Bacca Bakery

Flavour, nutrition, and affordability are the calling cards of Bacca Bakery, a two-person operation of love in Parapara. Pop into their café to buy your weekly loaf or linger and indulge in a sweet treat. The vibe is nature-forward and unpretentious, and you’re welcome to pepper owner-bakers Gregor and Chris with plenty of questions. 

 The duo have been working to revitalise the practice of farming edible wheat in the area. Currently, their wholemeal flour is sourced from Golden Bay, which means they have the shortest field-to-oven distance of any bakery in New Zealand. The importance of eating what grows locally and what is well-adapted to growing in the region shows in their diversity of mainstay offerings, and will challenge your perception of what wholemeal can do. 

 For whole loaves, you can dig into wholeseed crusted sourdough, fresh ciabatta, and even baguettes. On the sweet side, don’t skip over the moreish sourdough cinnamon roll or the rooibos custard sourdough danish, where the tea is steeped in milk to provide that luscious flavour. There’s even sourdough-spelt croissants, pain au chocolat, and laminated wholemeal-spelt Danish pastries.

 If you aren’t able to visit the bakery proper, you can buy Bacca Bakery’s loaves and pastries at Golden Bay Organics on Commercial Street or at the Saturday market in Tākaka.