55 brilliant bread bakeries around Ireland

The Gastro Gays outline their top 55 bread bakeries from across the country.

The simplicity of sourdough lies in three key ingredients: flour, water and salt. However, there are a couple of crucial additional ingredients required for greatness - time and skill.

Ireland has witnessed an artisan bakery boom over the last number of years, not solely in the cities but popping up in towns and villages right 'round the country offering delicious freshly-baked bread and often pastries and cakes too.

Of course in an ever-changing landscape it's hard to pinpoint every single artisan bakery in the country but to kick you off here are 55 bakeries to have on your list, from the top of Antrim to the far-western tip of Kerry.

CONNACHT

Real bread abounds at Patrick O’Reilly’s Cornrue (cornrue.com) in the gourmet hotspot of Westport while over in Sligo couple Clotilde and Tomasz’s Le Fournil (lefournilsligo.com) keeps locals in constant supply of fresh bread and delectable pastries, cakes and Clo’s Chocolates.

In Galway city two different stellar chefs are behind cutting-edge micro-bakeries: Jess Murphy’s Hapi Bakery (@hapi_bakery_) is an offshoot of her popular West End restaurant Kai, while Enda McEvoy’s Éan (eangalway.com) offers bread and bakes with coffee in the morning before lunch and evening service of small and larger plates.

Over in Connemara, Laura O’Donovan’s So-Doh! (@so_doh_sourdough_renvyle) micro-bakery wings loaves around Clifden and Letterfrack every week.

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ULSTER

Belfast is wonderfully stocked with cafés supplied with fresh bakes and in terms of bakeries you have family-run, Scandi-inspired artisan spot Bakarí (bakaribakery.com) on Donegall Street - celebrating a year in situ this December! - and Bread & Banjo (breadandbanjo.com) who have offered all manner of cakes, breads and pastries on Ormeau Road for a decade now.

Fera (ferabakery.com) is a relative newcomer on the scene which harnesses all things wild by name and wild by nature with their sourdough breads and viennoiserie, run by Great Irish Bake Off 2013 winner Stephen Chisholm in the Castlereagh area of East Belfast.

North of the city, find Michael Hendron’s microbakery Benchmark Bread (@benchmark_bread on Instagram) in Whiteabbey Village selling sourdough loaves and sweet treats from its hatch on Fridays.

Further into Co. Down you’ll find Sean Kelly’s Counter Culture (@counerculturerealbread) in Bangor, Tiarnán Cassidy’s Thursday-Saturday Glume Boulangerie (@glume_boulangerie) in Moira as well as small batch operation Kin & Folk (kinandfolkbakery.com), run by husband and wife team Maija and David offering online pre-orders for collection and also attend local markets.

Up in Antrim you have 100% organic bread bakery Zac’s Bakehouse (zacsbakehouse.com) just outside Ballymena (who also host bread-making and pizza-making classes) while celebrating a decade in business in 2024 is Ursa Minor (ursaminorbakehouse.com). Based in beautiful Ballycastle (and another petite perch in Ballintoy), it’s run by husband and wife team Ciara and Dara O’Hartghaile who regularly also run pop-up events.

A trip to Enniskillen is worth it alone for trying Folk Boulangerie, run by skilled sourdough and French pastry baker Michael McKenzie, originally from New Zealand. Family-run Matilda’s Bakery (matildas.ie) in Carrickmacross is a shining star of the Monaghan food scene.

For hand-crafted loaves and pastries in Donegal, head to Letterkenny and look up new micro-bakery Blistered Bread (blisteredbread.com) run by Adrian Boyle.

DUBLIN & SURROUNDING AREA

On the Northside of the capital make your way towards Croke Park to find Russell Street Bakery (@russellst.bakery), located on its eponymous street, while Elliot’s (elliots.ie) on the North Circular Road is the microbakery off-shoot of deli-cafe Oxmantown in Smithfied.

Another bakery baby of a café in the same area is Proper Order Coffee Co’s bakery imprint, No Messin’ (nomessinbakery.com) based in the area where Smithfield meets Stoneybatter.

Peter and Xenia combine one passion for sourdough bread and another for perfect patisserie in a harmonious offering under the umbrella of Blossom Artisan Bakery (blossomartisanbakery.clickandcollection.com). Find them within Buddy’s Farmer’s Market in Ballymun Industrial Park.

On the Southside you have Eoin Cluskey’s bakery, cafe and eatery Bread 41 (bread41.ie) on Pearse Street while you’ll find Kate O'Sullivan and Elyse Clarke’s Fable Bakery (fablebakery.com) peeking out front of Sprout & Co. on Dawson Street.

In the picturesque surrounds of Powerscourt Townhouse, don’t miss Marian Kilcoyne’s The Pepper Pot (thepepperpot.ie) for doorstop loaves, pastries and cakes.

