Six Places to Get the Best Sourdough Bread in Manila

If you have not gotten on the sourdough train yet, then you should think twice. While we're no haters of regular sliced white bread from the supermarket — they are convenient for those lazy days — they can also be quite bland.

Sourdough is made of only four ingredients — flour, levain or starter, salt, and water — and is exactly how bread was made thousands of years ago long before instant yeast was invented. As lovers of gluten, we appreciate a boule or batard with a gorgeous oven spring and ear, a crisp crust, and an even, airy crumb. If you've never tried sourdough before, you might find its slight tang and chewier texture quite different from what you're used to, but these are also the qualities that so many people love about it.

To help you get acquainted with sourdough, here are six places in Manila where you can find the best of them.

Tōst

As if good ole plain sourdough isn't glorious enough, Marvin Raymundo of Tōst takes this a notch higher with sourdough flavors that are perfect for the Filipino palate. We recommend Tōst's ube sourdough and for something softer, Tōst's sourdough tangzhong kape buns!

28 Derby

28 Derby, located in 28 Derby Street in White Plains, is a bakery and café known for their buns, loaves, puffs, and sweets. It's easy to get analysis paralysis poring through 28 Derby's offerings (you'll want to try them all), but you can't go wrong with their sourdough loaf and sourdough sandwich loaf!

B55 Microbakery

B55 Microbakery is a testament of chef Miko Santos' love for sourdough. Located in Katipunan Avenue, B55 Microbakery offers sourdough batards, baguettes, focaccia, pandesal, shokupan, and buns for every bread lover!

Likhang Harina

Likhang Harina's no-frills, no-nonsense menu selection of four is perfect for those who know exactly what they want in sourdough. Choose among their country sourdough, rye sourdough, seeded buckwheat sourdough, and cranberry walnut sourdough!

Otter Breads

You'll love Otter Breads not just for their artisan-style sourdough bread that comes in white, dark rye, and whole wheat flour, but also the amazing spreads and coffee they offer. They, too, have sourdough in other forms, such as pancake batter mix, fresh pizza dough, soup bowls, and scones.

The B.A.D. Baker

The B.A.D. Baker's artisan sourdough bread ticks off all our boxes, from the scoring, ear, and oven spring down to its crust and crumb! The B.A.D. Baker is run by one woman — Charis Gatmaitan — who hand mixes, folds, shapes, and bakes each loaf, so you can bet your peso that every order is made of love. She really is the baddest!

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