For the Love of Bread

When bread is good it's really good. My go-to neighborhood bakery is Clear Flour Bread, a homey corner shop from which the aroma of fresh baking bread wafts through the air, and a line of eager patrons spills out the door and wraps around the block every weekend. If I need bread to accompany a dinner I'll drop by on my way home from work; Clear Flour bakes "authentic breads of Italy and France" in shop, using organic and stone-ground flour, daily. From baguettes and batards to loaves of soft, chewy sourdough that's great for sandwiches or on its own, Clear Flour is always fresh, day-of, and delicious. They make pizza dough daily (ready by 1:30 pm, show up on the dot for first dibs) which you can roll out and top yourself - the possibilities are endless. The focaccia bread topped with onions is incredible, coming in large and smaller sizes, and my favorite item on the menu. The rotating pastry selection includes brioches, cookies from biscotti to macaroons, croissants, morning buns, scones, rustic tarts using seasonal fruit ... you never know exactly what you'll find. The cake selection alone ranges from bundt cakes, lemon pound cake, to gingerbread tea cakes, and the holiday specials go to another level - this Easter they'll make gateau Bretons and ganached chocolate egg-shaped cakes, but be sure to order one ahead of time, as they'll go fast. Clear Flour baked goods are hot commodities around here.

In the Washington, D.C. area my favorite local bakery by far is Praline, the bakery and bistro that's the love child of former White House executive pastry chef Roland Mesnier. Modeled after high-end Parisian patisseries, my favorite pastime at Praline is to curl up with a cafe latte and pastry by the crackling fire in the corner, indulging in a leisurely breakfast at a European pace. Praline, likewise to Clear Flour, does specialized holiday desserts such as Buche de Noel (Christmas Yule logs) and Gallette des Rois (Kings' Cake), and even wedding cakes. My friends, pastry chefs with extensive culinary training, that work there hail from as far as Switzerland - the Praline top chefs know that to be done right put it in the hands of a European. Praline is the best of both worlds: a combination of a welcoming neighborhood place and the class of a proper French bistro. Now that takes the cake.