There’s nothing quite like pulling up to a country bakery on a long road trip and filling up on flaky pies, finger buns and chocolate milk. And while you’ll still find plenty of these old-school gems in small towns and bigger regional centres across NSW, you’ll also find plenty of world-class bakehouses pumping out superlative croissants, organic sourdough and gorgeous tarts. Here’s eight bakeries worth a visit on your next NSW road trip, whether you’re heading north, west or south.

Burnt Honey Bakery, Copacabana

Couple your next beach holiday with a visit to this gorgeous Central Coast bakehouse. It’s all about using local suppliers and ensuring waste and packaging is kept to a minimum. It’s gained a local following for baked goods you might have trouble finding elsewhere on the Coast: dense seeded rye sourdoughs, kouign-amann and canelés. You’ll also find croissants made with Pepe Saya butter and danishes piled with seasonal fruit.
Shop 1/224 Del Monte Place, Copacabana
burnthoneybakery.com.au

Black Cockatoo Bakery, Lawson and Katoomba

Black Cockatoo does some of the best croissants around – not just in the Blue Mountains, but in NSW. Paris-born owner-operator Alex Rivière is a former fine-dining chef, with experience at Sean’s Panaroma, and uses traditional methods to create truly special baked goods. His croissants are lusciously laminated, and hefty with Pepe Saya butter. And his sourdough is naturally fermented for more than 20 hours using wild live cultures, and is made with organic stone ground Australian flour.
Shop 1/1 Staples Crescent, Lawson
165 Katoomba Street, Katoomba
blackcockatoobakery.com.au

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Flour Water Salt, South Nowra, Kiama and Milton

The fact that family-owned and run Flour Water Salt has three bakeries is testament to its attention to detail – and focus on doing a few things perfectly, rather than a lot of products, half-arsed. The pick here is the naturally leavened sourdough loaves – they’re made with organic flour, purified water and Aussie sea salt, shaped by hand and left to rise in willow baskets before being popped in the oven. It also makes a mean fruit loaf.

13 Enterprise Ave, South Nowra
49 Shoalhaven Street, Kiama
87 Princes Highway, Milton
flourwatersalt.com.au

Dojo Bread, Braidwood

Dojo Bread is the perfect stopover for your next road trip to Canberra. Though it does a ripper trade in bready items – dense sourdough loaves and bagels included – the must-order here is the pork and fennel sausage roll, made with fresh herbs. And forget the service-station coffee – it makes a flat white with Ona beans like no one’s business.

90 Wallace Street, Braidwood
facebook.com/dojobread

Clementine Bakery, Yass and Murrumbateman

Pre-Covid, Clementine was a fine-dining restaurant – but after the 2020 lockdown its owners decided to switch gears and become a permanent bakery. On the main street of pretty Yass, it makes everything by hand in small batches using local ingredients. Visit for beautiful sourdough loaves, fluffy cinnamon scrolls, perfectly flaky croissants, Portuguese tarts and more. There’s also a store in nearby town Murrumbateman now, too.
69 Comur Street, Yass
47 Rose Street, Murrumbateman
clementinebakery.com.au

Honorbead, Bermagui

Honorbread opened in serene Bermagui in 2015, selling handmade bread and pastries. The star here is the kardemummabullar, a Swedish-style cardamom bun. Made with local free-range eggs, proper butter and warming spices, it’s a little bit of Scandi goodness on the South Coast.
8 Bunga Street, Bermagui
honorbread.com

Racine Bakery, Orange

Orange has a reputation for outstanding food, and Racine Bakery, a hidden gem behind a local Woolies, is no exception. Famous for its flaky butter-pastry pies, it also does road trip-worthy organic sourdough, bacon and egg rolls and very good-looking cakes.
142 Summer Street, Orange
racinerestaurant.com.au

Milkwood Bakery, Berry

On the historic main drag of quaint Berry is Milkwood, which has been plying locals and visitors with flour-based treats since 2012. Stop by for warming cinnamon scrolls, pretty tarts piled with seasonal fruit and elegant versions of classics such as lamingtons, finger buns and sausage rolls. Be sure to grab a sourdough loaf before the long drive back to the city.
109 Queen Street, Berry
milkwoodbakery.com.au

This article was originally published on December 15, 2021. It has been updated to reflect new information and out of date details.