Giv os i dag vort daglige brød / Give us this day our daily bread
/
Maybe it should be give us this day our daily bread and cake …. sesame seed bread and a fig snail for my lunch from Hart Bageri
As the population of Copenhagen grew rapidly, and as the city expanded In the late 19th century and in the early decades of the last century, with new areas of housing built outside the old city defences, each new neighbourhood had a new church and a new school.
But now? Now it would seem that every inner district has to have its own artisan baker.
That’s not a dig to write this off as simply the latest hipster trend but - just the opposite - because it is a serious observation about an important change that says much about day-to-day life in Copenhagen.
This is about bread baked by craftsmen and not about fashion or about food fads. It’s about expertise and about enthusiasm for good food baked by men and women who really know about bread. It’s about appreciating traditional and local and regional styles of baking and it's about bakers finding good flour from local sources and it’s all about bread that has amazing and distinct flavours.
And no, I’m not turning this into a food blog but I am trying to make an important point.
For a thousand years Copenhagen has been a city of merchants and craftsmen who have succeeded because they know exactly what they are doing and why. And yes, these new bread makers should be seen as craftsmen …. craftsmen who have skill and who understand their market and produce incredibly good food.
With the lockdown and with restrictions because of the pandemic, people now have to queue along the pavement outside shops, including the bakers, but, despite the cold weather through the Spring, the lines have been long and I've noticed - as people walk down the line or stand in line - there are nods of acknowledgement to friends and neighbours from nearby apartment buildings so it is obvious that these bakers are establishing a local customer base with strong neighbourhood loyalties.
Perhaps, the only exception is Lille Bageri out on Refshaleøen … not because they don't have loyal customers but simply because there are few houses nearby and it is a bike ride away for most of their customers. Even so, or maybe because of that, it’s a place, to meet friends and have a coffee and cakes or a good lunch … and, of course, a place to buy incredibly good bread.
Now this really is beginning to sound like a food review or an advert so I should probably point out that this blog does not have paid content …. It's written simply because of genuine appreciation for good food made by people who know what they are doing.
Bageriet Brød, Enghave Plads 7
A bakery and cake shop and with a good general drink and deli selection opened by Kihoskh store on Sønder Boulevard.
The completion of the new metro station here a couple of years ago has transformed the square. There is good planting and welcoming seating so people meet up here and traffic - apart from bikes - no longer crosses in front of the bakery.
The photo above of the long queue waiting outside, because of the pandemic restrictions, is Bageriet Brød and it shows just how popular the bakery is. Their Instagram site shows their wide selection of cakes.
Hart Bageri, Gammel Kongevej 109 and Gallionsvej 41 ✽
Richard Hart is from England but has worked as a chef and baker in California and, more recently, at Noma, here in Copenhagen.
His first bakery shop was opened on Gammel Kongevej … a main shopping street that runs out from the centre of the city to Frederiksberg. The pavement there is narrow and there is heavy traffic along the road so it is not possible to have chairs and tables outside but there are stools and counters inside where you can have a coffee and a cake.
A second bakery shop opened in Christianshavn, on Strandvej, so very close to the inner harbour bridge and with much more space there are tables and benches outside although the shop itself is relatively small so bread is sold here but not cakes.
✽ update 15 November 2021:
Hart Brød + Bar in Christianshavn has closed and Hart Bageri moved on 13 November 2021 to a new shop on Holmen on Gallionsvej so the map above and this entry have been updated.
The new bread and cake shop on Holmen is in an old timber building that is just beyond the recently-restored Arsenal buildings and immediately before the old mast sheds.
There will be a longer post as soon as possible.
lille bakery, Refshalevej 213B
The bakery is in what was drawing offices of the old ship yard. It is a bit of a hike if you don’t have a bike but it is at the end of the bus route so there is really no excuse.
It’s close to Copenhagen Contemporary - the modern art gallery - and the B&W furniture market and there are tables outside so a visit to the bakery can all be part of a longer trip out to Refshaleøen.
They describe themselves as an eatery as well as a bakery so you can get good lunches here and coffee and cakes as well as the excellent bread.
Andersen & Maillard, Nørrebrogade 62 and Göteborg Plads 19
Opened by the chef Milton Abel who worked in California and then at Noma and Amass in Copenhagen. His bakery and coffee shop on Nørrebrogade is just before the cemetery of Assistens Kirkegård - so actually not that far out of the centre of the city - and, although the road is busy, there are chairs and tables out on the pavement as well as a seating area inside.
