Bakery air is that steaming hot front of thick, buttery fumes waiting for you just inside the door of a bakery. And girl, I’m just going to tell you straight up. That is some fine air.
Bakery air immediately fills you up with the sickly sweet smell of cooking cupcakes, crisping croissants, and the distinct aroma of globby breakfast paste turning into a delicious tray of hot oatmeal cookies.
It’s a powerful and intoxicating smell that rivals some of the best smells out there: late night summer barbecue, new car smell, gasoline, fresh baby, or even, dare I say it, campfire in the woods. Yes, I went there.
Now, is it just me, or do you ever feel sorry for the people working in the bakery? You know, because they might just get used to the smell and stop enjoying those hot bakery whiffs all the time? I really hope it’s not like that. I really hope working in a bakery never turns into a regular job full of early mornings, oven-scorched eyebrows, varicose veins, and floury underwear. No, bakery air is just too good for that. It can’t become another day at the office, it just can’t. So let’s just make sure we all enjoy it.
Catch some of those sugary vapors next time you’re running past a Cinnabon at the train station. Suck back a noseful of hot fumes next time you walk by an open bakery door on Saturday morning. And just make sure that when you stop to smell the roses, you stop to smell the croissants and date squares, too.
AWESOME!
44 Comments
October 27, 2008 at 3:49 am
My new cologne is called “Cinnamon Twist”….. for guys that like there girls with a little “back”
October 27, 2008 at 9:40 am
When I was living in Orleans, Ontario (sort of like Ottawa’s Whitby, except less dopey), there was a French Canadian bakery that was the best for this.
Fresh apple fritters…nothing better! Arteries, be damned.
October 27, 2008 at 1:06 pm
It was a good thing you mentioned Cinnabon, because if you hadn’t I would’ve. I don’t understand why Cinnabon HQ spends any money whatsoever on a marketing budget… there is no print ad or radio commercial in the world that could compare with that smell wafting through the mall food court. Once those first few cinnamon-y molecules hit your olfactory membrane, it’s as if the rational center of my brain shuts off, and its “Cinnabon Time”. There isn’t a choice in the matter, and I am helpless to stop it. If I am in the middle of a conversation, it ends.. if I’m shopping for a new suit, I’ll walk out of the story half-dressed in my new digs half altered..
When it comes to Cinnabon smell, well: “You can’t win, Friend. If you strike it down, it will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine”.
October 27, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Ahh, love that smell. I was in Penn Station in NYC just on Friday and once you get past the terminal, it’s all bakeries and Cinnabons!
Also awesome: Shoe Store Smell. The smell of “New Sneaker” has that same sort of scent to a bakery. If the bakery made pies out of cloth & leather.
October 27, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Yes! The smell of a bakery is an AWESOME smell. I very much agree. Fresh baked goods just tastes sooo good.
October 27, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Bakery smell is great :-) Also good (for some reason that I don’t understand) is the smell from a dry cleaning shop.
October 27, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I used to work at a bakery and the smell never gets old. Once you’ve had gooey danishes fresh from the oven, you will never settle for the cold uninviting ones on a bakery shelf ever again.
October 29, 2008 at 1:57 pm
It is stupid how true this is. The smell captivates your soul and makes every childhood memory flash before your eyes.
March 24, 2009 at 4:04 pm
I completely agree!
October 29, 2008 at 5:25 pm
God that’s soooooooooo great… And so is the “song” one. =))))) But the bakery one… Irresistible! :D I love this site. :)
October 31, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I’ve worked at a bakery (breads and some cookies only) and the smell gets all over your clothes, so that’s annoying. But it does not get old, at least not in the 2 years I worked there. Especially chocolate chip cookies.
I had many a burned finger from eating too-hot just-out-of-the oven breads and cookies.
December 3, 2009 at 10:24 am
I still don’t understand why children work in bakeries. Can an adult burn her fingers like that.
Now, tell us, how old were you ? (Sure your answer will be awesome, but don’t mind my asking.)
November 4, 2008 at 11:03 am
I used to work at a bakery, and I NEVER got tired of the smell. Especially when we move from the summer into the fall and start making apple pie, pumpkin pie, and the most delicious pumpkin cookies ever…then gingerbread men in the winter!
November 4, 2008 at 11:42 am
i used to work in a bakery and not only does the smell not get old, but it clings to you and people start smiling whenever you’re around because they remind you of cookies.
but floury underwear? yes. flour gets everywhere….
November 6, 2008 at 7:47 am
Floury underwear, haha! This would be number one if I make a list of 1000 Awesome Smells.
My boyfriend works in a coffee shop but he also bakes and he goes home smelling like cinnamon.Love that.
December 3, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I don’t have a very good sense of smell but whenever customers come in and tell me how great the bakery smells or how much they love stopping by I try to respond with the same amount of enthusiasm because I think it’s sweet how much the place means to some of them.
