Best Sourdough in Melbourne

The smell of freshly baked bread makes us do funny things: it steers us off course from our regular route to work, makes us spend money we otherwise would’ve saved and convinces us we need a second breakfast – all before 10am.

Good bread takes patience and a lot of experience, thanks to ever-changing variables such as humidity and temperature. At these spots you're guaranteed a first-rate loaf, baked by people who’ve kneaded thousands and thousands of loaves in their time.

Words by Dan Cunningham And Holly Bodeker-smith
Updated on 15 March 2020

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Baker Bleu Caulfield North

The finest sourdough in Melbourne? Attica and Gimlet certainly seem to think so. Baker Mike Russell, who also makes baguettes and bagels, has worked in some of Sydney and Melbourne's most iconic bakeries. And the student may just have become the master.

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Baker D. Chirico

Daniel Chirico is one of Melbourne's best bakers, and his bread is some of the best in town. But it's his wildly popular cannoli and bombolini that have kept us coming back for all these years. Just be sure to get in early, almost everything here tends to sell out well before close.

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Loafer Bread

A sweet little bakery in North Fitzroy making artisan cakes, biscuits, pastries and loaves of bread.

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Falco Bakery

A take on an old-school Aussie bakery by a team of hospo veterans who know what makes a great venue tick. One of the owners happens to be an incredible baker, who's turning out rustic sourdough loaves, standout pies and a mighty fine fleet of sangas. To drink, there's espresso or filter coffee made using beans roasted in-house.

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Noisette Port Melbourne

If you haven't been to this bakery in person, you might recognise the name. Noisette is one of Melbourne's most prolific cafe wholesalers, and many of its breads and pastries show up at the best brunch spots around town.

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The Wood Frog Bakery

Bagels and bread are just the beginning.

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Bread Club

Two French bakers are making classic sourdough, fruit loaves and three-ingredient baguettes and getting creative with banana-split croissants and blood-orange doughnuts in an airy, mint-green space.

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Dench Bakers

This bakery has been a Fitzroy North Village since 2005. Its versatility is its greatest strength: the excellent sourdough is bolstered by a line-up that includes plenty of pastries and gluten-free cakes. Don't miss the hot cross buns at Easter-time.

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Firebrand Bakery

A family-run favourite that’s been producing sourdough for more than 25 years. It's the kind of reliable neighbourhood bakery that always has you covered with quality bread, or a generously filled sandwich and slice of cake to go.

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Q le Baker

French-born baker Quentin Berthonneau has trained at Vue de Monde and Chez Dre, and wants good bread to be as accessible as good coffee in Melbourne.

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Sourdough Kitchen

A no-frills bakery supplying the good food we know and love.

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Tivoli Road Bakery

Sourdough, spelt, multigrain, and soy and linseed are among the bready delights at this respected outfit. And no visit is complete without trying the doughnuts, filled with rotating flavours such as lemon custard and rhubarb.

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Wild Life Bakery

Huw Murdoch's fantastic slow-fermented sourdough loaves are well worth picking up to bring home, but we recommend heading to Wild Life for a meal if you can. Inside this striking converted warehouse, you'll find a mostly vegetarian menu where toasties are the heroes.

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Ovens Street

This bread and pastry outfit supplies some of the best cafes in Melbourne. Head here if you want to go straight to the source.

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Convent Bakery

An artisan bakery cafe at the Abbotsford Convent.

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Faraday’s Cage

Sourdough and croissants baked in an old recording studio.

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Zelda Bakery

A sourdough micro-bakery by loyally followed baker Maaryasha Werdiger. She's pulling crowds with her sourdough loaves, pillowy focaccia, beautifully braided challah and swirly chocolate babka.

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