Conshohocken Italian Bakery

My family is OBSESSED with this bakery. We stop by about every three weeks, buy a dozen hoagie rolls, eat the most delicious sandwiches for a day or two and then freeze the rest for fresh bread throughout the weeks. We basically stopped buying sandwich bread because of our visits and our meals are so much tastier! Conshy Italian Bakery is affordable, delicious, and it feels great to know we're supporting a long standing local business! We've also tried their burger buns and tomato pie, both delicious (the hoagie rolls have really won our hearts though). Contrary to some older reviews on Google and elsewhere, they do now take credit cards! The staff is also very helpful and always super quick. We know even if there's a bit of a line, we'll be in and out fast so we can always drop in our way home and grab our beloved bread.

Originally a small river town on the Schuylkill River north of Philly, Conshohocken shifted from quaint to bustling suburb in the middle/late 20th Century as waves of city dwellers with a little money in their pockets sought a better family life by moving in all directions out of the urban core. This included the ethnic enclaves that had called the neighborhoods of the City of Brotherly Love their homes for more than a hundred years. Many remained on the old narrow streets, but younger generations wanting more space to grow, heard the call and moved outside the city 's grasp, even if the older generations stayed put. Conshohocken Italian Bakery began in 1973, many decades after the founding of the inner city bakers like Sarcone 's and Casia 's. Their plant on Jones Street has expanded several times, but the recipes and authenticity of their products has never changed. Yelp Bro, Omar S. and I visited this landmark dough merchant as part of his exploration of Italian hoagie rolls and tomato pie, for his search for the Holy Grail the apex methodology for baking the best at home rolls and TP in his San Diego kitchen. The factory was way more modern than the others in the city, but the center of the operation was the woman behind the counter accepting orders from walk in customers, and more so from telephone orders. This bakery does not accept orders any other way, so Diane was the key to the whole magilla. She was a mistress of ceremonies, with a light comedic touch and genuine love of the customer and business. Omar was really taken with their interaction. And, why not? She was the gatekeeper to some of the best Italian bread and accessories in the region. Turned out, their rolls had about a wonderful crispy crust and light textured innards. Just enough sugar to allow the sandwich/hoagie rolls to be delicious naked, or with shmear of butter. Only Sarcone 's was its equal. Although Tomato Pies are a Philly Thing, and really not my favorite, Conshy Bakery had a damn good variant with a light sweet and garlic flavor in their sauce. As my family would say: I could eat it...! All their loaves looked and smelled great in the racks. Conshy Bakery was the biggest surprise of our five shop tour. Definitely deserves a visit when in the mood for awesome Italian rolls made with flour, salt, water, yeast, whey, cornstarch, soy/cottonseed oil, wheat flour Daren and dextrose arises. Yes, Sir! PS. They also have a large tray of Stock 's Pound Cakes for your sweet tooth. Stocks is yet another famous Philly institution that produces the best heavenly moist pound cakes in the universe. That lemon iced brick is stupendous.

