There may be no sensory experience like fresh-baked bread: The yeasty fragrance, the crackle of crisp crust, and, of course, the flavor, whether it’s buttery or salty or rich with sourdough tang. And here on the North Shore, we are lucky to have several bakeries turning out exquisite examples, from rustic, seeded boules to creative, flavorful takes on sourdough. Here are three of our favorites.
Annarosa’s Bakery, Salisbury
The retail shop at Annarosa’s Bakery is only open three days a week, so loyal customers must make the most of the time they are given. Even on an icy winter day, eager bread-buyers stand in a line that snakes out the door, waiting for their chance to score a hearty semolina loaf straight from the oven, or an impossibly flaky pain au chocolat.
The shop began after Jane Kenny gave her husband, mechanical engineer Bill Malatesta, a bread machine for Christmas. The gift led to a hobby, the hobby became a passion, and the passion turned into a business, less than two years after the fateful Christmas. Today, the pair have owned and run Annarosa’s for more than 20 years, baking up an array of European-style breads each day, from rich and tender to brioche to organic seeded sourdough.
“They’re all individual and have individual traits—the key is to understand those traits,” Malatesta says.
The bakery turns out thousands of loaves each week for both retail and wholesale customers, using a towering commercial oven that can hold up to 300 round loaves at a time. Despite the quantities, Malatesta is devoted to keeping up an impeccable level of quality. He uses local and organic grains, maintains four proprietary sourdough starters for different kinds of loaves, and arrives in the kitchen at 1 a.m. to make sure there is fresh bread when the first customers show up at the door.
“It makes you an intrinsic part of the community,” Malatesta says, gesturing at the queue of people winding through the shop on a Saturday morning. “Look at that out there. That’s why I do this.”
Loave, West Newbury
When Eileen Tanner and Amy Carrier talk about Loave, the breadmaking business they started in 2024, the term they like to use is “micro-bakery.” But their modest operation is already making a big impact on their customers and community.
Every week they open up online orders on Sunday, offering a classic sourdough loaf (made from a starter Tanner created two years ago) and a sweet or savory loaf of the week— past iterations have included cinnamon-sugar with raisins, Italian herb and cheese, and a French onion version topped with caramelized onions and melted Gruyere. During the week, they bake in a kitchen they fitted out in a room in Tanner’s home (“Her husband got the boot from his office,” Carrier laughs.).
On Thursdays, they bring the orders to Salt & Grove gift shop in Newburyport, where customers pick up their fresh bread. If you didn’t order ahead, it’s still worth stopping by. “We tend to make extras,” Carrier says.
From the beginning, the pair knew they wanted to help out the community, so they built that goal right into their business model: For every two loaves a customer buys, the business donates a loaf to families in need through Amesbury food insecurity organization Our Neighbors’ Table. Customers are invited to write “Loave Notes”—small messages of affirmation that get sent along with the donations.
“It’s a way for customers to directly support their community,” Carrier says.
Bonny Breads, Beverly
Stephanie Graham first learned to bake bread while working at Salem’s beloved A&J King bakery. But even when she was off the clock, she couldn’t stop kneading and proofing and baking.
“I started baking on the weekends, wanting to make my own formulas, wanting to try different flours,” she says. “I got addicted to the process and couldn’t stop.”
In 2019, she started her own bread business, baking two loaves at a time in the small oven of her studio apartment and delivering the products to perhaps three or four customers. As the business grew, she built a commercial kitchen in her parents’ Beverly basement, then opened a small coffee shop and bakery in town. Then, in 2022, Bonny Breads moved into a 1,800-square-foot space in downtown Beverly, where Graham, her husband, and their staff turn out dozens of loaves of bread as well as croissants, cookies, and scones, all baked fresh every day.
Graham’s favorite breads are the classics: the bakery’s crusty French baguette and its sourdough loaf, which boasts an open crumb and a mild sourness. Her staff, she said, is particularly fond of the cherry muesli bread that is only offered on Sundays. The bakery also does focaccia, sandwich loaves, semolina bread, and weekly specials like challah and olive sourdough. And with each bake, Graham and her employees try to learn something that will help make the next loaves even better. “We just keep trying to get better and better at what we’re creating,” she says. “We’re chasing that perfect bake.”