Bread Alley — Restaurant in Washington

Jan 29, 2022 Born and raised in Germany, I grew up on an immense variety of bread. It has always been my biggest regret to hardly finding any decent and edible bread in the US. While at Ft. Hood, there was a German baker in Kempner...that was about it. Yes, American bread has its uses...to make grilled cheese sandwiches...but not much else...

I recently subscribed to an artisan online bread delivery service...the bread was so delicious, I almost cried. So I looked online to see if I could find a bakery in the area and support a local, smaller?) business. I asked hubby to get a baguette and sourdough loaf...he got back about 30 min ago. I must admit, there is only a small piece of the baguette left.

It reminded me of when I was a little girl. We were on vacation to Spain or Portugal. On our way we had to drive thru France. I remember the very early mornings after my stepfather was driving all night, we would stop at a brasserie in whatever little town we would happen to be. The hissing of the espresso machine as the barista concocted my cafe-au-lait and his cafe with a generous tip of Calvadoz, which was then served accompanied by a still warm baguette and sweet creamery butter!

I will probably demolish the sourdough in three days. I am intensely serious when I say that good bread with good butter is my choice of food...I rather have that than a steak, caviar, or whatever other luxury food you can think of. Yes, you can get something resembling bread at other places a lot cheaper...but this is worth every penny...This is REAL bread! For as long as we are in the area, this will be my bakery for fresh bread.

Jan 31, 2022 yes, I ate the whole baguette on the 29th...it was lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. For dinner, I added organic honey to the butter, and it was pure bliss. On the 30th, I had the 2 ends of the sourdough loaf for breakfast. I wish it had more ends, so I can have more of that crusty goodness. For dinner, I had a veggie burger with Bachan's Japanese BBQ sauce between sourdough bread. Today, I started with a slice with butter. I will have another with honey once I warm up the milk. The loaf is still crispy. I keep it in the same paper bag it came in. Yes, Bread Alley is a keeper. May your dough always sour and the loaves bake...

Adorable little bakery tucked into an alleyway in Union Market. They're in the middle of the alley and impossible to spot (unless, as there often is, there's a line out the door), so it can feel a little sketchy to walk aimlessly through a random alleyway, but Bread Alley makes the walk super cute with a lovely string of arrows pointing you to their gorgeous black brick and wooden storefront.

They don't have a full-time cashier, so if you get to Bread Alley during one of their off-peak hours, you have to knock or ring the bell and wait for one of their bakers to come open the door for you. Once they do, you'll be welcomed into a cozy little shopping area with just a cash register, small pastry case (which just includes a few exemplary pastries -- the rest are in the back), and a wall of various types of bread. I didn't end up grabbing one of their breads, but I'll definitely have to make my way back for them; the harissa black sesame sourdough looked incredibly enticing, but I just, unfortunately, didn't have a need for a full loaf of bread at the time. However, I was in the mood for a sweet treat and decided to get a classic pain au chocolat. They don't have an indoor seating space, given their relatively barebones front-end, so I just ate my croissant as I walked home. It was a beautiful croissant, with a gorgeous lamination inside and nice glossy finish. It was a smidge too doughy for my taste, as I generally prefer really light and airy croissants, but it was...

I was very excited about going to the Bread Alley due to the fact I have heard good things from IG. So when I 1st got to the door I swore the lady looked at me in such a dis manner but I shrug it off because why would she do that. So I got in and told her it was my first time. She said what bread do u want in such a rude manner. I told her I was making some soups (lentil and a squash) and asked about a sour dough or a baguette She said it it didn't matter. At this point I wanted to say never mind but decided to get something because me and my partner was having guest over and I wanted a nice fresh bread for the soups. I got a sour dough came right out of the store and sent a message to the stores Ig page hoping to get a response but of course I haven't. Once my guess came over and dinner was served, I cut the Bread and luckily ate the Bread before my partner. The Bread was made with olive which he is allergic to. Nothing on the label said it had olives and when I told her what type of soups I was having she didn't say the anything about the Bread at all except that it didn't matter. I will not be shopping there again. I also went on there ig page and it had bad reviews due to the service as comments under...