I never thought I would complain about it but anyway.. It seems very difficult to find good bread in Basel. The one where crust would be soft enough and not stone hard. Does anybody know places with good bread in Basel? Do they cut it on demand somewhere? Back in Geneva it was no problem and here it seems impossible.

By definition, a "crust" that is soft is not a crust, isn't it?
And if the crust isn't a crust, it will lose all its taste and humidity very fast, turning it into a piece of bird-food (or a stone) after one day.
Apart from being completely tasteless and as such ridiculously overpriced, what's wrong with all the "bread" from Migros and Coop that seems to have a "crust" just according to your definition?
For real bread, I suggest visiting an organic shop and getting some rye sourdough bread.

The Holzofenbäckerei in Andreasplatz is great.

My husband and I always say that you can't get BAD bread in Basel. I've loved everything I've tried and I've tried a LOT!!

The Ciabatta at Manor is fantastic - either the loaves or get a piece cut from the giant one. Slice it thinly and top with cheese and cured meats or use to sop up sauces.

I bought a St. Gallen round loaf at lidl just to make breadcrumbs with and it was fantastic - just a good bread and butter basic.

The little very dark bio loaves at coop make the best grilled cheese - the buttered, grilled bread goes so toasty, nutty and crunchy.

The traiteur rolls at migros - square, multi-grain - are crusty on the outisde and soft and fluffy on the inside with a smattering of seeds.

The 'ring' of round pretzel rolls from migros are perfect with dijohn mustard, gruyere cheese and cured ham.

Or you can always head to Geant in St. Louis -we recently discovered their pain rustique - either a small loaf or a bag of small rolls. They have a thin flaky crust and are soft and dense inside. So good that we buy a tub of spreadable better, jambon cru and eat them in the park across the street - can't even wait to get home to eat them!!!!

One thing I've found is that even if the bread or rolls feel hard - they are usually nice and soft inside - can't judge a book by its cover.

The crust is wrong most of times. It is so hard that I find it difficult to cut with special "bread" knife, not even speaking about possibility to chew it without hurting gum.
And, by the way, the good bread is normally out of order in one day. On the second day it is just "eatable".

The bread in France or Germany is good most of times. But a little bit far away for daily consuming .

I have to say that the bread offerings in the German side of Switzerland were...to put it kindly...very disappointing. If I were being brutally honest, I'd describe them as dreadful (with the exception being the pretzel king in some of the train stations). I grew up with a German mother, bake my own bread regularly and look forward to breads of all kinds but, the Swiss have none of the bread or beer culture from the North. I spent my entire holiday in French Corsica getting fresh, warm, sublimely delicious baguettes every morning and evening simply because I could (and for less than 1 euro!). The delight in a perfect loaf of bread is too often underestimated. A crust should not be like concrete. I never found bread nirvana in Switzerland, but if you're in Basel, surely a good French boulangerie can't be far away. If all else fails, bake your own...that's what I ended up doing.

They have some really great tasting fresh baked bread at Coop. Their "Alpenbröt" is nice, the crust is nice, not too hard and the inside is sooooo soft. They bake it daily, I love to go first thing in the morning and get some while it's still warm.

Some of the other breads they have which I like are more or less seasonal. They've got a similar (dark'ish) bread to which they add different things depending on season, I've had it with pieces of bacon in it (ooooh yum) and with dried fruit and nuts in it (also very yummy). They also have a great bread made from chestnuts in the fall "maroni bröt" is ever so slightly sweet, tastes great with some Philly slathered on a slice and some prosciutto on the side.


Some of the bread is a bit too crusty for me too, but I just pick something else next time.

Yeah, I think I have some permanent scarring on the roof of my mouth from the ridiculously hard crusts on the the sandwiches here.

Is there no good Toastbrot anywhere? It's hard to imagine other people's standard for good bread, but said Toastbrot has the softest crust close to no crust in the German dictionary.

i found a really really nice pumpkin seed bread at the little K&U cafe in the rhein centre. they make their own sandwiches (as we know them) out if it and its lovely and soft.

Do you mean that toast bread that is packed in the plastic pockets in Migro and Coop? That what we use most of times for tosties and sandwiches but it is no good bread in terms of healthy substanses, vitamines, minerals, entc.

Yesterday was shopping in Manor supermarket in St Jackobs. Brod is good but prices are ridiculosly high . It looks like for last 6 years the shop moved from good middle range to the higher prices close to Globus and Coop dropped down..

I don't know how the bread or Manor in Basel is but I can tell you we almost always buy our bread from our local Manor. All of their bread is Bio/Organic... we normally buy the Ruchbrot (like whole wheat) bread and only costs 1,50sfr for 500g... not an arm and a leg and really damn good!!

No, I mean Toastbrot from my baker around the corner. But I don't think that you have the same taste as the locals, you are condamned to pay andsuffer in silence. Or try any real baker you pass by, forgetsupermakerts.
Swiss bread is to my taste, perfect. But I rememberhaving your problem in Amsterdam. I just ate more rice.

if you take a bread knife... then put the bread on a cutting board, then cut off the crust, you will have a very soft crust remaining

all in all I think the bread from the supermarkets here are pretty good,from the plain halbweiss through to ruchbrot &onto your more substantial dunkel/roggen brot,good range,good quality at a fair price seems pretty good to me.
As for french bread I was completely underwhelmed on a recent visit.Except for one bakery that had great baguettes the rest seemed to be mass produced sameness/blandness marketed as artisanal quality.Certainly not the range you can find here in any decent sized Coop or Migros.If anything I think the quality from the supermarkets is better than from the backeries which can be a little hit & miss.
As for a country with a truely awful bread culture at high prices you cant go past Australia,I shudder just thinging about it.
As has been said,if you want the best make your own bread,sour dough,you cant beat it.

I'm always amused by English and Americans complaining about bread. Do they really not understand that English/American bread is junk. You're no longer in the UK/US, so be happy and enjoy the wonderful bread that's available here. The crust is the best part of the bread, kids will fight over it (and aren't they the best judges over such things?)!
(If you really insist on having lousy bread, get the toast bread from supermarkets).

Haha. We get stories in German TV and print-press about Germans who move to Australia to open bakeries with "German bread", to cater for the expats and try to convert the locals ;-)

Boulangerie Paul in St. Louis. They are just up the road from Geant. They are open on Sunday morning and you can get fresh croissants, real croissants.