SUGAR RUSH

Baltimore gets a fresh batch of home-grown bakeries——and the line forms here.

- JANE MARION

WHILE IN QUARANTINE, home bakers have discovered the joys of making sourdough and scratch-made cookies and cakes to pass the time and behold the miracle of mixing flour, water, and sugar to make something delicious. But if you’ve grown tired of the confines of your kitchen, you can also leave it to the professionals. During the pandemic, Charm City’s baking scene has exploded, whether that means a storefront business or a subscription-only service. Of course, we bow to the old guard, such as Highlandtown’s Hoehn’s, Fenwick in Parkville, and Vaccaro’s in Little Italy, but there’s also a whole new crop of spots ready to make their mark. From Café Dear Leon in Canton to Motzi Bread in Harwood—both of which have literal bread lines—it’s hard to swing a spatula without hitting a new spot.

Why the rise in baking? “People have told us that coming here is a thing that they can do that feels normal, and they can walk away with something that makes them incredibly happy,” says Keiller Kyle, owner of Ovenbird Bakery, which opened last June in the middle of the pandemic. “We have people buying coffee and scones, and that’s something that makes them feel like normal at a time that is very not normal.”

Here, we celebrate some of the new stars of the scene.

FOR THE BIRDS

Ovenbird Bakery