Top 6 in the Six: Best Bakers

Despite coming from a long line of bakers (his parents, grandfather and great grandfather all excelled in the craft), Simon Blackwell began his culinary career as a chef and spent years as a chocolate maker at SOMA before focusing on baking. Blackbird Baking Co. now supplies baguettes, focaccia, ciabatta and other exceptional loaves to over 60 wholesale clients around Toronto, in addition to selling directly to the bread-hungry public from their Kensington Market bakery. Blackwell is currently developing a 100 percent whole grain variation of the bakery’s wildly popular sourdough bread.

Drawing inspiration from French and Asian pastry methods and flavours, Christinn Hua creates desserts that are as delicate and beautiful as they are delicious. It began with Millie Creperie, her Kensington Market bakery, which specializes in Japanese-style crepes – sweet crepes that are rolled into handheld cones so they can be enjoyed on the go. She’s since opened two additional Millie locations in the Entertainment District and Markham. Hua’s signature dessert is the Mille Crepe Cake, a cake made from twenty thin crepes layered with pastry cream in flavours like matcha and vanilla bean.

Lesley Mattina realized during her university days that her future was in the culinary world, when she found herself spending more time cooking for friends than studying. She developed an appreciation for simple, classic cuisine while working at the Inn on the Twenty in Niagara, which in turn inspired her to specialize in pastry and breads. Initially known for its cupcakes, her Dundas West bakery, OMG Baked Goodness, is increasingly gaining recognition for its many other sweet and savoury offerings. Try the herb and garlic focaccia, which is available by the loaf or as part of prepared meals like breakfast hoagies and muffuletta sandwiches. 

After being introduced to the art of baking while working at Celestin restaurant (now closed), Ryosuke Kita was inspired to combine French pastry techniques with his Japanese culinary heritage. The result is mon K patisserie, the East York bakery that Kita runs alongside his wife, Naomi. Here, Kita puts a Japanese spin on classic desserts, with green tea eclairs, matcha tiramisu and yuzu macarons among the bakery’s typical offerings. True to the subtly sweet style of dessert popular in Asia, Kita emphasizes varied, interesting flavours over sugary indulgence.

Michelle Edgar’s interest in both arts and science made baking a natural career choice, requiring creativity as well as an understanding of chemistry. Edgar’s goal with her Distillery District bakery, Sweet Escape Patisserie, is to bring a playful twist to pastry and dessert classics – think Earl Grey tea macarons or coconut curry shortbread. Goodies made with the bakery’s in-house smoked chocolate, such as the smoked chocolate, toffee and sea salt cookies, are perennial customer favourites.