Temple Bakery: A Baker’s Collective

Shelves lined with row after row of gleaming pastries are often a point of pride for bakery owners. Me, well, when I see such a wide array of goods, I get leery. Because the processes of baking great bread and creating a perfect cookie share little more than flour in common, most bakeries tend to excel one or two things. What this means is that, all too often, you’ve got to sort through the case-filler to find the good stuff.

This isn’t an issue at Curtis Park’s four-day-old Temple Bakery. Located in a former Jewish synagogue, the sparse, punky space is home to four different baking businesses. The collective atmosphere allows each of the bakers to focus on his or her specialty.

Founders and co-owners Shauna Lott (of Long I Pie Shop) and Eden Miles (of Five Points Pizza and Black Sheep Bakers) put forth the majority of the spread. You’ll find cast-iron baked pies by the slice, galettes, and biscuits from Lott; pizza and bagels from Miles. Their tenants—Valhalla Cake Shop and Sixth Elegy Baking Company—provide cupcakes and Viennoiserie (croissants and the like), respectively.

So far, my favorites have been the deeply-flavorful bagels from Black Sheep (toast them to bring out the lightly-crisp edges), the hefty almond croissant from Sixth Elegy, and Long I Pie’s buttery, ultra-crunchy crusted bourbon-chocolate-pecan pie. I look forward to working my way through all of the specialties in Temple’s case.

2400 Curtis St.