Good Bakes

Words by Colin James Sturdevant

Heat, flour, water, salt and air. These simple elements plus ancient techniques have been creating something that’s been served at extravagant feasts and on humble tables for centuries — something that we often take for granted despite its majestic qualities. It sustains us in good times and bad times. It’s a spiritual symbol that represents life. It, if you haven’t guessed yet, is bread. As we roll into the cooler months and the holiday season, it’s a perfect time to talk about some of my favorite purveyors of this hearty staple and its sweeter companions, pastries. 

Angela's Oven 

I love my new neighborhood. Due to a fire back in the spring, I had to move. But now I’m within walking distance of the first bakery on my list: Angela’s Oven, which is just north of 20th Street in the Heights at 204 Aurora Street. 

Either I’ll stroll the few blocks or take a drive with windows down and listen to the neighborhood rooster offer its song to the freshly broken daylight. As you near the establishment, you’ll notice the comforting wafts of baked goods and spy pockets of greenery and flowers. Then, you’ll see an old warehouse as red as a barn that owners Jerry and Angela Shawn have transformed into their bakery. 

The quality of the goods at Angela’s Oven is top notch, the service impeccable, and you feel more than welcome and never rushed. The breakfast, lunch and baked goods as well as the ingredients they use are top of the line. Many items are made with local products, from the roasted coffee beans to the scrambled eggs to the brioche. 

Jerry and Angela are the binding links of the community on Aurora Street. Recently, as bread was being baked in the back, I sat down with them over coffee to learn how they started. It all revolved around the Heights where they both grew up and went to school, got married, had kids that grew up in the area and opened their bakery. They were one of the earliest vendors at Urban Harvest’s Farmers Market, where their now-grown children often helped sell the breads and pastries. 

But before that, Jerry was a Marine based in California. He would take trips to San Francisco and encountered topnotch sourdough. He realized that he wanted to be in the kitchen, so he eventually began taking classes at the California Culinary Academy. While learning to cut carrots into minute squares, he found himself staring through a large glass wall at people making bread. More intrigued by kneading than slicing, Jerry’s love and drive to work with bread and pastries was born. 

My go-tos for breakfast are: the Aurora Breakfast plate, which includes local pastured eggs your way, a protein of choice (go with the sausage patties) and a humongous biscuit; a chocolate .clair; or an iced latte with a house-baked loaf of bread that I can enjoy throughout the week. The brioche is my favorite because I love a slice with a quick soak in a mixture of Mill-King cream, local eggs and cinnamon sugar to make brioche French toast. The baguettes and sourdough are also exceptional. As are the pastries, such as the croissants, which are indulgent and soft. Hands down, go get some when you plan to go out for breakfast. 

Magnol French Baking 

When I was in college, I minored in anthropology with a focus on food and alcohol and loved learning about French cuisine. I even imagined taking a trip to the French countryside as a graduation gift to myself. But I was way too broke to travel post graduation. As a consolation prize, I can now regularly visit Magnol French Baking. 

I’ve been a fan of this bakery since Otto Sanchez, a native of El Salvador who has lived in Houston since 1992, opened it in an ochre-brown brick strip center at 1500 North Post Oak. This welcoming bakery offers some of the most unique breads and pastries I’ve had in Houston. From the hardy yet internally soft baguettes to the twice-baked chocolate almond croissant, this place is a treat. Each bread has a unique tasting crust, each interior a different flavor and texture. My favorites are the baguette, rolls, Campagne loaf and the brioche hamburger buns. But I’ve enjoyed all the bread I’ve purchased there, and the staff is knowledgeable and will help guide you to the perfect choice for your needs and preferences. They even sell French butter you can spread across the sliced bread. 

But my deepest indulgence here isn’t the bread. I stock up on the opera cake — a decadent, layered almond sponge cake laminated with a rich chocolate ganache and soaked in a flavorful coffee syrup. I’ll buy four pieces to last me through the week. I beg you: grab some bread, butter and dessert and have yourself a bakery diet for a day. Oh, and good news, they are opening a second location at 1115 East 11th Street in the Heights.

Sinfull Bakery

I first found Sinfull Bakery’s goods while cruising the aisles at Central Market. I rounded a corner and the biggest, most enticing iced cinnamon roll was beaming at me, and I beamed back. I looked at the label and thought how true: Sinfull Bakery. I mean, this thing had a crown of icing — and folks, icing is half of the equation for certain baked goods. It’s the best cinnamon roll in Houston. Come fight me, thumb-wrestling style over coffee. I will convert you to Sinfull Bakery’s vegan — yes, I said vegan — cinnamon roll. 

The owner and artist behind this vegan bakery is the talented Dylan Carnes, whose dream of opening a vegan bakery budded while on a hike. Carnes’ treats can now be found at mom-and-pop coffee shops and businesses all around the Houston area, Central Market, H-E-B, Whole Foods, and at the brick-and-mortar location at 1714 Webster Street, which is Houston’s first vegan bakery. 

When you go to the white, square brick-and-mortar (note, I said when, not if), parking can be a bit tight, but when you walk in, it’s cloud nine. You’re greeted by the warming smell of oats, baking spices and molasses. And hot damn, every vegan baked good you could ever want or share with your vegan friends is spread out before you. Whether you get some pretzel buns, a sustaining Everything Bar, or some other sweet treat you will ask yourself in shock, acceptance and joy: Is this really VEGAN?! Houston, get there. And anyone that says vegan baked goods aren’t as good, suggest they check out Sinfull Bakery. 

There’s so much I wanted to say about these three Houston hotspots, but I am limited to what can be printed in the pages of this magazine. Thanks to the folks behind these Houston dreams. And keep on doing that magic Jerry and Angela, Otto and Dylan! Now I’m going to go look lovingly at my loaf of brioche before I toast a slice and scarf it down eloquently. 

To learn more about these bakeries visit angelas-oven.com, magnolfrenchbaking.com and sinfullbakery.com.