Bourke Street Bakery, 9 Jan 2010

Normal people, after enjoying a substantial meal, would just go home satisfied. People who love food like us, given available time, will try to fit in another meal elsewhere. Where? Not far from where we started – only a suburb away at the famed Bourke Street Bakery. How could we not visit when we were in the company of one Ms Sourdough?

It’s early afternoon and there is only a short queue sitting in the doorway to the tiny store. Inside many hands speedily serve customers and I emerge with a large sourdough and pain au chocolat to take home. The thing about sourdough is that it always seems to me that it is more mould-resistant than commercial loaf bread but it doesn’t dry out as easily either. These qualities make it perfect for slow bread eaters such as Monsieur Poisson and myself. And just look at that beautiful blistered crust!

The pain au chocolat I have for a late afternoon tea as I can’t handle the thought of its flaky layers slowly deflating whilst sitting in my kitchen. Although some of the oils have been absorbed into the paper bag, it still makes for a wonderfully buttery treat with my cup of tea.

Unfortunately we aren’t as restrained as it seems – I have also bought a bacon and gruyère quiche which is still warm and is just screaming to be eaten. To not do so would have been a travesty and it definitely isn’t a hard task splitting an individual-sized quiche between four people. Especially not when there is creamy, eggy filling with salty batons of bacon encased in a flaky pastry case which somehow doesn’t flake all over you upon eating. Ahhh, the miracles of great baking!

Bourke Street Bakery

633 Bourke St (cnr Devonshire St), Surry Hills NSW

Tel: (02) 9699 1011

Opening Hours:  Mon  CLOSED

Tues-Fri  7am-6pm

Sat & Sun  8am-5pm

happy eating!