A polished pastry shop that puts a fine-dining twist on classic bakery items. Think Wagyu and mushroom pies, and yuzu curd croissants. The star item – the Crown on 487 – is so labour-intensive only 15 are made each day.

If you spot a seeded ciabatta roll on a menu in Sydney, chances are it came from Brickfields. One of the city's OG artisan bakeries, this compact corner is where to go for killer sourdough, oozy mushroom melts and coffee by Mecca.

A Cali-inspired rooftop bakery from the teams behind Ester, Reuben Hills and Paramount House Hotel. Ascend for sourdough bread made with old-world wheat, hefty pies and pastries we can’t stop thinking about.

The Love, Tilly Devine team’s bakery has landed in the inner west with masala croissants and metre-long focaccias. You can grab the latter just like they do it in Rome: by the slice and loaded with cold-cuts.

Three Messina chefs have gone all-out with their bakery debut. It’s where French and very nostalgic Aussie influences collide in treats like a Vegemite and avocado scroll, and a fancy take on an old-school custard tart.

Loulou’s boulangerie is a little slice of Parisian life. Pick up coffee and fresh baguettes all day long, as well as buttery croissants, Basque burnt cheesecakes and fougasse du jour.

Nadine Ingram is one the city’s master bakers, and this compact spot is where all her magic happens. Head here for gorgeous cakes, salads and sandwiches to take away. For baking supplies, cookbooks and more, hit the pantry a couple of doors up.

The first thing you’ll spy at this no-rules bakery is a pile of pastries in the front window. They're not an accessory to your coffee – they're the main event. Expect anything from charcoal dough to spanakopita filling in your croissant.

If you’re looking for the city’s supreme Portuguese tart, it comes from this tiny, counter-only bakery. It’s also where you’ll find beautiful cakes, croissants and cream-filled doughnuts. Ditto at Tuga’s Alexandria HQ.

Not only is Iggy’s where fine-dining restaurants get their bread, it’s also a proving ground for the city’s top baking talent. Sourdough, baguettes, bagels – you name it. The people have been lining up for it for years.

The Circa Espresso team leaves nothing on the lamination bench at this light-filled bakery. A cornucopia of treats is baked on-site each day, including croissants and banoffee choux. There's also a brunch menu packed with Middle Eastern flavours.

This tiny neighbourhood bakehouse is run by a couple who list some of Sydney’s best bakeries on their CVs. Get in early for crunchy croissants, rustic sourdough and seasonal-fruit danishes – they often sell out.

A sourdough standard-setter, now with multiple locations on the northern beaches. Hit this hole-in-the-wall for a stellar loaf, then hang around for a chocolate croissant or a “Balgowlah bun” made with croissant off-cuts.

Details are everything at this retro bakery in the city’s south. The team behind pizzeria My Mother’s Cousin are making sangas with cross-section charisma, fruit-filled danishes and sourdough worth lining up for.

Pioik means “the bread” in ancient Egyptian, a nod to its owner’s heritage. There’s fine-dining flair in every two-kilo Epooro loaf; ditto the croissants and seasonal creations. A heritage terrace in Pyrmont is where it all goes down.

Whether they’re baking bread or butchering steaks, the Porteno team does not muck around. Its humble little bakery nearly broke the internet with a gorgeous finger bun. But it’s no slouch in the sandwich department either.

Founded by a qualified nutritionist, Wholegreen has amassed a cult following in Sydney and overseas for its coeliac-friendly bread, pastries and pies. If you’re looking for the gold standard in gluten-free baking, look no further.

At this compact patisserie, a genre-bending baker mixes Korean influences with classic French techniques to create some of Sydney’s most eye-popping pastries. We love the iced raspberry sencha and the big specialty coffee focus.

A compact terrazzo bakery modelled on an Italian alimentari, where you can grab everyday staples like bread and condiments for the pantry. But do you need a focaccia sandwich filled with mortadella every day? Of course you do.

This tiny, garage-like spot on the beaches is another contender for the title of Sydney’s best sourdough bread. A thick slice of the stuff smeared with house-churned butter and local honey is pure magic.

There’s a lot going on at Cherry Moon – not least of all a woodfired oven belting out fig-leaf sourdough, crunchy focaccia and Portuguese tarts. This mottled roadside spot also has you covered with housemade pantry staples and coffee, of course.

The cult Melbourne bakery brings its signature sourdough (plus a few exclusive items) to Neil Perry’s Double Bay hospo corner. Come for breakfast bowls, stacked focaccia paninis and salads paired with coffee by Mecca.

A one-stop shop for celebration cakes, savoury lunch-time pastries and croissants made with a recipe that took 15 months to perfect. From the street, you can watch the team prepare all of the above inside the glass-encased kitchen.

Like a proving loaf, the Grumpy Baker empire continues to expand. That means a Middle Eastern brekkie or a slab of olive-studded sourdough is never far away. Grumpy’s Moroccan-lamb pies deserve a special shout-out.

Sweet Belem’s Portuguese tarts are the real deal. Once you bite into the flaky outer shell to the warm custard inside, you’ll understand why people travel to this gem in Petersham’s Little Portugal.

These days Bourke Street Bakery has outposts by the baker’s dozen. But this much-loved corner site is where it all started. Tip-top sourdough, award-winning pies and value-packed sandwiches are the main attractions.

It's more than likely you will have eaten – or at least heard of – Sonoma. Its sourdough is the loaf of choice for many cafes, delis and providores across Sydney. We’ve usually got one on the go, too.