Bakeries Posts

Poll: Best Bakery in the Duluth Area

get-bakedWith your help, we’ve compiled a list of swoon-worthy bakeries in the Duluth area.

It’s a highly subjective exercise. It may be that a fruit tart warms your heart or a cake donut pleases your gut. Whatever the case, it’s time to make a show of support for your favorite purveyor of sweet and glutenous treats.

The nominations are in. Now it’s time to vote and have a say. What’s the Perfect Duluth-area bakery?

This is a runoff poll, which means options will be whittled down over time. We started with 14 nominees; it’s now down to the Final Four: Duluth’s Best Bread, Johnson’s Bakery, Lake Superior Bakehouse and Zenith Bread Project.

This poll is now closed. The results were:

Duluth’s Best Bread – 38 percent
Zenith Bread Project – 27 percent
Johnson’s Bakery – 20 percent
Lake Superior Bakehouse – 15 percent

What is the best Duluth-area bakery?

baked-goodsThe decline of the corner bakery in modern America could be considered one of the greatest food-related tragedies of our time. An 85 percent decrease in standalone retail bakeries occurred in the United States over the past 40 years, according to Retail Bakers of America.

With this in mind, it seems important to show our local bakeries some love. That’s why our latest poll will decide the perfect Duluth bakery.

Nominate your favorite by commenting on this post. It will be a purely subjective poll, of course. Comparing an old-school institution stocked with traditional sweets like Long Johns and Bismarcks and a newfangled shop specializing in artisan breads and delicate pastries is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, but the idea is to choose an overall favorite.

Feel free to nominate bakeries that double as coffee shops and serve food or the supermarket variety, if you’re so inclined.

After much geographical consideration, we’ve determined any bakery within 16 miles of the Aerial Lift Bridge is eligible for nomination. That means establishments in Superior, Hermantown, Proctor and the many bordering townships qualify for nomination, but more distant places like Two Harbors and Cloquet do not.

Once we have a good pool of nominees, the poll will commence.

Duluth’s Best Bread celebrates one year

Robert and Michael Lillegard

Robert and Michael Lillegard

The majority of corner bakeries have been casualties of the modern demands of life, which prioritize convenience over quality. A pair of Duluth entrepreneurs is turning the corner bakery model on its head with a limited menu of artisan products, a mix of wholesale, retail and subscription sales and just the right amount of wit.

New sweet shop in Hermantown

HarborCitySweets5

Those with a penchant for pretty fondant will be pleased to know there’s a new boutique-style bakery in Hermantown. Heather Melzark and her fiancé Al Gutierrez opened Harbor City Sweets Bakery and Cakery in late February.

The story of Duluth’s Best Bread: Sourdough in lieu of a PhD

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I recently spent a day trying out the role of assistant baker for Duluth’s Best Bread. The amount of time and effort that goes into their scrumptious goodness defies belief. Furthermore, the simple ingredients that go into a traditional sourdough are completely unimpressive. The real feat is accomplished by the wild yeast and lactobacilli that run wild in a symbiotic relationship through Michael Lillegard’s time-tested method of cold fermentation.

Cookie Temptations

Today, after exiting the lunch buffet at Sala Thai, I stopped in Cookie Temptations.

Think bakery + florist. CT creates sugar cookies that are designed in chocolate, baked in Duluth.

Besides custom cookie orders (that’s the “florist” part as I see it), they sell individually wrapped cookies. One cookie a month is a “benefit” cookie, proceeds to a charity or needy cause.

The young lady behind the counter was awesome, informative, and helpful; the cookie we bought rocked.