Bakeries and Pâtisseries in the [Greater Toronto Area], 2024 Edition

Sorry to be a stickler but I’m frustrated by the difficulty of finding “genuine” Tarte Flambee in Toronto - or ANYWHERE in North America (OK Gabriel Kreuther in New York has it - but The Modern (his former restaurant) has it on the menu - but it ISN’T tarte Flambee).
The base needs to be Creme Fraiche - DEFINITELY NOT Cream Cheese. Not sure what that is - but it’s NOT Tarte Flambee!
Won’t argue about whether it’s delicious!
But I also doubt La Cigogne has the wood-burning oven either!

In Alsace, while the standard/ most popular tarte flambée / flammenküchen choice has Crème Fraiche, onions and bacon, there are other varieties of sauce bases offered.

It looks like when Crème Fraiche is not available, many cooks use sour cream

There are also tarte flambée recipes that use a fromage blanc, so I can see someone using cream cheese, cottage cheese, mizithra or ricotta in place of fromage blanc.

If it tastes good, and it resembles Tarte Flambée in concept, when the ingredients or wood burning oven aren’t going to be available in Toronto, who cares if it’s labeled Tarte Flambée or not?

The 3 Brewers call their flatbreads Flamms. I doubt they use creme fraiche. I haven’t ordered one here, but I have ordered one at a 3 Brewers in Lorraine, about 15 years ago.

I’m aware that tarte flambée typically has crème fraîche or fromage blanc, but I was just going with how they titled the dish and how they listed the ingredients. Having not had fromage blanc, I don’t know how much different it is than cream cheese. They definitely don’t have a wood-burning oven.

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I think it looks great.
I’d order it.
I’ve made a bastardized version at home with regular Gay Lea sour cream, yellow onions, Metzger bacon and no knead pizza dough, in an electric oven.

On the topic of using cream cheese when fromage blanc is hard to find:

Most French and German recipes, as it’s made on both sides of the Moselle River, call for a combination of Crème Fraiche and Fromage Blanc.

Cream cheese could be used as part of the substitution.
This recipe suggests using cottage cheese or ricotta here in Canada. https://ufecanada.org/wp/2021/05/recette-de-la-flammekueche-ou-tarte-flambee-alsacienne/

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Blackbird today.

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Oops. I posted to the old thread.
Very good $3.95 chocolate pecan caramel cookies from Bakery Pompette.

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Candybar cake from Coco’s in Little Italy. Chocolate hazelnut filling.



Very moist. A good layer cake.

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As part of our swing into the west today, we hit a couple of patisseries also. First up was Fleur de Jour on St. Clair. We sampled the almond croissant, which was buttery, flakey, and covered with an almond cream. They had many other tempting viennoiserie, including one covered with candied blood orange.

Closer to our destination was Noctua. We were aiming to try their churro croissant, but alas it wasn’t available. So we went with their caramelized onion, za’atar, and cheese brioche, which was tasty, but would have been better warmed up to remelt the cheese.

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Kouign Amann and a raisin swirl from Gouter for breakfast. Oink :pig:

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Forno Cultura’s Zeppoli di San Giuseppe. San Giuseppe Day is March 19th.

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Ahh, they are back. Must get some.

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I was hoping to try on from several places but that didn’t work out yesterday.

Alimentari on Roncy has one this year, too.


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We enjoyed Emmer’s sourdough focaccia with sea salt yesterday. It is heavy on the olive oil. Very moist. Delicious this morning, as well.

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I wonder if STOCK T.C will carry these? they look tempting :smiley:

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Stock’s Zeppole di San Giuseppe on IG

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Woohoo!!! Thanks :slight_smile:

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Big bakery tour day today.

I hit:

Castle & Coal
Hot cross buns

Photo of rhubarb Kouign Amann at Castle and Coal that I didn’t buy.

I also purchased the rhubarb-topped panna cotta and Tiramisu. Both were delicious .

Robinson bread to try the hot cross buns but they were sold out. This is what was available. Busy place.

Dipped Donuts where I tried the egg and cheese breakfast sandwich. (Okay, not to my taste)

Donuts at Dipped (I didn’t buy them today)



Kitten and the Bear Mini Egg Scones (didn’t buy)

Bricolage where I picked up half a load of milk bread and 2 cheese tarts

The croissants at Bricolage

Bakery Pompette for 2 Crème Caramel

I didn’t buy my favourite cookies today but here they are:

Croissants at Bakery Pompette (didn’t buy)

Blackbird Baking Company in Kensington for 2 Not Cross Buns and their Dillionaire dip.

The Not Cross Buns were lighter texture than the Castle & Coal hot cross buns. The Not Cross Buns seemed slightly stale by the time I are them around 5 pm. They probably would be better toasted.

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If you’re into these - my favourite in the city is at a tucked away Kensington Market bakery called 84 Nassau. From the main Augusta strip, walk a block west down Nassau (past Film Cafe/corner Gelato shop) a bit into the residential and you’ll spot it.

Minimal seating inside though, so maybe tag it for a food tour or nice weather day.

Bonus: Also my favourite croissants in KM.

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Yes, I like their coffee! Nice people!

Good to know about their Kouign Amann. I usually stop by around 3 pm for a coffee on Sundays, and they often only have plain croissants left .

I was chasing the Kouign Amann dragon for a while, from 2008 when I first tried it, until around 2015. I don’t order it too much lately. I go through phases. :slightly_smiling_face:

I like rhubarb stuff! :slightly_smiling_face:

We have an awesome Kensington Market report [Toronto] thread here. I’ll link your comment about 94 Nassau.

When I’m going for a coffee and pastry in Kensington Market, my favourite place is Fika. I love their kannelbullar and sunshine buns.

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This is a spinach and artichoke brioche with sesame at Balzac’s. I didn’t ask who supplies them. I liked it a lot. $4.75 before tax.

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