#909 Bakery air

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!

Get a whiff of this beaut

Photos from: here and here

75 thoughts to “#909 Bakery air”

  1. 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.

  2. 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”.

  3. 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.

  4. Bakery smell is great :-) Also good (for some reason that I don’t understand) is the smell from a dry cleaning shop.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

    1. 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.)

  7. 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!

  8. 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….

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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. :)

  12. 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!

  13. 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.

  14. 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…

  15. 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.

  16. 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.

  17. 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….

    1. 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…

  18. 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!

  19. 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.

  20. 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 :)

  21. 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.

  22. 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…

  23. 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.

  24. 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

  25. There is a commercial bakery in downtown Toronto called Silverstein’s and the whole street smells like bakery air. MMM.

  26. Laundry air is equally wonderful. I always smell it when I walk around my neighbourhood. It smells like happiness.

  27. I live in Italy… Maybe the bakery air here is a bit different, but believe me… it is wonderful as well!

  28. 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.

  29. My school is very close to a bakery, and kids will stay outside to smell the air. It is just that strong — it travels straight over the trees and into our noses. The bakery only makes bread as far as I can gather, because that’s all we ever smell. But hot *damn* is it rewarding on a cold December Monday morn, when you drag your lazy ass to the doors, dreading upcoming finals, and all of a sudden… Ahhhhhhhhhh yes!

  30. I love bakery air. Grew up smelling it in one town, moved to a big city and smelled it every day, going to work.

    Try fudge factory air on Mackinac Island, in Michigan! They have fans at the front of the shoppes that wafts the smell of fresh fudge being made, out to the sidewalks. It is heavenly!

  31. In my neighborhood, there is a huge bakery across the street from the community recreation park, which has an outdoor dog park, basketball court, baseball field and soccer field. While at the park, every 20 minutes or so, each person is hit with the most mesmerizing intoxication of bakery smell goodness. I swear that they allow all the bakery smell goodness to build up for pre-determined amounts of time, ending in this goodness’ release through the opening of vents and windows; because the wave is always a beautiful surprise. It always makes whatever workout you’re in the middle of seem so unimportant.

  32. HGHHH. I work in a bakery (baking, not storefront), and the smell makes me want to die. I get home, and I can’t get the smell out of my clothes, even after I wash them, sometimes!

    The only bakery smell I enjoy is apple dumplings and any of the savoury breads… Even still. Gag.

    Not to mention the number of baked goods I used to enjoy making at home all the time, I won’t touch now. Carrot cake? Banana bread? blergghhh.

  33. I live just near a Quaker plant and on a good day the entire city smells like chocolate chip muffins. That makes everyones (‘s?) day, just cheers everyone up instantly

  34. I like the delicious air of the bakery.
    On my way to school there is also a bakery.
    The pastries in the counter don’t smell as good as bread.
    When my mother makes bread, he whole house smells
    like fresh bread. It’s just wonderful.

  35. First of all, I want to tell you that your log is a great initiative! You should definitely go on with it.
    From the first 100 I read so far, this was took my attention the most. The reason why is that I like the sweet smell of a bakery. And with a bakery, I mean the sweet smell of the cookies of course!
    A Sunday can only start better when you smell the delicious cookies laying on the kitchen table, waiting for you to eat them up.
    A funny thing you mention, is that people who work in a bakery, might get used to the smell. I’ve never thought about it before, but I think you might be right.

  36. I love the smell of fresh clothes off the line. It smells like fresh linen, wind, sunshine, and AWESOME!

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