If you were to ask me what my hands-down favourite brekkie is (besides a Super Green Smoothie, of course!), my answer is pretty much always the same – Sonoma Bakery Olive Sourdough. I eat it with haloumi on top, I eat it with cream cheese and smoked salmon, I have it toasted with butter, I make toasted pastrami sandwiches with it.. Even thinking about it now I’m starting to drool as I type this ha! It’s sooooo good.
Sonoma Bakery and their cafés have held a soft spot in my heart for many years. The reason is simple – it’s the best! Aside from their famous bread, Sonoma make mouth-watering sweet and savoury pastries, handcrafted mueslis and sparkling artisan water. Oh and not to mention, the best skinny piccolos in town!
There’s no doubt that the art of breadmaking has come a long way in Australia over the last 10 – 15 years and Sonoma were really at the forefront of that. It started as a family business when Andrew Connole’s late father, Kerry bought a derelict bakery in a country town back in 1998. It was Kerry’s dream to bring it back to its former glory and soon enough, he had brought his sons in on the action. Andrew headed to the US to learn about artisan baking, and returned with Sonoma’s famous sourdough recipe. The rest, as they say, is history. Well – a lot of hard work, late nights, early starts and passion too, that’s for sure.
The bread at Sonoma is all handcrafted and made using organic flour, filtered water and fermented dough. You wouldn’t think it’d make much of a difference but it really does. It actually can take up to 36 hours for the bread to be made and baked. It’s no wonder that the texture is so light and fluffy but the flavour is so full and delicious. Throw a bit of olive oil and balsamic in the mix and I just can’t resist!
Bread and coffee aren’t the only reason you’ll find me back there week after week (although it’s a big part of it!). All of Sonoma’s cafés have earnt their rep as buzzing local hotspots of good food and fab staff.
If you live in the area or are even just visiting for the weekend, you have to try and get down to one Sonoma’s cafes. There are 7 café’s in total all located within the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.
For more info head to www.sonoma.com.au
