Ok this one was definitely a journey. @bakerybrera opens from 7AM - 7PM and we went down to Empress Mall on a Saturday at 4pm only to see only loaves on the shelves. Fast forward to Sunday morning where we woke up and hauled ass to Farrer Road at 830AM so that we could get the good bakes - the result of which you see in the photo above.
Croissants, Pain Au Chocolat, Lemon Cruffin, PB&J Cruffin, Raisin Scones and the Pastry of the moment - Kouign Amman (pronounced as “Queen Amman” - depends on who you ask).
What’s interesting is that most of it are variations of each other and fall within the same category of French bakes called “Viennoiserie” literally meaning from Vienna but were perfected in France. The similarities lie in how these (croissants, kougin amman, brioches) were made with the use of packaged yeast and layers of dough folded over multiple times. Cruffins are relatively modern modifications, and utilise the same time intensive process. @buttermilkpantry has an excellent video and recipe on how croissants are made - and are especially challenging for Home Bakers in Singapore.
Overall - the bakes were pretty decent, the clear favourite being the lemon cruffin. The cruffin texture was akin more to a croissant vs. another cruffin we tried before that had a crispier texture. Lemon curd was tart and provided a good balance to cut through the buttery but light cruffin texture. It was interesting to also see how their versions of Kouign Amman differ from other bakeries out there with a more bread like texture, definitely wouldn’t recommend eating more than 1 at 1 go. The croissants were also decent but made us miss the croissants from TBB of yesterday which used to set the standard for croissants in SG. The scones were average but do well paired with some clotted cream.
There is a decent amount of “hype” for bakery brera - some of it deserved some of it undeserved. They are definitely one of the better bakeries out there - but go for the cruffins and stay for the cruffins, those were clearly their signature, but make sure to go early! Most bakes go out at 7/8AM. Let us know in the comments any other bakeries worth waking up for!
