What’s the best “foreign bread” that’s available in your area, but is rare to impossible to find elsewhere in the USA?

14 comments

1. Italian “pane” bread only seen it around chicago.

2. Solid example. I don’t think I have seen it outside of RI and South Shore MA.

   My only thing was good challah. It’s not really regional but I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood and had the good stuff. You can find it in some supermarkets and bakeries but it’s never quite right.

   But then we run into the thornbush of what is really “foreign.” It isn’t as if any ethnic group is “foreign” to the US. They’re Americans and they bring what they have.

3. Olive Garden breadsticks, it counts I hope

4. Dutch crunch. It seems like it is only popular in Northern California.

5. Eh… the best and most popular foreign breads in San Diego/SoCal are probably Mexican breads like pan dulce (conchas are most popular) or maybe various Asian milk breads. But they are pretty widely available.

6. My grocery store makes Bauernbrot, it’s just ok; they bake it on-site, at the very least. Doesn’t compare to the bakeries in Germany tho

7. My family is Russian German and we have some places in my hometown in central CA that sell homemade Zwieback, which is a twice baked bread from East Prussia that the Russian Germans brought to the US. It’s delicious!

8. I’ve made bread from all over the world, if that counts.

9. I live in an area with various ethnic bakeries and markets- not just restaurants. There is a Chinese bakery near me that makes amazing milk bread, and a red bean pastry. Oooh- I wish they were open now. And a Vietnamese restaurant that sells excellent croissants.

   I want to ask the Chinese bakery if they can do a cloud cake, or the one that’s made from like layers of flavored / colored gelatin.

10. Not American but I dod see dill pickle flavoured sunflower seeds in Minneapolis.

11. Here in the DC area you can easily buy freshly made Injera. I’m sure it’s available in some specialty stores around the country, but unless there’s a sizable Ethiopian/Eritrean population, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to find it as easily was you can here.

12. Taiwanese milk bread

13. South san joaquin valley California here. We have basque and basque sourdough bread. It’s really good especially the ones you take and bake at home.

14. Dutch crunch is extremely common in Northern California but not in the rest of the country. It’s a bread from the Netherlands that’s also called Tiger Bread.