Seattle · Bakery & café
Counter Tue–Sun · 07:00 – 15:00 most days
Flour & Ember
Bread out at seven, and gone by two.
Flour & Ember is a working bakery in Ballard with a counter to eat at. Everything is mixed, proved and baked in the room behind the till, in quantities small enough that most days sell out — which is deliberate. Bread from seven, pastry all morning, and coffee from people who taste it before you do.
On the counter today
Country sourdough loaf
$9
Seeded rye & caraway
$10
Butter croissants, tray of four
$13
Cardamom knots, six
$21
The morning counter at Flour & Ember, filled with the day's bake
Open
Tue–Sun · 07:00 – 15:00 most days
Telephone
Column one · The bake
What came out of the oven
Prices beside every line and an order link on each one. Bread early, pastry all morning, cake while it lasts.
Country sourdough loaf
One kilo, three-day ferment, baked at five and on the rack by seven. Order ahead and we keep one back until noon.
$9
Seeded rye & caraway
Denser, darker and better on the second day. Half loaves on Saturdays for anyone who lives alone and knows it.
$10
Butter croissants, tray of four
Laminated over two days with cultured butter. Out of the oven at seven, and again at about ten.
$13
Cardamom knots, six
Proved overnight and rolled in cardamom sugar. The thing we run out of first, most days before eleven.
$21
Morning bun & filter coffee
One warm bun and a cup of the single-origin filter. Sit in at the counter or take it up the hill.
$7.50
Celebration cake consultation
Half an hour at the counter with sketches, sizes and a tasting plate. It comes straight off the price of the cake.
$45
30 min
Saturday bread class
Six people, one bench, three hours. You leave with a live levain, a shaped loaf and the timings written down.
$95
3 hr
Column two · The day
A morning, in order
Nothing here is held back for later. The rack is refilled while there is dough and then the day is over — which is what the order link is for.
First thing
Bread
Doors 07:00
Loaves come off the rack as the doors open and they are the first thing to go. If a particular loaf matters to you, the order link beside it on the bake list is the only guarantee there is.
Through the morning
Pastry
Laminated things are baked in batches rather than all at once, so the case refills two or three times before noon. Later is often better than early for croissants.
Midday
The counter
Sandwiches, soup and a proper coffee, eaten in if there is a stool. This is the busiest hour of the day and the queue moves faster than it looks.
Before close
What is left
Until 16:00
We bake to sell out, not to have stock at closing — which is why the last hour is a lottery and why ordering ahead exists. Whatever is still here goes out at the end of the day.
Pictures
Two scored country loaves resting on linen
Butter croissants cooling on the tray they were baked on
Flour dusted over shaped dough before it goes in
How it works
Ordering ahead
01
Pick what you want, and when
Every line on the bake list can be ordered ahead. Choose the item, choose a collection time inside opening hours, and that is the whole transaction.
02
We put it aside before the doors open
Ordered items come off the rack first and go behind the counter under your name, so a sell-out never costs you the thing you came for.
03
Say your name at the counter
No app, no code to read out, no queue-jumping guilt. Collections are handled at the same counter as everything else.
Over the counter
Said at the till
“I order the sourdough on Sunday night and it is behind the counter with my name on it by seven. That is the whole reason I stopped going anywhere else.”
Erin M. · Orders ahead weekly
“Turned up at ten past two once and there were three things left. That is not bad service, that is a bakery doing it properly.”
Tom H. · Saturday mornings
“They talked me through every allergen in the cardamom buns without once making me feel like I was being difficult.”
Sadia K. · Nut allergy
“The coffee is good enough that I would come in even if there were no pastries. There are always pastries.”
Will C. · Sits in most mornings
A bakery that runs out on purpose
Flour & Ember is a working bakery in Ballard with a counter to eat at. Everything is mixed, proved and baked in the room behind the till, in quantities small enough that most days sell out — which is deliberate. Bread from seven, pastry all morning, and coffee from people who taste it before you do.
The room behind the counter, tables laid for the morning
The week at the counter
Mon
Closed
Tue
07:00 – 15:00
Wed
07:00 – 15:00
Thu
07:00 – 15:00
Fri
07:00 – 15:00
Sat
07:30 – 16:00
Sun
07:30 – 14:00
Hours are listed for every day rather than summarised, because "open six days" has never told anyone whether to set off.
The bench
Who is in at five
Nell Ostrander
Head baker
In at four, out by noon. Twelve years on bread and still insists the fridge does most of the work.
Theo Sandoval
Pastry
Runs the lamination and every cake that leaves the room. Trained in Lyon, which he will find a way to mention.
June Park
Ovens & counter
Opens the shop, pulls the first bake and dials in the filter before anyone else arrives. Knows what is left on the rack before you have finished asking.
Small print
Allergens
Flour is airborne in a working bakery, so nothing here can be called gluten-free. Ask at the counter or on the phone and we will tell you exactly what is in any bake.
Collection times
Orders are held until closing on the day you choose. If you are running late, call — the counter would much rather hold it than sell it twice.
Large and standing orders
Office runs, event platters and weekly repeats are all easier over the phone than through a form. One conversation and it is in the book.
Order tomorrow's bread tonight
Pick a collection time and it will be behind the counter with your name on it.
Order ahead