Ethnic breads in Chicago

I was thrilled to find this site, so that I could receive feedback concerning ethnic bakeries in Chicago. I am a preschool/kindergarten teacher who has been having a weekly "Bread Day" in my classroom for the past several years. Each week I bring in bread from a different country to share with the children. We then put a sticker on our bread map. I have found many wonderful ethnic breads/bakeries in Chicago, which I won't list here, but am always searching for new places. African breads are especially needed. This is the best day of the week for my children, so if anyone has a special bakery to recommend, I would greatly appreciate it.

I'm afraid I can't help on African breads but here's at least a few leads.

I have seen Afghan bread (or bread labelled that) both at People''s Market in Evanston, and stacked up near the register at the otherwise generic corner store on Bryn Mawr directly across from that Mia Francesca location.

Middle East Bakery off Clark in Andersonville has not only pita, but long sesame seeded flat loaves, some that are crepe-thin (whose name I forget) and a couple of other varieties.

I believe that the Mexican bakery just south of the Irving Park red line does a good job, but haven't been in in a while, and of course, there are many panaderias to choose from.

At least one of the places that produces tortilla chips, tortilla's etc. locally for retail sale offers tours. I forget which brand it is, possibly El Milagro, but I'm not sure. You could check that out and it might be a real blast for the kids.

And of course there's Limpa and other Scand. breads i Andersonville and all the Indian and Pakistani breads you could find along Devon.

Perhaps if you went into any of the African restaurants along Broadway toward Devon you could get some info on finding African breads as well.

Just a few ideas. Others may have better, more complete info to offer.

snancy wrote:I have found many wonderful ethnic breads/bakeries in Chicago, which I won't list here, but am always searching for new places. African breads are especially needed.

Bread Day sounds like a wonderful idea. I wish we had Bread Day when I was in school. (By the way, not telling us where you tried doesn’t make it very easy for us to suggest new places!)

For African bread, Ethiopian injera should be fairly easy to come by and as a bonus it’s a very fun and interesting bread. With a day notice almost any Ethiopian restaurant should be able to supply you. My suggestions would be Ras Dashen (ask to speak with Zenash) or Ethiopian Diamond. Or visit Abyssinia Market, the Ethiopian grocery next to Ras Dashen. Shan, the Pakistani grocery and restaurant, used to carry injera and might well still have it.

If you want to expand into the world of African starches such as fufu and kenkey, there are many possibilities. You could start by visiting Old World Market or La Fruiteria, two of the better African markets. Both are very interesting stores, well worth visiting.

Ras Dashen
5846 N Broadway
Chicago
773-506-9601

Ethiopian Diamond
6120 N Broadway
Chiacgo
773-338-6100

Abyssinia Market
5842 N Broadway
Chicago
773-271-7133

Shan
5060 N Sheridan Rd
Chicago
773-769-4961

Old World Market
5219 N Broadway
Chicago
773-777-7945

La Fruitería
8909 S Commercial Av
Chicago
773-768-4969

Bread day is very cool. My daughter's (1st grade) class did something similar this year. She and I made parantha's for them, which the kids teally loved (ould have been the extra ghee). Sorry, I can't help much with the african bread but an ethnic bakery I've been buying bread from recently is "pitas and more" on Ridge just south of Howard. It's a little montenegrin place with a wonderful baker on hand.

If you do let us know what you've done so far, I'm sure you would get many more suggestions, such as the georgian bakery on devon, Nan on devon (I'm not sure its the best place to buy indian breads, but I do so love the name). Two grocery stores that carry a large variety of breads from assorted nations are the fresh farms/north water market on devon (I've seen quite an assortment of Middle Eastern, afgani, and indian breads) and the marketplace on oakston in skokie., they might be a good spot to look around for ideas as well

Always a student, forever a teacher.

Oh, yes, please do report on what breads you have tried to date.

You may also ask for some help with different geographies. Along with myself, and others much more skilled, perhaps we can point you to some resources that you have not used yet. E.g., there is an excellant reference set in the CPL which discusses foods of every nation. [I will edit later with the link]

pd