Ken's Artisan: the country loaf on NW 21st

We still send people to Ken’s Artisan Bakery the way you send someone to the original of a thing they have only met in copies, and westside loaf fans have been wondering for years whether the shop still delivers now that Ken Forkish is not behind the bench. We can FINALLY say it does! Northwest 21st. The bakery, not the pizza place. The country loaf. Then, if the case is kind, a pastry that reminds you this shop never treated lamination as a side hustle.

Forkish opened this shop in 2001 in a renovated carpet warehouse at 21st and Flanders after he left high-tech, chased French methods, and wanted a Portland boulangerie that took levain bread as seriously as the pastry case. The early years were not a victory lap — retail bread was slower than the praise — but he kept baking, and the country loaf became the westside loaf other bakers had to answer. He wrote the books that taught a generation of home bakers to weigh flour and wait, then he retired, and longtime employees Randy Dorkin and Theo Taylor run it now. The name on the awning is still Ken’s. The loaf is still the reason.

Walk in and we can also see why people treat this room like a destination. Brightly colored walls, lots of window light, a communal table, two-tops, and a bread display that is the actual focal point of the café — blond and darker country loaves stacked like the product is the décor. The three-kilo country blonde boule is almost comically large, the kind of round you photograph before you dare cut it, and the bâtards have that deep golden crust with a little flour still sitting in the score. The pastry case glows next to the bread, and the whole shop smells like butter and levain at the same time. It feels super neighborhood, not designed, and that is the Portland part of the whole thing!

Do not confuse this counter with Ken’s Artisan Pizza on the eastside. We have watched visitors do THAT and end up in a different neighborhood, with a different menu, asking for a morning bun. The bakery is on NW 21st in the Northwest District. Start there. There is also an Annex a few doors down for later in the week, but this page is the original bakery counter.

Portland bread fans have been wondering which loaf is the assignment, and we are settling it: the country loaf is the must-get! It is the house levain — the blond and the darker country loaves have been the signature since the beginning — and it is the loaf we mean when we say this shop started the rest. Get it as a bâtard if you want a week of toast. Get the larger boule if you are feeding a table. Then look at the pastry case like you mean it, because Ken’s has always been a laminated shop as much as a bread shop. The goat-cheese-and-leek croissant is the savory we name when we want it to count. The passionfruit escargot is the spiral that is not another cinnamon bun. The Oregon croissant — marionberry and hazelnut — is the local fruit-and-nut version of the form, and if a morning bun is out, THAT last one is the wildcard we always take!

A baguette from this counter is a fair second savory if you already have a country loaf at home, because Forkish built the place on levain breads and baguettes together. We still treat the country loaf as the assignment. Know this before you go: morning is the move, the neighborhood fills with people who came for coffee and people who came for bread, and you can tell who is who by who is holding a paper bag like it matters. Forkish is not behind the bench, and you do not need him to be. The shop survived the founder the way a real bakery is supposed to: the people who already knew the dough kept baking it. If you read Flour Water Salt Yeast and now want to see the source, this is the source. If you have never heard of the book, you will still know the loaf when you cut it!

Want the short version? It’s on the Ken's Artisan Bakery page.