I love bread... I…read morelove it to the point that I want to take a massive lovesak sized loaf, create an opening through the crispy yet delicate crust, and have my body be engulfed in warm spongy bread innards as I lay in fetal position sucking my thumb. However, my love for bread has cursed me until the end of time. The magic of yeast has turned my tongue into an overly critical bread monster lusting for loaves of baked dough delight. In my never ending quest for this age old staple, I decided to venture into a small Dutch village known as Hoofddorp to see if my carb cravings could be satisfied. My first stop is a little bakkerij called Gorthuis. I walked in during lunchtime and there was already a queue to the door! Good sign. There is nowhere to sit but you are definitely surrounded by temptation during your queue wait! Unfortunately, all the homemade cakes and marzipan evil resides next to the entrance forcing you to involuntarily drool. Rude! During my wait, I decided to take a box of tea cookies and help fatten the employees in my office. What are tea cookies you ask? Balls of marzipan with a crispy syrup crust around them. A more appropriate name should be sugar-bomb-of-yummy-death-"cookie". I digress. I decided to test this place by getting an old cheese sandwich with brown bread, a loaf of muesli-bread and homemade and supergezonde gevulde speculaas Sandwich: boring... as in limp bread that I could have gotten better at Albert Heijn... Muesli-bread: If there is something Dutch can do, it's stuff dough with kilos of berrys and nuts to the point where you aren't sure if you are eating bread or if someone punch your mouth with a fistful of raisins. This bread was definitely the highlight and I say the more fruity nuts, THE BETTER! Thumbs up here! Gevulde Speculaas - I mean... I'm not sure how you can go wrong with butter-marzipan squished between two gingerbread cookies. It's like a Dutch Christmas Oreo cookie gone horribly wrong in a good way! All in all, super nice service (non native Dutchies will need to practice your Dutch skills here), but nothing truly stands out as amAAAzing. My loafy lust was not satisfied here leaving my rising yeast addicted body hungry for more carbs. Three stars for a cute place, decent bread and nice peeps. Stay tuned for the next installment on my Hoofddorp bakkerij quest for the best!

The bread here is awesome! Talk about mouthwatering! They make their bread fresh, and often times,…read moreit is still warm! I was in the Netherlands for two weeks on business, and had this bread every day when I was there. I just couldn't get enough! Ik droom over dit! Erg goed, vers, en warm!

On my lonely carb craved quest for the best Hoofddorp has to offer in terms of bakeries, I found…read moremyself in new land of bread called Bakker Gerad. 'Twas a grey drizzly day and as I walked up to the almost unrecognizable entrance next to the moat along Hoofdweg, my stomach, tired from the long journey, was ready to invade some yeasty loaves and conquer some sweets on the side! The fair dutch maiden was quite friendly and even corrected my grammar whilst I spoke in her native tongue. I humbly ordered an old cheese bruin bread sandwich, a loaf of muesli-nuts bread, and a speculaas pie. Yes.... They have pies for this heathen mash of gingerbread crusted butter/marzipan magic!! All other items from the store looked delicious and on par with every other bakery within the Hoofddorp village. And how fare thy bread? OK.... The sandwich was rather boring and I almost forgot its existence. The others were good, but like many other bakeries, I can fare the same with their goods. I swear to the bread gods that I will find a five star bakery before my quest is through; however, today... is not that day. Until my next entry - god speed.