It’s a really good coffee shop so again it is easy to get into a routine of stopping for a coffee and cake on the daily trip out to buy a loaf.
Their second shop out at Nordhavn has been packed out every time I’ve been. It’s an area of expensive new housing but there is also a large new cinema here and the very popular south-facing quay, where you can swim and sunbathe, is just a block away.
They combine a coffee roastery and bakers and they deliver. Lethal ….. but must say, I like their delivery vans.
Collective Bakery, Nørrebrogade 176
This is the same team as Coffee Collective and their first coffee shop in Jægersborggade is just a couple of blocks away from this new bakery.
Their flour is sourced in Denmark, coming from Kragegården on the island Fyn and Kornby Mølle just north of Copenhagen.
The loaf I bought to try at home was the rye bread with a heavy seed content. It’s a meal in itself but terrific with cheese and pretty good with orange marmalade for breakfast. I usually have the clementine marmalade from Irma that has a distinctly peppery edge but, never-the-less, I guess that proves to Danish friends that I’m still a bit of a food philistine.
note:
Just to prove that, despite getting carried away by the food, this is still a design blog ….. the building is called Zøllnerhus and is a good example of a functionalist apartment building. It was designed by Charles Schou and Erik Kragh and was completed in 1935
Galst Bageri, Per Henrik Lings Allé 10
This has to be the bakers with the most unusual location because it is tucked away between the old sports stadium in Østerbro and the national football stadium and it seems to share it’s entrance with some of the changing rooms.
The people here are incredibly friendly and helpful and they have already attracted a huge number of loyal customers so again there can be lines of people waiting outside (because of pandemic restrictions) but no one seems to mind.
The sour dough loaves seem huge but even so they get eaten at an amazing speed …. probably because again the crust has an incredible flavour.
Not as wide a selection of cakes as the other bakers but for me possibly the best cardamom buns.
Juno the bakery, Århusgade 48
Opened by Emil Glaser who was a chef at Noma for six years before setting up as an independent baker.
This has to be the most stylish of the bakers … not least because the interior was designed by Frama.
The shop is on a corner and the frontage is set back at 45 degrees so there is a triangular garden here with outdoor seating. It is incredibly popular and there can be long lines of people waiting, particularly at weekends, but it is clear that everyone knows that it is worth the wait.
I’m working my way through their cakes and so far have not been disappointed by anything. The cakes are baked here in the kitchen that runs back down the side street.
The bread, photographed and then sampled back at home, might look overcooked if not burnt but it had an absolutely amazing flavour. A strongly flavoured and well-cooked crust is a key quality of all these sour dough loaves.
None of this, he adds quickly, is to say that other bakery shops in the city are not good.
When I lived near Kastellet my nearest baker was Emmrys on the corner of Sankt Pauls Gade and Store Kongensgade. It is one of a chain of shops but good for bread and good for a cake for lunch or for a cake with a coffee away from the desk and with a chance to sit and read a magazine but it was also a place to stock up with muesli and good coffee beans for breakfast or with biscuits if friends were coming round to the apartment for coffee.
I've not even mentioned Lagkagehuset - now a big player with some 114 branches - or Meyers. Both are excellent - not just for bread but for cakes.
I've also posted on this blog about Wulff & Kunstali … cafes with good bakers attached or is it bakers with good cafes attached? They also have really good bread and cakes but this post has been about small independent bakers with a single shop or, at most, have two shops.
Having said all this, my favourite bakery is still Det Rene Brød on Rosenvængets Allé in Østerbro. It's tucked away from the main street and inside it's what I would describe as comfortable rather than stylish. Parents bring their kids in here for a treat after picking them up from school and friends definitely meet up here for a coffee.
Det Rene Brød are well established - they have been in business since 1988 - although they only have four shops so I'm back to the idea that small is good and Det Rene Brød does prove that you don't have to be big to survive.
That's where we get to the bit about artisan bakers in the broader context of the economy and of planning and the role of independent bakers for a good life here in the city.
Planners and developers have to make space for this sort pf business, even in areas of new housing, and that might well mean tax incentives as well as the physical space and foresight where bakers need delivery access and need to start work very, very early.
And, with luck, where the bakers succeed then the butchers and candlestick makers might well follow.
Copenhagen specifically but also smaller cities and towns need thriving independent businesses and, in the broader context of the environment, local production and simplified delivery and distribution can have a smaller impact on the environment.
Watch people coming to these bakeries and you see that they reconnect people with food production because they make people think about how essential foods like loaves of bread are produced.
After all ….. bread is the staff of life.
And no … I’m not actually sure what that means but it sounds good.
