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New York doesn’t suffer from a shortage of great doughnuts, but one of London’s most famous versions is about to cross the Atlantic—and it comes with a crackly crème brûlée top.
Bread Ahead, the beloved British bakery that started in London’s Borough Market, will open its first-ever U.S. location on the Upper East Side this November. The new flagship will take over 1571–1572 Second Avenue at East 82nd Street, combining a full bakery with the brand’s popular baking school.
Bread Ahead began in 2013 as a tiny Borough Market operation selling just three things: sourdough, brownies and amaretti biscuits. (The famed doughnuts came later.) Today, Bread Ahead has multiple London bakeries, locations across the Middle East, and has recently begun expanding further into Asia.
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The star attraction in New York will almost certainly be the crème brûlée doughnut, stuffed with vanilla crème pâtissière and topped with caramelized sugar that’s torched until crisp. According to the bakery, the U.K. locations sell as many as 6,000 doughnuts per day, including up to 2,000 of the crème brûlée variety alone. Other rotating doughnut flavors have included raspberry jam, sea salted caramel, pistachio, tiramisu, s’mores and Eton Mess, while the bakery also turns out sourdough, croissants, pastries and other freshly baked goods throughout the day.
But Bread Ahead’s Manhattan arrival isn’t merely an excuse to eat your weight in custard-filled dough. Its baking school, founded in London in 2014, will make the trip, too, offering hands-on classes for both beginners and experienced bakers. New York workshops are already available to book and include doughnuts, sourdough, croissants, bagels, pizza, Italian baking and several holiday-themed classes. Most three-hour workshops cost $150 and Bread Ahead is currently running a U.S.-only two-for-one birthday promotion through the November opening.
“Opening our first bakery in New York is a milestone we’ve dreamed about for many years and one of the proudest moments in Bread Ahead’s history,” founder Matthew Jones said. “We’re incredibly excited to bring our famous doughnuts to New York, but they’re just the beginning.”
No exact opening date has been announced yet, but Bread Ahead says the doors will officially open sometime in November. Start clearing room in your pastry rotation accordingly.