Italian Bakery Tour Conshohocken Italian Bakery I 've been baking for the last 3 years, since COVID began, and while I 've had some successes, I haven 't yet mastered two native Philadelphian baked goods Hoagie (or sub or grinder Rolls and Tomato Pie, an Italian American/Philly take on Sicily 's Sfincione Palermitano. So, one day in April 2023, I partnered with my Yelp buddy, Gerald S., to traverse the Greater Philadelphia area, visiting five well known and respected Italian bakeries, sampling those two things. I wanted to understand the nature of those breads, to understand their common traits size and weight, density, crumb size; and, in the case of Tomato Pie, the sweet/acid/spice taste of its sauce. Of course, none of the bakeries that I visited would share their recipes, but I hoped to return to San Diego with a good idea of how to fiddle with recipes I have on hand, to make hoagie rolls and tomato pie similar to those I ate in Philly. CONSHOHOCKEN ITALIAN BAKERY I 'm not ashamed to admit that before I began my tour, I was a bit intimidated by the prospect of interacting with busy counterpeople at a number of bakeries in Philadelphia, especially since I 'd have to ask questions in order to gather information that would be useful to my project, engaging with folks whose reputation for brusqueness worried me that they might be bothered, or worse, suspicious of someone wondering out loud how their products are made. In the event, I 'm happy to note, I shouldn 't have worried. Except for a couple of people I met at Corropolese Italian Bakery Deli in Norristown, the bakers and clerks I met were helpful, and generous with their time and attention. And then there was Diane, the lady answering the phones at Conshohocken Italian Bakery. She was all those things, and she was amusing as hell. A few weeks before my trip to ensure that all the places on my list sold hoagie rolls and tomato pie. Everywhere else, I got a quick and useful yes, sometimes bundled with clarifying questions. When Diane answered the phone, she said, Hang on a sec, laid the phone down, and went back to helping the man in front of her, while I listened to their conversation. He was a father accompanied by his son, and, it being a few days before Easter, they were picking up sweets for the holiday. He wasn 't sure what he wanted, and Diane guided him, in the way that a border collie guides sheep, with a little push here and a nip at the ankles there. That conversation might have been terse, but she kidded the guy as she figured out his order. Plus, the little boy had questions about the cookies and other sweets in front of him, and Diane could not have been sweeter to the kid if he 'd been her own grandson. Honest to God, even if she 'd said that Conshohocken Italian Bakery didn 't have what I needed, I 'd have dropped in when I got to town, just to meet Diane. Hoagie Rolls More than any other hoagie roll I sampled from the five bakeries on my tour, Conshohocken Italian Bakery 's resembled my two favorite such forms of bread: bahn mi, and especially, New Orleans style French bread. Conshohocken Italian Bakery 's hoagie roll had those breads ' super crisp crust, and it was soft, light and airy inside. Its flavor was marvelous, inside and out; slightly sweet and a bit fermented. And thanks to well developed gluten, the roll was solid and chewy, and I 'm sure that it would withstand drippy sandwich fillings and never lose its hinge. The Numbers: The roll was 11.5 long, 8 in circumference and weighed ~135g. A 4 midsection weighed ~56g. I estimate the density of the baked rolls at 0.16775 g/cm3. [NOTE: A couple of nights after I visited the bakery, I had an excellent Italian dinner down the street at Trattoria Totaro. The table bread was a fantastic, crusty, aromatic Italian loaf. I wasn 't surprised to learn that it came from Conshohocken Italian Bakery, but, realizing that the restaurant 's owners could literally walk down the street for such high quality baked goods, I was a little jealous. Tomato Pie I 've previously mentioned that I 'm not an enthusiastic fan of tomato pie. I don 't dislike it, but I have some difficulty distinguishing it from the bread I dip into my tomato sauce as it bubbles on the stove, to test for saltiness. That said, Conshohocken Italian Bakery 's tomato pie was tasty. The pie 's sauce had the rich flavor of a good tomato sauce that 's been cooked down, and if tomato pie was what I wanted, and I was there, I 'd buy it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Sarcone 's Bakery: [hidden link Conshohocken Italian Bakery: [hidden link RECOMMENDED New York Bakery: [hidden link Cacia 's Bakery: [hidden link NOT RECOMMENDED Corropolese Italian Bakery Deli: [hidden link .

Great rolls and deserts. Opens super early. Call ahead for large orders and it will be ready when you arrive.

I fought with myself to give this review a one star or two stars. The sauce on tomato pie was good but it was doughy and tasted like it sat a few days. I bought 4 Sfogliatella pastries and they were not crunchy and we're definitely old. The cannoli was tasteless. The baguette I bought was hallow feeling and not worth the money. I took a special trip to the bakery because I remembered the tomato pie was amazing many moons ago. It was a waste of gas and money. The one worker told me that the pastries are frozen and brought in from somewhere. So if you don't want par-baked pastries then skip them altogether. I also didn't like the way the one woman at the counter made inappropriate religious jokes and was rude to customers... the Philly attitude, I'm right, you're not. Im definitely never giving them another penny of money. Don't waste your time .