I serched for information on bakeries in Amsterdam and found Hartog from the unlike city guide. It was a highly recommended traditional duch bakery and one of the oldest in the city, founded in 1896!!
The bakery was kind of close to our house, so I just hopped on my bike and headed out. I found it hidden behind huge construction for a new metro line (which will likely never be finished). But by following other people biking, I got there.
The store space was tiny and crowded. It took me a while to get the attention of a sales person. I actually couldn't tell any difference between their breads, but asked for a multigrain sourdough.
I was really excited about but when she handed it to me, it was a solid kilo brick of bread.
It was totally different from what I imagined to be brea. It was more like a 'pumpernickel', super dense and chewey. The loaf was exactly like a brick. It tasted good and quite similiar to pumpernickel, but I couldn't make a sandwitch with it. May be better to use for canapes. Amazingly, this whole kilo of loaf was only 1.5 euro! I thought it was a great deal for bread, but ended up not eating most of it...
I also tried a croissant (they called it a croissant and it generally shaped like one), but a better name for it would have been 'multi grain table roll'. Yes, it was multigrain,and also didn't taste of butter at all, what should be the main ingredient. The biggest disappointment was its price: the same as a whole heavy loaf of bread. I don't think I'll eat this 'croissant' again (although as a table roll, it wasn't bad).
As you can see in the above photo, unfortunately, the bakery is clearly not in its original 1896 location.
They also have several cafes and baking courses now. Hartog's bread tasted very healthy, and maybe this is what traditional dutch bread is like. I'll need to go back to try other kind of loafs sometime.
