The hand-shaped, wood-fired potato-thyme fougasse from Hungry Ghost Bakery in Northampton, Massachusetts, has a pillowy texture reminiscent of focaccia and a wonderfully herbacous taste.With a moist crumb and pronounced crust, Tartine’s country bread is the gold standard for artisan loaves in San Francisco and beyond. Remarkable. Todd ColemanIggy’s in Boston makes one of our favorite sandwich breads, the fluffy and pliant pan Francese. Todd ColemanThe seeded fougasse at Standard Baking Company in Portland, Maine, tastes like the best everything bagel on earth: chewy, fragrant, great with good butter. Todd ColemanKeith Kouris’s two Long Island Blue Duck bakeries feature a vast range of international breads, but their dense Finnish-style sour rye is our favorite, particularly with a ripe, creamy cheese. Todd ColemanThink of the heavenly, crisp caramelized cheese atop a casserole; that’s what the Asiago-Parmesan bread by Lionel Vatinet at La Farm in Cary, North Carolina, tastes like. Todd ColemanThe fragrant rye ficelle Zachary Golper makes at his year-old Brooklyn bakery Bien Cuit is worth the trip to the borough. Todd ColemanOf all the creative loaves at Santa Monica’s Milo + Olive, the cinnamon sugar brioche is our favorite. Think French toast. Todd ColemanThe wood-fired, earthy-tasting country blond boule at Ken Forkish’s 11-year-old Portland, Oregon, bakery has the perfect crumb-to-chew ratio. Todd ColemanEdmund and Kathleen Weber bake this rustic air-pocketed pumpkin seed campagna at their Petaluma, California bakery, Della Fattoria. Todd ColemanThe moist, briny three-olive batard from Seven Stars in Providence, Rhode Island, is the platonic ideal of this style. Todd ColemanLong fermentation is the key to the fine flavor of this epi baguette, from Pain D’Avignon in New York City. Todd ColemanWe’re crazy about Berkshire Mountain Bakery’s Bread and Chocolate, a sourdough boule studded with bittersweet Callebaut chunks. Todd ColemanThe amply charred, smoky truccione sare from Sullivan Street Bakery in New York City embodies baker Jim Lahey’s classic-but-creative style. Todd ColemanAcme’s organic walnut levain is our favorite loaf from the seminal bakery in Berkeley, California. Todd ColemanThe chewy pain de seigle, a wheat-and-rye sourdough boule from Balthazar in New York City, just might be the perfect table bread. Todd ColemanThe chewy, aromatic Russian pumpernickel at 86-year-old Manhattan stalwart Orwasher’s is old-world perfection, and our choice for a pastrami sandwich. (We also love their chardonnay miche, made with grape yeast.) Todd ColemanGerard Rubaud, a French baker in Vermont, mills the flour for his insanely delicious organic levain. Todd ColemanThe slightly tangy, rugged whole wheat sourdough from New York’s Bread Alone makes a stellar PB&J. Todd ColemanThe fresh local flour used at Grand Central Bakery in Seattle and Portland is one reason the airy Como loaf (perfect for bruschette) is so insanely delicious. Todd Coleman
