Richmond Bakery - Pittsfield

Our favorite bakery. This time we ordered on the line and picked up in the store, we could order everything we wanted from a long list, not just what was available. The order was waiting for us in a shed near the main business. I'll show the shed on my photo.

Delicious homemade pizzas and breads and pastries. Especially good is the Kouign-amann, a sweet crispy and flocky pastries. The pizza with sweet peppers was especially good as the one with figs and arugula.

I think all the criticisms speak for themselves, this is a must to visit when in the Berkshires! Everything looked really good, so it was hard to choose what we wanted to eat. We chose the pancakes, an almond croissant and an egg Benedict. We also bought a rye sourdough bread worth every penny. We couldn't finish our food (because we had eaten like the pigs we are before, but the pancakes were just as phenomenal the next day. They are able to get them crispy on the outside, but moist on the inside. This is a very difficult balance to achieve!! The eggs of Benedikt were also very good. Honestly, you can't go wrong what you want to eat here :

Love bread and chocolate, great selection. The person who accepts our order seemed judicious when we asked if they wore Diet Coke. I know the staff is all-round difficult, so it won't hold against them, but maybe a little extra customer service training is required.

We get pizza or baked goods here regularly sometimes multiple times in a week. There are things we really love about this place, which is why we keep going back. The menu is creative and selections of pizza and pastries are all interesting and yummy. So no complaints there! There are also a few things we think could be improved. Here is our wish list: 1 An upgraded kitchen. We watch how hard, efficient, and competent the kitchen staff is at making our food the kitchen is all visible from the front counter. And what we have noticed over time is that both the oven and the grill do not appear to produce consistent levels of cooking temp. This results in the same pizza (I've locked onto the Richard's pizza as my favorite coming out wonderfully toasty and golden one day, and woefully undercooked and mushy another day. In the many times we've had that same pizzas, they never seem come out the same...even though we can see they are baked in the oven for the same amount of time. This is also true of pastries heated on the grill: sometimes they are crispy and warm, and other times they are still cold and only lightly singed...again after being on the grill for seemingly the same amount of time. 2 A better handle on keeping breads and pastries in stock, and in the same condition. Often certain pastries and breads run out in the first hour or two after opening (we have often snagged the last ones! . We've been to the Housatonic location as well, and they have similar challenges keeping items in stock, so maybe this is a fundamental production or supplies issue...but it would be nice to know we could get the same bread loaves and muffins on an even semi regular basis. On a similar note, on different occasions the same pastry from the case is either fridge cold or room temp, and either really fresh or a bit stale, which definitely messes with our expectations and enjoyment. 3 More consistent coffee. Sometimes the coffee is really strong, tangy, and delicious...but sometimes it's a lot more watery, bland, and ho hum. It would be nice to be able to count on the same cup of jo every time we visit! That said, we're still planning to patronize Berkshire Mountain Bakery as frequently as we do now. And if we want more consistent results, we can always get the ready to bake pizzas to bring home and prepare...and heat the pastries up ourselves at home as well. Lately we've also been trying some of their prepared frozen complete meals, which have actually been pretty darn good.