Common questions

PortlandBread is an editorial guide to bread and pastry in Portland. It covers the bakeries, what to order at each one, and the people who run them. Most of the shops are in Portland, plus a few in nearby cities that are worth the drive, each filed under the city it's actually in. Since PortlandBread doesn't scrape reviews or take orders, any shop you find here is one this guide would send you to.

Usually it's a naturally leavened country loaf with a good crust and grain you can taste, the kind that still holds up the next morning, and those are the loaves at Tabor Bread, Ken's and Café Olli. Little T's baguette on Division is worth the trip too, and so is the westside country loaf at Baker & Spice if you're already in Hillsdale. Start with the naturally leavened list, and check each shop's Journal page for what to order and when to go.

On PortlandBread, naturally leavened means wild yeast and a long ferment, the opposite end of the shelf from a quick sandwich loaf made with commercial yeast. A shop goes on the naturally leavened list when that's how it bakes the loaves this guide recommends. Grand Central's everyday Como is a beloved Portland staple, and it's a different kind of bread from a dark, blistered country bâtard, so if you're after the long-ferment loaves, start with that list and the Journal visits for those shops.

On the eastside, make Tabor Bread on Belmont your first stop. The bakers make buckwheat and mountain bread on Saturday and einkorn on Monday, and the country loaf is there every day. Baker & Spice works if you're already in Hillsdale, Ken's on 21st has the westside country loaf, and Bakeshop on Sandy sometimes has a dark whole-grain miche. The weekend loaf list and the Journal pages for these shops cover what to order and when to go.

If it's your first time on the eastside, go to Little T on Division, and get there early, because the baguettes sell out. Ken's on 21st and St. Honoré on Thurman bake one too, and Baker & Spice has a westside baguette if you're already on that side of the river. Those four make up the baguette list, and each has a Journal page on what to order and when to go.

For a butter croissant, start at Twisted Croissant on Broadway. Nuvrei makes kouign-amann and flavored croissants at its new downtown shop, so use the current address and ignore any old Pearl pin. St. Honoré's main shop is on Thurman on the westside. JinJu is celebrated for its kouign and croissant, and it's open again on Williams at a new address, 3494 N Williams. The croissant list has the other shops, with Journal pages on what to order and when to go.

Oyatsupan in Beaverton is the place for shokupan and curry pan, as long as you get there before the afternoon cutoff. Tous Les Jours at Flock downtown comes in handy when the neighborhood bakeries have closed, and the cloud cake and the milk bun are where to start. 85°C at Washington Square is worth the drive for Hokkaido chiffon and garlic cheese bread. Those three shops are the milk bread list, and their Journal pages cover what to order and when to go.

A bread bakery is built around loaves, like country bâtards, baguettes, miche and the Saturday bake, and a pastry shop is built around croissants, tarts, entremets, doughnuts and pie. Plenty of shops do both, and this guide files each one by what most people go there for. Pastry Shops is the list for pastry, and the bread lists are for loaves.

For pie, go to Lauretta Jean's on Division and order the salted honey, which is why there's a line. Pix on Burnside has entremets and a case that's open late, and Champagne Poetry on Hawthorne makes fruit tarts and Asian-French pastry. Artisserie on NW 23rd has a pistachio croissant and French pastry, and at Coquine Market on Mount Tabor you can pick up a loaf and do your shopping in one stop. Read the Journal visit before you plan a day around any of these, because what's in the case changes and the most popular things sell first.

Earlier than you think, especially for baguettes, doughnuts and weekend loaves. Get to Little T on Division early for a baguette. Doe and Petunia's fry their doughnuts that morning and sell out, and the Saturday specialty breads at Tabor and the miche at Bakeshop go early too, so if a Journal visit gives you a time to go, go then. If a shop's hours haven't been verified in a while, call before you drive across town.

A bakery makes a list when this guide would send you there and can say why in one specific line, and nobody can pay to be on one. Naturally leavened, croissants, baguettes, milk bread and weekend loaves are the craft lists. Vegan pastry and gluten-free follow narrower rules, explained on How we decide, and both go by what the shop prints on a page it controls. Featured bakeries meet the same bar, and PortlandBread tells the bakery when it's featured.

The Journal covers what to order and when to go, one bakery at a time. Each visit walks up to one counter and tells you about the loaf or pastry worth the trip, plus anything you'd want to know before you go. It also has two explainers on how this guide reads vegan and gluten-free claims, since directories disagree about those and PortlandBread uses a narrow definition. Read a visit once you've picked a bakery from the directory.

Open Bakeries for the directory. Every shop there is filed under a real Portland neighborhood or its metro city, and there's a neighborhood index if you already know where you'll be wandering. If you know the shop's name, use the search on the directory page.

Yes, a few that are worth the drive, in Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Hillsboro and Forest Grove, and each one is filed under its own city. If a shop is only a P.O. box or works by appointment, its page tells you.

Dedicated gluten-free means the whole kitchen, so a labeled tray in a mixed case won't get a shop on that list. The dedicated kitchens are Petunia's, New Cascadia, Berlu, Sinful, Gem, Kirari and the metro dedicated shops on the list. Vegan means the shop says the item or the bakery is vegan, and Sweetpea, Doe, Petunia's, Hail Snail and Carina's are the kitchens people ask about first (Sweetpea and Doe are vegan kitchens that use wheat). How we decide explains the rules in full, and Best gluten-free and Best vegan pastry list the shops.

Use Contact for a correction or a press note, and if you run the shop, use Add Your Bakery. A vegan or gluten-free claim only goes on the site when the shop says so on a page it controls, and you can't place orders through PortlandBread.