Where to Find the Best Fresh-Baked Bread in Nashville

American food writer Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher once said, “The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.” We couldn’t agree more. From artisan French boules at your neighborhood farmers’ market to sourdough-making workshops and everything in between, we’re making it easy to track down freshly baked bread in Music City. Here’s where to find fresh bread in Nashville (listed alphabetically).

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Bobby John Henry Bakery

Wholesale
11 Music Square E., Unit 607, Nashville, TN 37203 • (615) 454-6491
Hours: Monday through Friday, 5 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturday, 5 a.m. to noon; closed Sunday 

Known as “The Baker of Music Row,” Bobby John Henry is a musician who moonlights as a bread baker. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, he has been making his custom recipes in Music City for the last 25 years. Working out of the former Spence Manor Hotel room-service kitchen, the prolific baker deals only in wholesale, so don’t expect to stop by a brick-and-mortar to grab a loaf. But don’t worry, you can still sample his bread — it’s featured at high-end local dining spots such as Adele’s, Husk, Whiskey Kitchen and Oak Steakhouse, and if you shop at Sylvan Park’s The Produce Place, you can pick some up to have with dinner, too. You can even find his edible craftsmanship at the Tennessee Titans stadium! From burger and hot dog buns to marble rye and rosemary garlic loaves, Bobby John Henry is Music Row’s reigning bread guru.

Crumb.Nashville

Bread-making classes

Even with plenty of access to fresh local bread, there’s something about kneading dough in your own kitchen. If you’re looking to learn a few at-home techniques for the occasional (or frequent) do-it-yourself option, check out Crumb.Nashville. Though owner and baker Julie Belcher recently took a little break (welcome to the world, Baby Belcher!), classes should be available again starting in April. Until then, sign up by contacting her via email at [email protected]. Class prices vary depending on the size, with a maximum of five people per class, and they take place in a host home. In other words, invite a few folks over to your house or a neutral meeting spot to social distance and learn! “Each class teaches students how to make a loaf of sourdough bread from start to finish and how to maintain a sourdough starter,” explains Julie. Even better? Everyone goes home with fresh bread.

Dozen Bakery

Walk-up window, online ordering, wholesale
516 Hagan St., Ste. 103, Nashville, TN 37203 • (615) 712-8150
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Dozen Bakery is one of Music City’s best-known purveyors of artisan bread. Originally conceived as a pop-up cookie bakery, they’ve been going strong since 2009 with a bakery and café in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood as well as farmers’ market appearances from one end of town to the other. If you’re out and about, you may even spot their bread on the menu at local favorites such as The 404 Kitchen, Butcher & Bee, Pinewood Social and Whole Foods Market. Though their dining room is currently closed due to the pandemic, they have a walk-up window where you can still purchase first-come-first-served to-go orders using contactless payment options (no cash). There are limited quantities of fresh bread, so get there early to snag your homemade favorite. Alternatively, you can place online pre-orders two days in advance for a larger selection of bread that includes baguettes, French country batard, braided challah, focaccia, and even their vegan umami bread.

Frothy Monkey

In-store, online ordering, wholesale, bread CSA

East Nashville: 1701 Fatherland St., Nashville, TN 37206 • (615) 600-4756
Hours: Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Nations: 1400 51st Ave. N., Nashville, TN 37209 • (615) 600-4756
Hours: Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

12South: 2509 12th Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37204 • (615) 600-4756
Hours: Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Downtown: 235 5th Ave. N., Nashville, TN 37219 • (615) 600-4756
Hours: Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Franklin: 125 5th Ave. S., Franklin, TN 37064 • (615) 600-4756
Hours: Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Frothy Monkey is more than just a coffee shop and restaurant. While some daily basics are available for purchase at each of the local Frothy Monkey locations, BAKERY by Frothy Monkey also makes and distributes wholesale pastries, cakes and rustic bread seven days a week to local restaurants and businesses such as Lockeland Table, North Italia, Chauhan Ale & Masala House, and Stateside Kitchen at the Dream Hotel. Jalapeño cheddar sourdough, Cuban rolls, baguettes and brioche buns are only a few of the many options they provide for our dining enjoyment at various spots around town, but you can also order from their extensive online selections, which are available for pre-order through the Frothy Monkey website. If you “need” your dose of fresh bread with a little more frequency, check out their bread CSA. With pick-up each week at Frothy Monkey East, you can sign up for 12- or 26-week subscriptions that ensure you’re digging into yummy bread with every meal.

Great Harvest Bread Company

In-store, online ordering
3900 Hillsboro Pike, Ste. 32, Nashville, TN 37215 • (615) 298-1032
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday

Located in Green Hills, Great Harvest Bread Company has served up fresh bread to Nashvillians for years. Using fresh-milled whole-grain flour, they bake their simple, made-from-scratch bread every morning. Try their signature honey whole wheat, the sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seed-topped “Dakota,” or the sweet and delicious Cinnamon Chip bread, which they also say makes for great French toast. While the bread lasts for seven to 10 days, you can also double bag and freeze it to extend its life, then warm it up later and enjoy it all over again!

