Dear Grain Sourdough Studio

Very cute spot! Got myself some coffee and a scone, which were both great:)

This is not the most convenient place to stay in but it’s nice that there is an option for it.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

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Dear Santa, I want more delectable treats from Dear Grain for Christmas. In return, you can have some of my cookies as well! Their sourdough chocolate chip cookie accurately reflects their specialty: everything sourdough. This cookie has everything that you crave in a good choco chip cookie with a gooey bite and melty semi-sweet chocolate chips, that's contrasted with a crispy edge for a complete bite. The blueberry scone brings an acidity that is perfect to eat with the cookie, served with a tangy lemon curd that you dip the buttery scone into.

This bakery is a sourdough lover’s dream come true! They’ve taken sourdough to a whole new level with creative shapes, flavors, and types—you’ll find everything from classic loaves to unique, flavor-packed creations you didn’t even know you needed.

But it doesn’t stop there. If you’re feeling inspired for an impromptu charcuterie night, this place has you covered with all the essentials. From fresh cheeses and cured meats to perfect pairings, you can gather everything you need to elevate your evening right here - including the wine!

They also whip up custom sandwiches on-site, and their fridge is stocked with ready-to-eat snacks if you’re on the go. And if you’re brave enough to try making your own sourdough, they even sell the starter so you can get a little piece of the magic at home. Whether you’re here for a quick bite or setting up for a gourmet night in, this bakery is the ultimate stop!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Located in the heart of the Ossington strip, Dear Grain specializes in slow fermented, high hydration sourdough bread that is baked fresh every day. The space is like a warm bakery fused with a specialty grocery store. In addition to the wide selection of whole loaves neatly displayed along one of the walls, Dear Grain sells a number pastries, sandwiches, wine, frozen foods, and pantry items imported from, but not limited to, places such as Portugal, Denmark and Spain.

I tried a few of the loaves, pastries, and one of the sandwiches here and loved them all. I highly recommend checking this place out if you're a fan of sourdough and in the area, though the loaves are slightly more expensive than other places. Note: the loaves start to get hard after the first day, and can be a bit difficult to cut.

Parking: Limited street parking. Small Green P parking lot nearby

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 4

The scone is perfect, honestly. Latte is 4 out of 5 because it doesn’t have latte art……

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Very clean and nice cute spot but the turkey sandwich I had was really absolutely terrible- there was zero seasonings on it. I don't think they even put salt and pepper which was kinda gross, they charged $18 for it which sucked and felt like a rip off. Very disappointed with the taste of the sandwich, not worth $18 at all.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 4

This totally blew my already high expectations out of the water!! So incredible, their bread brought me so much joy.

The sourdough bread (I got the pan loaf) is by far the best sourdough I’ve ever had in Canada, much better than other bakeries I’ve tried. The only one that compares is ones I’ve tried in San Francisco. It is super sour (ie. Very strong on the sourdough flavor) and I love that! This loaf is going to become a regular purchase for me, and yes I will trek all the way out to this bakery for it. The texture was also incredible. Eating it toasted with butter was pure joy. I will be slicing & freezing to keep on hand!

Their sourdough pizzas were also incredible. I tried the eggplant and potato. I will say they were quite greasy as a lot of oil seeped out onto the bags, but flavor was excellent. These aren’t as heavy on the sourdough flavor but lots of garlic, and watch out the eggplant was SPICY with lots of chili flakes.

I also tried the cheese twist croissant which was excellent, but not that unique (tasted like any other bakery croissant) so I’d focus more on their other stuff next time.

I’ve tried their scones and cookies at sweat & tonic and those are also excellent. I especially like their ube caramel coconut cookie - also no sourdough flavor but really delicious.

They’ve got a lot of cool pantry items too, I was able to restock my Maldon flaky salt and was also tempted to try this umami seasoning they had. Nut butters too.

Overall, this bakery is a knockout - I would give it more than 5 stars if I could!! Definitely worth making a trip to Ossington for.

