Banneton Bakery

Banneton Bakery at The Gabba
25 Balaclava St, Woollongabba

I was on my way to mum and dad's place last Saturday morning when I thought I'd stop off at Banneton Bakery to pick up some breakfast supplies. I had never been before but I read lots of great reviews about the breads and baked goods. The general consensus is to avoid actually eating there because the atmosphere and service is supposedly under par so I figured that by purchasing the goods and eating elsewhere, I would avoid those issues.

The bakery is located in an industrial area where there isn't much else around. I got to Banneton not long after they opened and there was already a fair few people standing around buying bread and coffee. I took some time viewing the display cabinets before deciding what to get.

There is a decent selection of cakes and pastries on show, plus read-to-eat items like filled croissants, baguettes and bagels. On the back shelves are rows of breads. I had heard about macarons on offer too but I couldn't find any that morning.

I ended up picking an assortment of products to try that morning, plus their famous sourdough loaf to take back home to Toowoomba for the week.

When I got to my parent's house, we ripped open the packages and started working our way through.

Chocolate croissant

The chocolate croissant was butttery and flakey, with a good amount of chocolate. It would have been amazing heated up.

Pumpkin scone

I thought the pumpkin scone was OK but nothing special. Mum pointed out that it had an "Indian food smell" which I guess means there are some spices in it. It did seem like more of a savory scone than a neutral scone.

Pretzel

Dad thought the pretzel was "chewy". That it was. I wasn't too taken by this either. The coating was too salty, even for me, and I'm someone who really loves salt.

Salmon, cream cheese and salad bagel

I liked the salmon and cream cheese bagel. The bagel itself was really nice and the filling was surprisingly fresh.

Sourdough loaf

The sourdough loaf was HEAVY! I carted it home and have been eating it as toast for breakfast. It is a great quality sourdough with a great, slightly sticky/chewy texture and distinct sourness. I like it with blueberry jam.

Overall, Banneton Bakery delivered some tasty baked treats. The sourdough would be the pick of the lot. As for the rest, whilst they were good, I didn't think they were necessarily better than many other bakeries around. Even though I didn't eat there, the woman that served me was rude and short-tempered so I still got a taste of their bad service.