Bäckerei en Masse

One of the most surprising (and totally awesome) parts of Berlin to me was the plethora of "back" shops. At first we were confused that there was such a huge demand for Tempurpedic mattress stores, but then we discovered that it was short for bäckerei, the German word for bakery.

Even more prevalent than McD's or Starbucks in America, it seemed like there was literally at least one bakery per block, usually multiple if you counted the millions of sidewalk cafes which all hosted a selection of yummy looking breads and sweets.

I guess Germany is well known for their breads and when you looked in the shops it was quite apparent. Along with wide varieties of normal rolls they also hosted adorable shaped items like Easter bunny loaves. Unfortunately, I never got to try any because of the whole touring with 6 people plus baby thing :p

I tried a bunch of different items from many shops. They ranged from sweet breads to donuts to cheesecakes. I have to say my very favorite was the Berliner. This may sound kind of cliché since it's the stereotypical pastry, but it was REALLY good. It's essentially just a jelly donut, but the filling won me over. The strawberry jam was so tasty... Like the kind you get in mini jars from cheese baskets at christmas time :D

Other donuts I tried included quark puffs which were like giant, air filled donut holes. I also tried a variety of fruity pastries with himbeer (raspberry) and cherry. Both seemed to be the fruits of baked good choice. I also tried a "Milka" choco donut. All were good, but none particularly stand out.

I thought the cheesecakes were very interesting in Berlin because the majority were made with quark (Oakdale cheese farm ftw!!!!!!). The one I had just seemed lighter than a normal cheesecake, and I didn't find the flavor that great

As for savory baked goods, I of course partook in some awesome "brezel" action. Pretzels were, as expected, widely available. I had my first from a chain, Ditsch, which was fresh and delicious out of the oven. In general, it seemed like the pretzels were slightly lighter than the American counterparts. Me gusta

Other items included a lot of pastries filled with meats and ham. Ok but not my thing

I was a bit disappointed in general. With the wide amount of bakeries I thought the stuff would be outstanding, but I find I much prefer American and Asian pastries