Clear Flour Bread — Restaurant in Brookline

Updating prior review after trying more baked goods. We tried the no nuts carrot cake and lemon poundcake this time. The carrot cake was fine and not too sweet but a bit dry. The small lemon poundcake loaf was VERY dry when we ate half of it after we brought it home. The other half became very hard the next day. This was very disappointing, especially considering it was a pricey item.

Since it's German week at the bakery, I decided to brave the potentially long queue to try their pretzel and pretzel croissant that I've heard so much about. Luckily, there was almost no waiting at all around 1pm on a Mon afternoon.

The pretzel croissant was as advertised. It had a great pretzel saltiness and a unique flavor which I've never had before in a croissant. This was the star out of everything I tried.

The plain pretzel and Plum Berliner were not successful. The pretzel had the texture and taste of a bagel, nothing special, unlike the pretzels that I've enjoyed in Frankfurt. The Berliner was a disappointment given that it tasted so different from the website description. It was quite dense, not soft. The plum jam inside was nice but overall was so so. I would not get either of these again.

However, I would go back for the pretzel croissant which is stellar in my opinion and I do give a lot of credit to this bakery that always try to bring interesting flavors to the...

A little piece of pastry heaven in Brookline.

Clear Flour Bread has been on my bucketlist for a while, and I recently took a visit on a Sunday morning. Despite the cold weather, the queues winded down the street. A 20-minute head start before opening time didn't put me at the front of the line, but it significantly cut down the wait. This small effort was a small price to pay for the experience that awaited inside.

From freshly-baked baguettes to small pies and croissants, they had a lot of enticing items on display. I tried a variety of their croissants, each boasting the perfect balance between density and airiness. While the apricot and raspberry variants had their charm, Chocolate Pistachio was my favorite – a perfect blend of nutty and chocolatey flavors encased in flaky pastry.

I also got to sample their Honey Layers, a special of the day. Enveloped in a delicate honey glaze, this pastry masterfully balanced a suberly flaky exterior with a satisfying dense heart. The mini pies and tarts were also impressive. The Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake was a marvel in texture, soft and indulgent, while the Bourbon Pecan Tart struck the right balance between sweet and nutty.

Highly recommend giving them a try, but make sure to get there before their opening time to avoid the wait. Their croissants and pastries are certainly...

Visited here a few days before Thanksgiving 2020 in search of a round Pumpernickel loaf. There was a line outside, despite the rain, and people already in line assured me that, even pre-Covid, youb could expect a line. They, unfortunately didn't have what I was looking for, but to say that the experience was memorable and an understatement.

Once inside, a cozy little bakery counter and a veritable cornucopia of bread and pastry products great the senses, and it's all beautiful. The bread looks like something you would expect to see in a quaint Illustration of artisan bread like something out 9f Norman Rockwell.

And the staff! So friendly! They were very knowledgeable, and incredibly patient, and in light of the fact that they didn't have what I needed, they were happy to make recommendations of other local establishments I should check. I was so impressed, I still wound up purchasing a large Rye loaf which was phenomenal. I also had a Financier (if you don't know what a Financier is, you must immediately try one) and the taste and texture combination... Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that this bakery is a long far distance from my home, because I could see myself getting fat very quickly in this little bakery of...