The craft bread sector is rapidly expanding, thanks to blossoming consumer demand for local foods.

At Metropolitan Market, which operates 10 stores in the Seattle market area, customers can choose from scores of artisan bread options: Macrina Bakery brioche loaf, The Essential Baking Company artisan Pugliese bread, Franz Mckenzie Farms buttermilk bread, Grand Central Baking sourdough or sliced Campagnola, Schwartz Brothers Bakery pumpkin bread, Metropolitan Market Skagit Valley Miche, and numerous others. Macrina Bakery is a local favorite and features such unique favorites as cinnamon apple pull-part loaf.

“The philosophy of the bakery is to enhance both the natural products and the flavor of the various grains. Our baked goods are created from Northwest apples, potatoes, cranberries and hazelnuts, as well as wheat, rye, barley and buckwheat flour,” Marina Bakery’s founder Leslie Mackie said.

For others, Sprouts Farmers Market announced a variety of exclusive products that feature artisans who create specialty items that offer convenience and good-for-you ingredients.

The natural grocer prioritizes seasonal, innovative, and attribute-driven foods like organic, plant-based, keto, paleo and more.

Shoppers rely on Sprouts for introducing them to new and unique products to meet a variety of needs and tastes, including a new addition: Chompie’s Cinnamon Swirl Bread, made by a local Arizona bakery and deli, which is made with the finest ingredients and does not contain high-fructose corn syrup.

Whole Foods Market’s newly opened 50,000-square-foot store located in Madison, Wis., features a fresh bakery department offering made-in-house products including breads from La Campagne Bakery.

All food at Whole Foods Market must meet the company’s rigorous Quality Standards, which prohibit hydrogenated fats, high-fructose corn syrup and more than 260 flavors, colors, sweeteners and other ingredients commonly found in food.

In addition, all beauty and body care products must meet the company’s body care standards, which ban more than 180 commonly used ingredients, including phthalates, parabens and microbeads.

This article is an excerpt from the January 2024 issue of Supermarket Perimeter. You can read the entire Artisan Breads feature and more in the digital edition here.