December 23, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Aah yes, the bakery smell. I, too, used to work at one, and my husband still does. It’s odd…the first 5 minutes I would be there, I could smell the tasty baked aura. After that, i think my olfactory’s just got burnt out. Customer’s would always comment on how good it smells, and honestly I couldn’t smell it anymore. Unless something was burning. ew. And now, my husband comes home from work at night, not really smelling of bread – more like sweaty yeast. For me, awesome. :)
December 28, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I used to work at my uncle’s deli. I remember one night, we put apple pies in the oven (they were frozen) and as soon as they got to the almost-ready-to-take-out-of-the-oven stage, we had customers line up to get one….soem were getting ready to leave and others had just walked into the store…..heaven from the oven!
December 31, 2008 at 2:09 am
smell of wet dirt, or wet grass…. unbeleivable
January 8, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Some bakeries use it as a spray to attract customers.
January 29, 2009 at 11:15 pm
I use to have a great bakery when I lived in NYC. The smell of it I still remember as I walked near it. One of the best smells on Earth.
March 24, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I absolutely LOVE the smell of a bakery. Walking in to smell the aroma of freshly baked cinnamon buns or chocolate chips cookies…yum! :P….It’s kind of a beautiful smell…now if only all the world could smell as sweet…
March 24, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Oh I just remembered, I have a perfume that smells like Creme Bruilee..OMG !! it’s amazing. I would wear it to school and all my friends and even ppl I didn’t know told me that I smelled like cookies, or cupcakes…My boyfriend really enjoyed the smell!! He said it reminded him of our bakery.
September 29, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I’m a dude but I’d wear that perfume.
August 20, 2009 at 8:55 am
i want to work in the bakery
becasy i want yo work in the bakery
August 20, 2009 at 8:56 am
kush munet mum marr ne furr me punu
November 9, 2009 at 3:45 am
hi chelsea can you tell me what the name of that perfume is please
November 28, 2009 at 11:07 pm
I used to work at Cold Stone Creamery. It’s not a bakery, but the smell of ice cream, chocolate and freshly made waffle cones smells awesome. You get used to if after a while, but those first few minutes? Worth getting out of bed at 5am.
December 2, 2009 at 12:32 am
I love the smell of baking bread… it’s the best! I’ve been trying to get a job in a bakery for so long but since i’m in highschool still they don’t really take me too seriously for that kind of job.
The smell is amazing though. If they had a bread scented perfume, i’d wear it….
September 1, 2010 at 2:32 am
Baking bread..is ausum..when it comes out of the oven,,it will warm and crispy and fluppy, and the smell u get when i pluck a peice out of it..and feel the bread…insidde ur teeth and then the tongue,…..and then it rolls..down to ur easophagus………. ausum experience…
February 18, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I own a small bakery and I always smell like baked goods and maple syrup. I’ve had guys tell me that they love to hug me because I just smell so good. Best perfume ever!
April 19, 2010 at 8:22 am
I work in a pie shop, and I’ll tell you what, you get used to it. I mean, when we pull chocolate chip cookies out of the oven, it’s pretty great, and the ones that get ”broken” are eaten while they are still warm and gooey.
But you get used to it. My boyfriend tells me I smell like pie when I come home, but I don’t smell anything. But when I walk by a bakery, or a coffee shop, and that smell waifs around, it is awesome. And I love that our customers love the smell.
April 19, 2010 at 5:51 pm
i work at a bakery and i imagine that one day heaven will smell just like the cakes baking in the oven. it’s deliciously wonderful :)
April 23, 2010 at 11:54 am
I worked in a bakery as well, and honestly, it doesnt get much better than that :)
I worked for a family friend, and the atmosphere created in the back was awesome. Always laughing, having a good time, and of course serving up the bestest sour dough bread in all of Canada.
The smell never gets old.
Ever.
May 4, 2010 at 7:31 am
I work in a bakery, mainly for this reason. I’ve been there for almost two years now and the Bakery Air “novelty” hasn’t gotten old, yet…
May 5, 2010 at 12:39 pm
I bought a home bread-maker mainly for this reason. It has a timer, so I can put the ingredients in before going to bed, and set it that it will have the bread warm and ready when my alarm clock goes. It really makes up for having to get up!
Also, when we were selling our house I used to bake bread on the day I knew we had viewers coming over. Must have helped, because it was sold in no time.
May 11, 2010 at 8:47 am
yes i love the sweet smell of fresh cookies out the over. Which is why its even harder not to eat them straight out of the oven…i love working in the bakery
May 12, 2010 at 5:24 am
[...] #909 Bakery air [...]
May 21, 2010 at 2:54 pm
There is a commercial bakery in downtown Toronto called Silverstein’s and the whole street smells like bakery air. MMM.
June 7, 2010 at 9:55 am
[...] on track by talking about one simple, universal little joy every single day — like snow days, bakery air, or popping bubble [...]
July 20, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Laundry air is equally wonderful. I always smell it when I walk around my neighbourhood. It smells like happiness.
July 22, 2010 at 9:41 am
I live just across the bakery and I love this smell, especially in the morning :D
July 26, 2010 at 2:09 am
I live in Italy… Maybe the bakery air here is a bit different, but believe me… it is wonderful as well!
September 1, 2010 at 9:32 am
In Peterborough every once in a while the Quaker factory decides to release all their fresh cinnamon and brown sugar smelling bakery fumes out, and it makes the entire town smell fresh baked. It is one of the best feelings in the world, to wake up in the morning with that smell wafting through your open window on a crisp autumn morning.