As nomads who travel in their motorhome full-time, something we always check out in any new town or city: is there a good bakery?

To date we have been to 37 states in the U.S. These are what we think are the best bakeries in the country. All we have visited at least twice. Some we have visited many, many, many times, for example, Frank’s Bakery and Mike’s Pastry. These are bakeries we would HIGHLY recommend!!!!! We will ALWAYS go out of our way to stop at these bakeries.

There is not any one bakery we would list as #1. Each bakery has its own uniqueness, but all are exceptional. For example, the best cannoli’s are at Mike’s Pastry in Boston. The best cheesecake is at Sugar Pop in Waveland, MS.

All bakeries are listed alphabetically by state.

Independently Owned

Connecticut

Mystic. Sift is a French focused bakery located in historic downtown Mystic, CT. The bakeshop is owned and operated by Pastry Chef Adam Young. It features a wide variety of artisanal breads, breakfast pastries and other sweet and savory breads. Our favorites? The macaroons! https://www.siftbakeshopmystic.com/

Florida

Homestead. Knaus Berry Farms started off in 1956 as a small roadside strawberry farm stand near the current location. Over the years they have added assorted baked goods, vegetables and ice cream. Rarely do we wait in line for anything, but the hot cinnamon rolls and the cheesy yeast rolls are worth it! People leave the store with cardboard trays of these items! https://knausberryfarm.com/

Indiana

South Bend. Macri’s Italian Bakery has been a staple in downtown South Bend since 1978. There is a restaurant attached to the Bakery, owned by the same family. They offer Italian pastries, baked goods, cakes and pizza. Our favorite is the “TV bars”, about the size of a Twinkie. There is a layer of moist dark chocolate cake, a layer of milk chocolate mousse and then dipped in dark chocolate. We have never tasted anything like it! https://www.macrisbakery.com/

Louisiana

Lafayette. Poupart’s Bakery remains the only authentic French bakery in Acadiana (Lafayette area). Mr. Francois Poupart and Mr. Patrick Jean Marie Poupart have been making French pastries, old world French breads, sweet treats and savory soups and sandwiches since 1967. Our favorites? The cupcakes and the muffaletta mix you can buy by the pound! https://www.poupartsbakery.com/

Maine

Bangor. Frank’s Bakery has been a family-owned business since 1945. It offers a variety of home-made donuts, muffins, pastries, cookies and made to order sandwiches for eating in or take out. Our favorites? The strawberry tarts and the blueberry tarts. They are sold only when the fresh fruit is in season!! All berries are locally grown and picked fresh! https://franksbakery.com/

Massachusetts

Boston. Mike’s Pastry has been a staple on Hanover Street in Boston’s historic Italian North End. Michael Mercogliano (the “Mike” behind the famed Mike’s Pastry) has offered decadent pastries since 1946. While his pastries, cupcakes, cookies and cakes are out of this world, the one thing that keeps us coming back over and over and over again is their cannoli. No one, anywhere has EVER come close to Mike’s cannoli’s. It is worth double parking for! https://www.mikespastry.com/

Mississippi

Waveland. Sugar Pop Bakery is a fairly new bakery located in the old Waveland School on Coleman Street. It shares the space with the Ground Zero Museum. The pastries are phenomenal! They offer a variety of pies (peanut butter, key lime), cupcakes (wedding cake, red velvet, chocolate lovers’ chocolate), muffins, scones, cinnamon rolls and cheesecakes (strawberry, Mardi Gras), etc. Our favorites? The peanut butter pie and the Mardi Gras cheesecake! https://www.sugarpopbakingco.com/

North Carolina

Wilmington. The Peppered Cupcake is a unique experience. Their cupcakes have a different density and a different taste than anything we have ever had before. Tabitha Meready, the owner/baker, started the Peppered Cupcake in 2008 with no formal pastry training. All of her cupcakes are topped with real buttercream. When you order your basic cupcake, last minute ingredients such as fresh fruit, warm compotes, fresh pepper jellies, home-made caramel and ganache, whipped creams and toasted nuts are added. It is unique to have a sweet cupcake topped with a hot chili pepper topping! Don’t knock it until you try it! https://www.thepepperedcupcake.com/

Rhode Island

North Smithfield. Wright’s is a family owned and operated dairy farm and bakery that has been selling bakery products since 1914. They produce and bake everything onsite. When you drive onto the property you will see the cows (and the baby calves!!) that will be providing the freshest of fresh dairy products and the ice cream you will love! Wright’s was an original farm to table operation. What do we like best? Everything. We have been to Wright’s dozens of times and every time the pastries have been perfection. https://wrightsdairyfarm.com/

Providence. The Shop is maybe an unusual addition to a list of the best bakeries in the country. It is a tiny storefront with limited offerings. What The Shop does better than anyone anywhere in the country is to make the best soft chocolate chip cookie. Maybe because all of the dairy is grass fed, maybe because the ingredients are locally sourced. We couldn’t tell you why they are so good. Just that these cookies are worth fighting the Providence traffic and the severely limited parking once you get there. Pair the chocolate chip cookie with their nitro infused coffee and that is one winning combination!!!! http://www.theshopfoxpoint.com/

Commercial / Chain Bakeries

While we gravitate toward smaller independently owned bakeries, there are some bakeries that we have been surprised to find out were actually chains! We have an “honorable mention” for these consistently good “chain bakeries”:

• Hurts Donuts, traditional donuts with a variety of out-of-this-world toppings. Their logo boasts they are open “24 hours a day, 8 days a week”.
• Parlor Donuts, layered donuts with a variety of flavors and toppings, for example, chocolate lovers’ chocolate, raspberry pistachio and maple bacon.
• Crumbl Cookies, freshly made cookies. The frosted sugar cookies are really good.
• And last on our list is Krispie Kreme. It is a chain donut shop, but you can’t beat a “hot one”, a freshly cooked and glazed donut still circling on the conveyor belt.

Take-away Points

In our travels, in our opinion, these are by far the best bakeries in the country. Tastes may vary and you may have other ideas about great bakeries. As we continue traveling, we hope to add more to the list!

We would love to hear about your favorites!!! Write and let us know!

Your partners in travel,
Kathryn, Dave and Lucky
RVing Nomads

It’s a lifestyle

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