Over in Dublin 8, Gerry Godley’s Bread Man Walking (@bread_man_walking) is a prime example of ‘if you know, you know’, with his microbakery opening up for just a three hour collection window on Saturdays (address provided post-order).

On Pleasants Street, great speciality coffee and fresh bakes collide at The Morning (themorning.ie) while long-established Bretzel (bretzel.ie) is a fast scaling-up force in the city’s baking line-up.

Find three equally brilliant bakeries set into the coastal towns of North Co. Dublin in the form of Noisette (@noisetteartisanbakery), in Rush, An Bácús Beag (@an_bacus_beag) in Donabate and The Rock Bakery (@therockbakery) in Skerries.

Newly-selling their fresh sourdough loaves (alongside great sandwiches, cakes and pastries) are Rory Cruikshank and Sarah McNally at McNally Family Farm Shop & Café (mcnallyfamilyfarm.ie) in Balrickard.

Down in Dun Laoghaire, don’t miss award-winning sourdough bakery Strudel (strudelbakery.com) while on the move far further south is Scéal Bakery (scealbakery.com). Charlotte and Shane took the San Francisco experience and stormed Dublin with their crafted bakes over the last six years and are now laying roots with the finishing touches on their new café and bakery in Greystones.

WIDER LEINSTER

Seamus Jordan of Plúr (plur.ie; the Irish for ‘flour’) is locally renowned around Carlow-Kilkenny for his dedication to slow fermenting and all things sourdough. His artisan bakes are available for pre-order to collect on Saturdays at Carlow Farmer’s Market.

Keeping to Kilkenny, Arán (arankilkenny.ie) is the massively popular, multi award-winning bakery and café from Bart Pawlukojc and wife Nicole Server-Pawlukojc while Lekker Food Collection (lekkerfoodco.ie) in Thomastown specialises in bakes (bread, cakes, pastries) with French and South African inspiration.

MUNSTER

Down in Waterford you will find Beatha Bakery run by husband-and-wife Darren and Grainne Collins. Elsewhere in the county, Sarah Richards' Seagull Bakery (seagullbakeryshop.com) continues to deepen its roots in Tramore while beloved Vinilo Bakery in Lismore (vinilobakery.com) doubles up as a pizzeria on Saturday evenings and newcomer Dún (@dunbakery) on Dungarvan's main street has queues round the clock.

In north Leinster, keep an eye out for Baska Bakery (@baskabakery) in Oldcastle while down south of the province, Patrick Ryan’s Firehouse Bakery (thefirehouse.ie) has long been at the forefront of the sourdough revival in Ireland with a duo of locations (Delgany, Wicklow Town) open seven days a week. In Wexford, Jamie Pettitt’s Yola Bakery (yolabakery.ie) in Clonard continues its star ascent with its new premises at Whitemill Industrial Estate.

In cool, coastal Lahinch find naturally-leavened bread, viennoiserie and Portguese pastéis de nata at Hugo’s Bakery (@hugos_lahinch_) whilst inland in a corner of Ennis find Keith O’Farrell’s Sourdo Farrell (@sourdo_farrell) where the clue is in the name – everything’s sourdough.

In Limerick, what started as a market trade has blossomed for Our Daily Bread (@ourdailybread.irish) into supplying a number of outlets in the city, including the Urban Co-Op and wholesale distribution via Richardson.

In the Kingdom, Orla Gowen’s Bácús (bacus.ie) in Dingle has long been a purveyor of fine bread and pastry at the heart of arguably Ireland’s coolest town while over in Tralee Rustic Boowa (@Rustic_Boowa) is a Polish-owned newcomer at Clash Cross. In Kenmare, Maison Gourmet (maisongourmetkenmare.com) is the French-run bakery of dreams and an unmissable stop.

In Cloughjordan in Tipperary, Joe Fitzmaurice and Julie Lockett’s Riot Rye (riotrye.ie) is one of the first words in sourdough baking and have built a massive community around their brand, as well as being founding members of Real Bread Ireland. This is where to go if you’re looking to learn the craft yourself at their popular bakery and school.

Finally, to Cork where Declan Ryan’s Arbutus (arbutusbread.com) has been sowing the seed of great sourdough for almost 25 years. Diva (divaboutiquebakery.com) in Ballinspittle is one to watch, though most of the offering is pastry and cakes though sourdough bread does often get a look-in.

Also worth trying the freshly-baked wares are The Grumpy Bakers (thegrumpybakers.ie) in Midleton, WildFlour (wildflourcork.com) in Innishannon and newcomer to Clonakilty Pike Deli (@pike.deli).

55 brilliant bread bakeries around Ireland

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