La Vie Bakehouse

Online ordering
Pick Up: All Five Daughters Bakery locations
Hours: Friday and Saturday, open to close (please check the website for exact locations and times)

It’s no surprise the pandemic has inspired some incredible baking, and La Vie Bakehouse is one of the highlights. Though Valerie Jane Parker has been baking her whole life, a skill she learned from her mother, she only recently began sharing her talents with the rest of us. Taking her first order in May 2020, word of her ridiculously good slow-fermentation sourdough spread like wildfire, and by July, she was rolling in (sour)dough. Now, she has Nashville’s underground artisan bakehouse, making everything from Parisian rye to roasted garlic. Her slogan is “Let the good carbs roll,” and boy, do they ever. Her chocolate babkas were an instant cult classic, and “The Cloud” focaccia is popular, too. “My personal favorites are generally whatever seasonal specialty loaf I’ve just created,” Valerie tells us. “It’s where I get to infuse a little artistry. In the past, I’ve created pumpkin boules shaped like pumpkins, red wine loaves that were deep crimson. Most recently, it was a chocolate coffee rye infused with Counter Culture Coffee. I like to flip the script.” La Vie bread is available via online ordering, with pick up every Friday and Saturday at any Five Daughters Bakery location, from open to close. “Once you’re there, walk up to the counter, slip them your name and tell them you’re here for ‘La Vie,'” explains Valerie. “It’s like the secret password to the bread speakeasy.” Mysterious and delicious? We’re in.

Lillian St. Bread

Online ordering, wholesale
Residential Delivery: Thursdays through March

A community bakery, Lillian St. Bread offers residential deliveries! With options like onion and thyme focaccia, seeded sourdough and “Sourdough Bloomer” loaves, the East Nashville-based mom-and-pop operation makes sure we’ve got artisan bread to satisfy our cravings. We hear their homemade brioche is pretty fabulous, too. They can also be found selling seasonal selections at the Richland Park Farmers’ Market on most Saturdays during the winter, as well as in other local shops, pop-ups and catering services throughout the city such as East Nashville’s In Good Company, Bare Bones Butcher in The Nations and Demeter’s Common in Lebanon.

Little Gourmand

In-store, online ordering

Berry Hill: 717 Craighead St., Nashville, TN 37204
Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday

Green Hills: 2209 Bandywood Dr., Ste. D, Nashville, TN 37215
Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday

Our favorite stop for anything and everything French, Little Gourmand has just started making and selling fresh sourdough bread. Available online and at both of their area locations, they offer three different options — white sourdough, whole wheat sourdough, and sourdough rye with caraway seeds. The bread is available every day, Tuesday through Saturday, but pre-ordering two or three days in advance is strongly recommended since there’s limited production capacity and sourdough notoriously takes several days of preparation. We also recommend hitting up the shop first thing in the morning for a better chance of snagging your favorite flavor. Though Little Gourmand owner Guenievre Milliner has been looking to add fresh bread to her menu for a while now, it’s a collaboration with local French baker, Chef Emilie, that finally made it happen. “She is passionate about sourdough, and we have the same French palate,” says Guenievre. “As soon as I tried her bread, I knew we had to work together on offering it to Nashville.”

If you’re looking for inspiration on how best to enjoy your sourdough, Guenievre says, “The rye and caraway is my favorite flavor because it reminds me of my life in Brittany, when we would eat a lot of oysters and seafood — always with rye bread and salted butter. Each time I eat it, it brings back many memories.”

Silke’s Old World Breads Bakery

In-store, online ordering, wholesale
1214A/B College St., Clarksville, TN 37040 • (931) 552-4422
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; closed Sunday

Technically, this one isn’t in Nashville, but Silke’s Old World Breads Bakery is worth the drive if you’re up for jumping in the car. With over 30 types of fresh-baked bread, they have one of the largest menus around. Not to mention, Grubhub offers doorstep delivery of Silke’s famous made-from-scratch selections. They also ship to any location within the UPS three-day ground shipping radius. The Mediterranean bread, which is chock-full of kalamata olives, feta cheese, peppers, onions and Italian seasoning, is a winner in our book, as are the focaccia and the pumpernickel. You also can’t go wrong with the raisin and walnut bread, which is the perfect vessel for some creamy brie or Camembert cheese. They offer quite a few vegan and gluten-free bread options, too, and selections range from rolls to sourdough to sweet bread. If you’re looking for a quick and closer-to-home Silke’s fix, head to East Nashville’s Mitchell Delicatessen, where you can feast on any number of crazy good sandwiches made on Silke’s hoagie rolls. We recommend the Banh Mi, Asian Flank Steak or Seitan Supreme.

Enjoy!

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