While the rest of the world seems colluded with Big Business, here in Baltimore there's a steady heartbeat of small-scale, individually-owned enterprises. Bakeries are seemingly the last vestiges of private ownership, and Baltimore serves up a vast array of confections from a culturally diverse palette of offerings. Owners tend to be hands-on, and many still specialize in what their parents (and grandparents, in some cases) began making years ago.
In general, bakeries can be trend-setters when it comes to diet and nutritional fads, offering up organic, sugar-, lactose- and/or nut-free items, and many are firmly camped in "green" practices primarily because they rely on fresh, local ingredients. Additionally, Baltimore bakeries can hold culinary cultural tours within their glass-front cases, offering goods from a variety of ethnic traditions. As if you needed any more reasons to seek out glazed donuts, rugelach or cookies. We're just trying to make you feel better about carb-loading.
