My New Favorite Bakery

There are tons and tons of bakeries to choose from in Ibaraki. I have talked about a few on the old Ibaraki Eats website. I have written about PennyLane, Bacakeri Brotzeit, and many more. All the bakeries I have written about have amazing baked goods and specials. That being said, I didn't expect to find a fantastic bakery in a small town in Tsukuba and being hooked on their amazing pretzels and bread. It is so good, that I am probably getting more from this bakery later this week. What bakery am I talking about? I am talking about Hojo's own Bakery 125.

Bakery 125

Bakery 125 is a small bakery located in the Hojo area of Tsukuba. Why 125? Because the bakery is located on Route 125. It is on the intersection of Route 125 and Route 19 heading to Mt. Tsukuba. I recommend either coming by car or bike. There are no train stations nearby and I saw no bus stops. The Rin Rin Road is very close so if you are riding down the Rin Rin Road, Bakery 125 is a great place for a snack or lunch break.
I learned about Bakery 125 through a bar in Hojo called Iriai Bar. The bar is a great place to hang out in. I love the layout and was there with some friends a week ago. I asked for a tomato and cream cheese sandwich and was told the bread was from Bakery 125. I bit into that sandwich and was extremely impressed with the bread. I had to go to this bakery they were talking about.

By the way, this bar is awesome and has an open workspace. It even holds yoga lessons sometimes. If you are interested in Iriai Bar, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/iriai.bar/

Anyway, the Ibaraki Eats Duo was on our way to go fishing on Mt. Tsukuba (blog post about that coming soon) when I realized we were close to Bakery 125. I told my wife who was driving and navigated her to where the bakery was. We parked our car in the parking lot of Bakery 125 and headed inside.

Inside

Walking inside Bakery 125, we were greeted by a small counter full of delicious-looking bread and...wait.. are those pretzels!? I excitedly looked at my wife and said, "We are buying pretzels!" My wife patted my shoulder as if saying, "Yes, now calm down."
My wife and I looked at the rest of the bread that was available. The croissants looked great, the croque monsieur sandwiches looked amazing, the cinnamon rolls looked very interesting, and the pretzels looked like they were going to make my day. We were grabbing bread and obviously, pretzels when the owner came out to greet us. I was surprised to learn she used to have a stall at Village Market Tsukuba and that her bread would sell out within minutes. She also informed me that she used to work at Bacakeri Brotzeit. I guess all her training there is the reason her pretzels looked so heavenly.
We bought two pretzels, a croque monsieur sandwich, a baguette, a cinnamon roll, and a loaf of toast brot. We thanked the owner and headed to our car. I should also mention the Bakery 125 is a take-out place only.

Pretzel

There was no way I was waiting till we got home to try the pretzel. The first thing I did when I sat down in our car was open our bag of baked goodies and looked for one of the pretzels (well second thing, I did put on my seatbelt). I took that delicious-looking pretzel out of the bag and it felt like I was unsheathing a beautiful-looking sword. I took a bite out of the top part of the pretzel and got that familiar taste of that crisp golden brown shell on the outside and that soft doughy inside that felt like you were eating a delicious cloud. What surprised me was the middle part of the pretzel. It was just crunchy, with no soft dough at all. I am not saying that in a bad way. It was a nice surprise. I had never eaten a pretzel that way before and I enjoyed it. The salt was sprinkled at the bottom of the pretzel so we were able to get two different kinds of flavor.
I loved this pretzel and couldn't wait to have the other. My wife let me know that I needed to have patience and that we would eat the second pretzel later. Get ready Bakery 125, I will be back for more pretzels!

Cinnamon Roll

As I have stated many times on this blog, I am an American. Our cinnamon rolls are round dough-rolled cinnamon delights with hardened sugary cream on top. Our cinnamon rolls are super sweet and delicious. Now imagine my surprise when I looked at this cinnamon roll and asked myself "Is this a cinnamon roll?" It is, and it is an amazing roll. I am not sure what style of cinnamon roll this is, but I loved it. The knotted dough around the roll with small chunks of cinnamon inside was an interesting and tasty take on cinnamon rolls. It was so soft inside with a great taste of sweet cinnamon that I couldn't stop eating it. My wife gave this cinnamon roll a thumbs up and was sure we would get it again soon.

Baguette

I am not a huge fan of baguettes but I don't dislike them either. They go well with diced tomatoes if you toast them right. They go especially well with some hummus from the Village Market Tsukuba's Dippy Dip.
When we bought this baguette I wasn't sure what to think. Then later, we cut the baguette, toasted the slices a little bit, and tried it. I can with 100 percent certainty say, that I love this baguette. I had some leftover original hummus from Dippy Dip and spread some on the baguette. It was heavenly. Later that night my wife made some ajio. We dipped those baguette slices in the ajio for an amazing Spanish dinner. I already have plans to use Bakery 125s exceptional baguettes to make some tasty bruschetta.

Toast Brot

I am not sure I can go back to regular white beard that is sold in supermarkets anymore. I have made two sandwiches with this toast brot and this bread was MADE to be the staple of any sandwich. I lightly toasted slices of this toast and just the feel of the toast after toasting it foreshadowed a future of tastiness.
My first sandwich was a regular ham and cheese sandwich. The ham was from my local supermarket and the cheese was from Yamaya. Both the cheese and ham were overshadowed by this amazing bread. It held that sandwich so well and the fluffiness of the bread was just right. The joy of biting into this toast resonated throughout my body. It felt like I was biting into something that was made with painstaking perfection.
My second sandwich was a hummus veggie sandwich. Again, this bread held everything together. This toast brot goes well with everything I put in between it. It just might be the ultimate sandwich bread.

Croque Monsieur Sandwich

I was working from home the other day and it was lunchtime. As I put my store-bought lunch in front of me, one thought crossed my mind "I wish I could have the croque monsieur sandwich from that bakery today." I have had this thought many times since my visit to Bakery 125. I am having it now while writing this post. I want to, no scratch that, I need to have that croque monsieur sandwich again. To say it was delicious is not enough. It was a work of bread and sandwich genius.
Biting into that melted cheese on top of the sandwich while getting that savory ham and masterly crafted bread was something that dreams are made of. I loved this sandwich, and I still do. My wife has gotten a little annoyed with how many times I bring up this sandwich, but you would too if you tried it.

To call Bakery 125 amazing is an understatement. It is a bakery that if you try it once you will get addicted to. All the baked goods are beyond fantastic. I hope I can go there soon and that the bread and croque monsieur sandwiches are not sold out when I get there.

So if you are in Tsukuba's Hojo area and are looking for a great bakery, why not give Bakery 125 a chance? Who knows, you might see us there, buying up everything that is on display while I cry with joy about finally reuniting with the croque monsieur sandwich and pretzel.
Enjoy!

For more information on Bakery 125, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/baker_y125/