Sourdough bread in Beijing??

[yinyang]

EMERGENCY SITUATION!

Where can I found sourdough bread in Beijing? Preferably rye bread but other bread would be OK too.

I've been 2 weeks in BJ now and the first week went physically OK but during the last week I haven't have appetite at all (mei wei le). Now I just noticed that I'm really craving for sourdough rye bread. I use to eat sourdough rye bread every day at home and since I haven't been able to eat it for 2 weeks now I think I've got the shui tu bu fu problem.

I'd like to know precised addresses of the bakeries etc. where I could find sourdough bread.

Thanks for your kind help!

[onebir]

Well since it's an emergency...

There are a few shops that sell Russian bread (yeah!) near the (you guessed it) Russian embassy, DongZhiMen metro.

One of them's on a road East of DongZhiMen Bei Xiao Jie (the RH turn just before the (smallish) temple/nunnery if you're heading North up DongZhiMen Bei Xiao Jie) - it's up some steps & kind of attached to a hotel, on the Northern side of the street.

Another is on DongZhiMen Zhong Xiao Jie - the first road North off DongZhiMen Nei Da Jie, which heads directly up to the main gate of the Russian Embassy. Another is on the E-W road you get to if you head up DongZhiMen Zhong Xiao Jie & turn right when you get to the Russian Embassy's gates. That one's a bit hidden - it's just at the entrance of a xiao qu (maybe MinAn xiao qu?)

These latter two have a better selection than the first one. Happy chewing ;-)

[yinyang]

onebir,

thanks for your reply!

I found some sourdough rye bread from a German bakery, but the bread wasn't exactly the kind of bread I was looking for. Anyway, it was OK.

I'll send you an email soon, more questions concerning the address of the Russian bakery which you mentioned.

[zarathustra]

Sourdough or real baguettes is also something I'm looking for. Since I've just moved to Beijing, I haven't really started looking. I'm not sure if there are more western supermarkets here?

If anyone has an oven, we could also try making bread. I haven't done it since college but it is something I'd like to do more of.

[flameproof]

There is a Carrefour in BJ. I have no idea how good their bread is. But I was in a Carrefour in Phuket, Thailand and the baguette and croissants there were WORLDCLASS!

I didn't try the dark bread, however, it looked good too, and it was NOT just wheat flower with malt. It was real rye bread.

Carrefour is a french supermarket and I presume they may have a higher standard for bread as other places.

BTW, on the other end of the bread road was Subway, their bread quality was just awful. Soft rubber bread with no taste.

PS: If you bake yourself you can fake it by adding natural yogurt and less water.

[johnd]

The Carrefour bakery in China seems to be world-worst class. Disappointing to the max. Go anywhere else something better.

[flameproof]

The Carrefour bakery in China seems to be world-worst class. Disappointing to the max.

I am un-glad to hear that. But knowing China, I truly believe you. The shop in Phuket shows that they can do better. The bread there was excellent (and I mean by French baguette standard!)

If you live in BJ you should complain directly to the French manager. If he can't do anything, he may tell you at least where he buys his bread.

[zarathustra]

I found tout les jours by wudaoko. They have baguettes and croissants. Got a baguette but haven't tried it yet. Sourdough maybe now. Will miss it if I can't find it anywhere.