Update: I’ve found their bread, cookies, and scones stocked at Dark Horse Espresso Bar, so now I can get my fix without trekking out to Ossington! Win-win!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great bakery for delicious sourdough bread. Highly recommend their fresh cheese sourdough on

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

Mad expensive for the cup sizes and food sizes😭 great coffee tho

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 5

Bread is decent but the lack of regard or even acknowledgment from the two staff working behind the counter was disarming. It was really off putting and I likely won’t return.

Ps. Every other bakery that I buy bread from always slices the loaf for me…not sure why you guys don’t.

We love the bread at Dear Grain but the service leaves a lot to be desired. We arrived close 6 pm and they still had racks of unsold bread. We asked if they offered half price bread as many bakeries do close to closing time. They said they do, but insisted that we order it through the Too Good To Go app even though we were standing right there in the store. So we downloaded the app but couldn’t figure out how to order the bread. It turns out that you can only get a surprise bag for $7.99. We decided to try it and ordered a surprise bag and picked a bag from the shelf. It turned out to be all pasties which we did not want. With some disdain the server agreed for us to pick another bag. The second bag turns out to be a loaf of burnt rye which is not a favourite of ours and some pastries again. To boot, the server scolded us for being there to pick up the bag. She said with ordering through the app, we are supposed to pick up the surprise bag after 25 minutes but she would do us a favour and let us have it this time.

In short, I ended up with a bag of stuff I did not want even though they still had dozens of of other unsold loves at the end of the day. To boot, we were served by a very arrogant server who was more concerned with following some nonsensical rule than the customer or selling the bread.

The sourdough they have is tasty but I have a few gripes with the service I received. I write this a couple weeks after visiting as I wanted to test out their starter.

First, they sell their sourdough discard. Sourdough bakeries have a strong tradition of giving away discard but in the post COVID sourdough craze age, I get selling it. It's $8 though, which is a bit exorbitant I feel. Nevertheless, I bought one as I was in the market and I have mixed feelings about it. It's very very active if I feed it rye (of course, it's rye) but absolutely refuses to rise or show semblance of life if I feed it white flour. This is odd as it appears to have been fed previously with white flour. It has made good loaves with a mild taste and overall, I'm happy with it. One day I will get it to accept white flour (maybe?).

On to my experience in the store itself. I wanted to learn a bit more about the starter and the food they carry. The employee working that day was totally unable to answer my questions. First I asked what kind of pizzas they had in the display case as there were no labels, he pointed at each in turn and stated the most obvious topping that was on them and nothing more. For example, the mushroom slice obviously had mushrooms on it, but it also had other things! What those were, I couldn't tell you, as the clerk couldn't bother to tell me, I just got "that's a mushroom one". I got a slice of the "sausage" pizza (I was told it was sausage, it was very clearly not sausage, perhaps a pepperoni of some sort). It was delicious! Points for that!

I then asked the clerk what they fed their starter. He looked at me, flabbergasted, and said "uhhh...flour?" I clarified by asking what kind of flour and he said he wouldn't know that and gestured vaguely at the bakers in the back (which you can see and is very cool). He didn't offer to find out from the bakers and simply treated the question as answered. As he was checking me out, he pointed to the bags of different types of flour they sell and said "maybe they use one of those?" I simply stared at him, my turn to be flabbergasted.

Anyway, maybe train your employees a bit more and maybe don't charge $8 for discard.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 4

Service: 1

The summer coffee is pretty good, but there is no service. The young lady barista looks impatient for the two questions I asked about their coffee. Wanted to purchase a bag of beans, but this service really puts me off.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 4

Service: 1

Good bread and products, but horrible service. Been here several times these past two months to get our usual bread, only the guy with glasses is nice enough. All other staff, especially the young girls, are very rude and treat you like an inconvenience. I come by only when necessary, as the bread is good and location is convenient. However, i'm not comfortable enough to come as often as I'd like. Please work on this

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 1

I can't live without this bread. This is the best bread i've ever had in my life sourdough wise. I searched for years for something like this, and I found it. The pan loaf tastes like a pastry. I introduced this bread to all my friends. And they are also shocked with the flavor. I LOVE YOU dear grain!!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5