BY MEG VAN HUYGEN for WEEKLY VOLCANO 4/10/26 |
I was never the kind of person who had a favorite bakery until I learned about Balloon Roof
My introduction began at the perfectly divine Field Bar + Bottle, Tacoma’s loveliest restaurant, where they serve a side that’s just a blob of housemade ricotta, a cup of jam made from whatever fruit happens to be in season, and a basket of Balloon Roof sourdough. Toasty on the outside and chewy, tangy, steamy, billowy on the inside, with that inimitable crackly crust. I like sourdough fine as a concept, but I’m not one of those sourdough weebs who tried to conquer the art during the pandemic or anything. It’s nice. However, this stuff knocks my ass out into outer space. I could happily eat a whole basket of Balloon Roof sourdough bread, cheese, and jam for dinner and nothing else.
Many times, I’ve considered trekking out to Balloon Roof Baking Company’s HQ in Fife, which owners Don and Emily Broyles named for the historic, no-longer-extant Balloon Roof Dance Hall located behind the Poodle Dog until it burned down in 1964. But I never wake up early enough on my days off to get there before, I imagine, the pastry case and bread shelf both get cleaned out.
The bakery also has stalls at a few local farmers’ markets, and twice or thrice, I’ve roused my ass up before they start breaking the stalls down in Proctor in order to score one of these pristine sourdough boules, which is usually the only option left by the time I get there. But I’m no choosy beggar. They’re miraculous.
The stray pastries I’ve tried from Balloon Roof are killer too. Everything uniformly is. But good lord, that bread. I would’ve bet they have other, even more incredible-tasting kinds of bread as well, if only I could have woken up before 10 a.m. on weekends to find out.
Well, at long last, after a year of threats, my very favorite bakery on Earth has opened their doors on Sixth Ave. Balloon Roof had their soft opening on March 19 in the former It’s Greek to Me space across from Memo’s. Predictably, that first day was a mob scene, but we managed to snag a sack of buttermilk sourdough English muffins, the lone item remaining on the shelf. They were mesmerizing, and we built all of our dinners around them for three days.
On Easter Sunday, the vibe was way more chill, with no line when we got there around 11 o’clock. Tons of natural light inside, and the air was perfumed by butter. Most of the tables were full, but the space is roomy, so it wasn’t crowded. And so much bread on the bread shelves for me to choose from, crammed on there like books in a library. My God, the luxury. On sight, I nabbed a sourdough boule on my way to the counter, as though someone might take it from me.
The barista gave us a quick tour of the countertop display case, and although he directed us toward the elaborate stacked-up focaccia sandwiches, which admittedly looked awesome, I selected a kouign amann and a ham-and-cheese savory croissant. I’m in my kouign amann era. If I see one, I get it.
Seems like the PNW is in this era with me, as this pretty pastry from northwestern France is popping up more and more in local cases, to everyone’s great fortune. The kouign amann shares DNA with the workaday croissant in that it’s a laminated pastry and comparably loaded with butter. But two key differences are: 1. It’s been folded into a muffin tin like a napkin and is muffin-shaped, not crescent-shaped, and 2. The top is sugared and then caramelized, creating a crunchy, shellacked exterior beneath which lies the classic soft, croissanty interior. This sugar shell is easy to F*** up, and many do. And often, even when they’re not F***ed up, your kouign amann will cost $5 and then it’s the size of a Nilla Wafer. This is a nationwide food trend, I suppose, prices going up as portions go down. I was braced for anything here. But Balloon Roof did not f*** up their kouign amann. Its exoskeleton was perfectly crisp and caramelized, like the top of a crème brûlée but three-dimensional, all the way around the balloon roof of the kouign amann. Its interior was correctly fluffy and puffy, straight out of central casting. There’s at least half a stick of butter per pastry. This is the best kouign amann in Pierce County, I feel confident saying. Definitely eat this.
The savory croissant was baller too. It looked pretty innocent on the surface, a round croissant bun with sesame seeds scattered on top, until you bite into it and realize there’s a whole situation happening in there. I knew it was ham and cheese in some type of way, but wow, there’s a pretty generous slab of ham folded inside, enveloped in nutty melted Gruyère and dressed with a touch of Dijon mustard. Gorgeous work. My roll had busted a small leak, and there was a crispy little cheese tail on the corner that had gotten all deliciously frizzled with baking. An extra treat attached to your treat.
As well, the display case was positively stuffed with suggestions for our next trip, minced garlic and Irish cheddar focaccia, personal buckwheat-flour banana breads, saucer-sized ginger molasses cookies with strips of crystallized ginger baked right into them. A panoply of different cruffins. I have a lot of work to do.
As for the sourdough, my guy and I each got our own loaves for ourselves, no sharing. Later, I took mine out in the yard and beheld this magnificent thing in the friscalating daylight, admiring the tiny blisters on the crust and big ostentatious sourdough ear on top, before carving off and toasting a couple slices and eating them for dinner. Kerrygold butter on one, Boursin cheese on the other. Flawless. As I was doing this, my boyfriend texted me this dispatch from his office:
“I have eaten almost half of a loaf of bread today, and I feel like I probably should not have done this. It is marvelous bread, though. Very good toasted and piled with avocado.”
Turns out, he was right. Tacoma has many excellent bakeries. Among them, Corina and Three Hearts also deserve shout-outs, and it’s high time you picked your favorite too, which means trying them all. I’m stoked to see our reputation grow as a destination town for superior baked goods. People will plan whole road trips about it. I recommend starting your odyssey at Balloon Roof.
Balloon Roof Baking Company
1702 6th Ave, Tacoma, WA 98405
www.balloonroof.com
@balloonroofbakingco
(253) 232-7680
