On a recent trip to Seattle I did some research ahead of time and came up with a couple bakeries that I wanted to visit while I was there on business. Fortunately they were both within walking distance of the hotel where I stayed, so each morning I woke up early enough to walk through Seattle and stop by one of the bakeries before I had to head off to meetings for the rest of the day.

Macrina Bakery has made the requisite appearances on the Food Network and has a cook book that you can buy.

The morning I stopped I had enough time to sit down and eat several of the goods at the store. It’s always going to be better fresh and sitting down, rather than eating on the run from a bag or later in the day. But I was not that impressed with the things from the bakery. The hot chocolate was weak – watery weak, not just less sweet weak (which can have it’s place). The croissant-based pastries had good flavor, but both were under proofed and under baked. Nice and crisp on the outside and verging on uncooked as you moved towards the middle.

I also brought a couple things home to my family, and though they were a day old by the time we ate them, I don’t think they would’ve been that much better when fresh.

Having worked in a bakery myself, I know consistently producing good things is not easy so I if I can I will give Macrina another shot, but this first time through left a lot of room for improvement.

Macrina Bakery
2408 1st Avenue
Seattle, WA, 98121