners as well. The place is bright with some loaves in the front window. You walk across wood floors past a nice selection of wine and cheese to reach the counter. All the muffins are nice, not too sweet and often there seems to be a southern influence: we had a cornmeal muffin the other day that reminded me of the sweet version of southern cornbread.



The bagels at scratch are great. You would never be fooled into thinking they’re from New York but they are so uniquely delicious that I really think a bagel snob would embrace them. They are often a little misshapen and little flat but what I love about them is they are often crispy. Who would have thought that would be great in a bagel but it is. I believe they are baked in a pizza oven that they have to spray water into to get steam so I would image that is the source of the crispiness. I just love them.



The breads are nice and often contain whole grains. They are baked to a nice darkness. Owing to the limitations of the ovens the loaves often have the dull look of being under-steamed but that really is only a visual complaint. They are great loaves of bread.



These three places are just a start. I’ll cover more bakeries in the area in the weeks to come. Suffice it to say that Portland is certainly a place to seek out when it comes to bakeries. And even if your every waking passion isn’t the pursuit of the best loaf of bread, hey, you got to enjoy a coffee and a roll to get your day started. So it might as well be a good one.