10 bakeries that serve up some of the best bread in NJ

🍞 A basket of bread can be found on almost every restaurant table

🍞 Some say bread is the "king and queen" of every meal

🍞 These 10 NJ bakeries have some of the best bread in the state

Sourdough. Ciabatta. Baguette. Brioche. Rye. Pumpernickel. Hearty Grain. Oatmeal. Potato.

There’s nothing like inhaling a deep breath of freshly baked bread hot out of the oven.
Some people love to make their own bread and have that heavenly scent wafting through their homes. Others have no problem standing in line on a Sunday morning outside their favorite bakery ready to get their hands on a piping hot loaf.

With the holidays right around the corner, you may want to think of serving up some delicious, freshly baked bread on the table.

Here are 10 of the best places in New Jersey for bread.

Calandra’s

204 First Avenue, Newark
244 U.S. Highway 46 East, Fairfield
234 Bloomfield Avenue, Caldwell

With three locations, Calandra’s has served customers since its opening in 1962. Over 50 years later, it remains a must-have spot for freshly baked breads.

“Since bread is one of the most classic staples at any wholesome bakery, we add time, attention, and detail into every single loaf of bread that we bake, creating it the old-fashioned way, with only four ingredients,” Calandra’s says.

Each loaf of bread is 100% natural, crafted by hand from scratch every hour that the bakery is open.

Calandra’s shapes its white bread into many styles. Each of its bakeries offers 26 types of bread, from a simple Panella and a French baguette to an intricate twist and a bastone.

Pinho’s

1027 Chestnut St, Roselle

The bakery’s origins can be traced back to a small town in Portugal where Ernestina and Antonio fell in love and began baking bread.

Today, Raul, Julie, and their family continue to create baked goods, housing an enormous array of delicious breads, cakes, and pastries.

Their breads range anywhere from a simple multigrain loaf with raisins to Portuguese rye, sun-dried tomato bread, French rolls, and so many others.

You’ll smell the goodness even before stepping through the bakery doors.

Livoti’s Old World Market

1930 Route 88, Brick
1077 Route 34, Aberdeen
200 Mounts Corner Drive, Freehold
160 Highway 9, Englishtown
1151 Route 35, Middletown

John Livoti, a second-generation Italian-American opened his first Livoti’s Old World Market in May 2010 in Aberdeen. Since then, four more locations have opened in New Jersey.

Livoti’s is known for its freshly baked breads, full bakery, produce, deli, and more Italian classics.

Enjoy a wide assortment of breads like classic Italian, semolina, Bastone, and hand-tied sesame twist. “The smell instantly brings you to the cobblestone streets of Italy,” according to its website.

Venice Bakery

173 Ray St, Garfield

Venice Bakery is a small family-owned establishment. It’s been a hidden jewel in the Garfield community for years. It’s been providing restaurants throughout the North Jersey area with authentic Italian cuisine, including freshly baked rolls, paninis, and pastries.

The bakery has a lengthy selection of breads including baguettes, Bastone, panelle, multigrain, semolina, rolls, ciabatta, focaccia, and stuffed breads. It will be tough to pick just one, some stop in, browse the breads and pick up a few varieties for your holiday table.

Del Pontes Bakery

600 Main St, Bradley Beach

Del Ponte’s Bakery in Bradley Beach is the evolution of Giovanni Di Iorio’s vision and his humble beginnings.

The bakery has been on Main Street since 1999 bringing the highest quality and most delicious baked goods, including cookies, cakes, pastries, and of course, bread.

Del Ponte’s offers rolls in a variety of shapes and sizes, bagels, Italian bread (long or round), rye bread, breadsticks (sesame or everything), Tarrali (pepper, sun-dried tomato, fennel, and garlic), and Freselli.

Abbate Bakery

247 Main St, Matawan

The Abbate family, originally from a small town in Sicily, Italy, opened their first bakery in Brooklyn in 1976. They developed family recipes passed down from generation to generation.

In 2000, they moved the bakery to Matawan where it’s been ever since.

Discover Abbate’s famous homemade Prosciutto Bread, made only on Saturdays and Sundays. The stuffed bread is filled with chunks of savory prosciutto, salami, and Swiss cheese, baked to a cheesy crisp.

Other breads made and sold at the bakery include rye, sesame seed, everything, club rolls, artisan Italian round, French loaf, semolina, seeded Italian twist, pizza dough, and more.

Biagio’s

239 Main Ave, Stirling

Next to Biagio’s trattoria is Biagio’s bakery where you can get fresh baked bread daily.
Biagio grew up in small town in Salerno, Italy. His passion for baking started between the ages of 8 and 10. At 14 years old, he started his own business, making homemade bombolini and croissants in his kitchen, and then selling them to locals in the town.

As he got older, his love for cooking and baking flourished and the rest is history.

Biagio’s bakery has a variety of treats. But if it’s bread you’re looking for, it offers baguettes (plain, seeded, or olive parmesan), ciabatta loaf (plain or seeded), Panella (rustic white or multigrain), cranberry walnut multigrain, garlic and sea salt focaccia slices (plain or tomato), rolls (ciabatta, brioche, and dinner), and strombolis (pepperoni and mozzarella sausage, broccoli rabe, and mozzarella mixed vegetables and mozzarella prosciutto bread).

La Dolce

3141 US-9, Old Bridge
25 Village Center Drive, Freehold

There are a lot of fresh bread varieties to choose from at La Dolce. They’ll even slice it for you if you ask. Enjoy rolls and focaccia. Also, try their stuffed breads like spinach and eggplant.

Old German

332 Washington St, Hoboken

Old German Bakery has a constant revolving display of traditional German baked goods, cakes, pastries, pretzels, and of course, breads.

The family has over 50 years of experience in the bakery business, and they believe in the highest quality ingredients.

No artificial flavors, no preservatives, and no artificial colors are used in Old German breads.

What is the big deal about German bread?

According to the bakery���s website, “German baking is a tradition that is passed on from generation to generation. Bread is the king and queen of every meal. It’s not just food. It is part of the German culture. With over 300 types of breads, Germans have turned baking into an art form. Because of the high-quality standards of German flour and grains, our bread is neither white or starchy. Simple, wholesome, and so very good for you.”

Rolls (multi-grain, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, poppy seed, and sunflower, rustic wheat, classic wheat, and rye)

Breads (crusty bread sourdough, onion bread sourdough, country bread sourdough, rye bread sourdough, farmers bread sourdough, pumpkin seed bread sourdough, pumpernickel sourdough, 9-grain bread sourdough, multi-grain bread sourdough, and Kolner country bread sourdough).

Paramount Bakeries

418 N 5th St, Newark

Family-owned Paramount Bakeries has been making brick oven hearth-baked bread since 1924.

What sets the flavor of bread at Paramount apart from other bakeries is that they use simple ingredients, and the best water in the country, the bakery claims.

“Once our batches are mixed they undergo what’s known as retarding or cold-proofing. This 18-hour process enables our dough to develop outstanding flavor naturally, without the use of added sugar or other flavor additives,” the bakery says.

It also prides itself on hearth-baked breads. Their ovens are imported from Italy and built brick-by-brick to ensure consistent and evenly baked, crusty bread.

Bread deliveries are made every day before the sun rises so the bread arrives to each storefront only hours after being baked.

Break bread with the ones you love.

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