St. John’s Bakery

The loaves are indeed more expensive than other brands and bakeries, but I like to purchase sourdough bread directly from St John’s because it is made with minimal ingredients, is preservative-​free and fresh to boot. I figure, why not pay a little more for bread that is as close to expertly home-​made as it gets, and also contributes to a greater social cause? It’s a no brainer!

St. Johns’s Bakery looked depressed. They looked like average neighbourhood bakery, but their price was very expensive. The loaf of bread was not bad, but I thought it was overpriced.

I first discovered this bakery by way of a referral from Mad Dog Café, they use their bread and it is amazing (no preservatives). It taste so good, I asked them where they got it and this is where they sent me. The bread I like is the Celtic Loaf. I have since dropped in a few times and I do have to say the selection is very limited and not a place I would frequent often for that reason. How ever, if you want to die and go to heaven I would encourage you to try one of their chocolate croissants. They are smaller in size than most places but they are so full of dark rich chocolate. This makes them almost health food! I will drop by for that reason alone. From what I understand this place seems to do a lot of good. The people they hire are newcomers etc… what a great opportunity to provide someone a place to learn on the job. You get great bread and help someone out in one swoop. Can’t get any easier than that.

Yum… nasty flies crawling all over everything. I love Toronto, don’t get me wrong but when it comes to cleanliness in food services, it reminds me of a city in southeast Asia. Close your doors and invest in some pest control devices.

As part of my normal day to day life, I am up by 7 in the morning to begin my morning devotions. To my surprise yesterday morning I found a loaf of bread sitting on my kitchen table. No doubt from my sister.
The loaf appeared old base on touch and smell but I tried it anyways. Didn’t love it but it did push me to find the bakery during my bike ride. When I got to st John’s I thought the outside sign was kind of cute but didn’t grab my attention (In fact I didn’t notice it till I left!)
I went inside and wow, the heat and the smell was amazing! Felt like a real bakery. Sadly everything else about the place was anything but.
All the bread seem hard. When asked I was told all the bread on the store front was baked the afternoon and night before! Really?! It turned me off so fast once I heard that. The cookies on display were nothing special, I can bake shortbread and ginger cookies at home. In the end I got the banana loaf which was really good and dense.
But for what I paid, no thank you.

Probably the best bread in town — and certainly in the top 5 bakeries. All organic, always fresh and a wide variety to choose from. The also have tasty deserts, like banana bread and brioche and cookies and more. Proceeds go to charity, so there’s a bit of a premium on the price, but absolutely worth it.

My gluten intolerant self practically cries thinking about what I’m missing every time I walk by. The Celtic loaf is amazing and delicious, but my poor stomach cannot handle it. Might be the best bakery in Riverdale.

St. John’s olive loaf was a complete revelation for me. I had sworn off bread because of a very restrictive, self-​imposed diet, but one day while in Fresh and Wild, through some stroke of luck or fate, I picked up the loaf and thought, what the hell, a couple slices won’t kill me. But — hear me now! — it did! This olive loaf just slayed me. I had never tasted such delicious, flavorful, moist yet perfectly crusty bread. I was in seventh heaven. Maybe it was the months of dieting deprivation, but this bread made me deliriously, incandescently happy. It reminded me like a shock how wonderful, nourishing and comforting good food can be. Needless to say, I am off my diet and I dream of St. John’s bread weekly. Make that daily. Make that right this minute. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ll be at their bakery early tomorrow morning to stock up on bread, bread, and more bread!

Best Bread in Toronto.
I make a point of getting here as early as I can, as they have a tendency to be sold out of a lot by the end of the day. This shows the popularity of the place in the neighborhood. Everything I have bought here has been top notch. This time I bought a loaf of regular whole wheat bread, nothing special, and it still managed to blow me away. It was perfectly dense and full of flavour. Also, if you get a chance to try the chocolate butter tart, go for it. It’s even better than it sounds.

There is nothing like good fresh bread and St John’s Mission Bakery is the place to get it. It’s more expensive that a typical loaf of bread but it helps the Mission’s community programs. And they produce some of the best bread that I have ever tasted. For example, their olive cilantro sourdough — I don’t like any of these components on their own but St John’s bakes them into the most amazing loaf. I seriously can’t get enough of this olive cilantro sourdough — the aroma, the favours, mmmmmm you should try it.

This is a great bakery. I absolutely LOVE their olive cilantro sourdough bread. I think for the quality of their ingredients and their commitment to helping marginalized members of our community, their prices are completely reasonable. I would totally encourage anyone to drop by because you will not be disappointed.

Potentially the best bread you may ever taste, and a solid social justice cred, there’s absolutely no reason you should buy terrible bread from a factory when a place like this exists. the bread is expensive, but the quality is without comparison. and when you factor in the fact that this is a Hand up project to help people who may have not had the best luck with work and life, well, you will have no trouble justifying the price.

I first found out about St. John’s Bakery while shopping at the Big Carrot on Danforth. My sister was with me and recommended I try the Olive and Cilantro Sourdough Loaf (Pre-​cut). It cost just over $ 6 and I was hesitant because of the price. I took it home and made myself a tofurky sandwich. It was delicious! I even had a slice on its own with Earth Balance butter.
So, I decided to research St. John’s since they had their website printed on their packaging (
) This artisan bakery has an amazing history and inspiring mission which you can find out on their website. They help the community through the use of preservative free, organic and natural ingredients and bakery hires refugees and people in need of help.
Also, I found out my aunt lives around the corner from the bakery. So everytime I go visit, I stop by. On Saturday mornings, there’s nothing like walking in and the air is wafting with the aroma of freshly baked breads. I usually buy one of their warm out of the oven scones (I always get their Cheddar Chive).
A Dark Horse coffee (2 mins walk) + St. John scones = Heavenly.
Do yourself a favour and try St. John’s Bakery. You’ll be helping the community while enjoying the breads and sweets.

I love St. John’s Bakery in Riverside for so many reasons starting with the amazing baked goods produced there — especially my most favourite and absolutely delicious olive and cilantro boule to the bread pudding with pears to the variety of amazing scones. I recently tried a parmesan one and was in heaven; so flaky and buttery… My mouth is watering as I write about it.
Aside from baking up some delectible treats, the premise of this state-​of-​the-​art organic bakery is to give a hand up to the individuals working there as they get their lives back on track. That’s reason enough for me to support St John’s Bakery!
Check it out, you won’t be disapointed.

Along Broadview, between Queen East and Dundas there’s a small bakery next to a church. St. John’s bakery, St. John’s church :)
Great bread, nice sour-​dough varieties, but danm expensive :(
For me a great place to buy loaves if I’m having a dinner party, perhaps serving up some cheese or a nice hearty stew. But for my every day use, better off buying Dimpflmeier.
I wrote about his place because I really want to give as much support to the small artisan shops. Of course it’s tough to buy from them everyday, unless you have a fat pocket book :) But like I mentioned, great bread, great quality. If you want to spoil yourself a bit or are looking for a full time supplier St. John’s Bakery is a geat option.

I love baked goods, especially fresh breads. Toronto has been on this Artisan bread kick since I moved here, and although I love it most of the time, there are days where I just want plain, fresh, flavorful whole wheat bookends on my meatwiches.
St John’s Bakery doesn’t have a ton of fancy pants breads (although the call themselves an artisan bakery). They make all their breads and sweets with organic ingredients and they have a bunch of different sourdoughs and whole wheat.
my Favorite thing… is that they have HALF SIZED LOAVES [in some breads] which is AWESOME because as a 1-​person apartment occupant, I can never eat a whole loaf of bread before it gets all crusty and gross. So big time thumbs up for that.
It’s also run as part of the St John’s Mission outreach program to create meaningful work opportunities in the community.