Bucheon barley bread bakery, a home baker's Sunday wait: Chamsae Bori

Why a home baker came to Chamsae Bori Sikppang, Bucheon main branch

Chamsae Bori Sikppang (참새보리식빵) Bucheon main branch is a barley loaf bakery in Bucheon that says it won the Grand Prize on SBS's "Master of Living" (생활의 달인) and was ranked the No. 1 loaf in Korea. I've been really into baking plain, simple bread at home lately, so I got curious about what depth of flavor a well-made loaf from a master's hands would have.

On this trip to Bucheon, the place I most wanted to visit was Chamsae Bori Sikppang, which bread lovers call a holy site. It's described as a healthy, meal-replacement bakery that bakes every morning with 100% domestic eco-friendly barley and natural sourdough starter, so my expectations were high. Let me start the review!

Chamsae Bori Sikppang Bucheon main branch: location and the Sunday opening queue

The bakery is on the ground floor of a building on Gyeongin-ro, near Bucheon Station, so it's easy to reach by public transport. I got there right around opening and there was already a huge queue..! It's clearly an extremely popular bakery.

Ah, so this is why it's a bread-pilgrimage (빵지순례) favorite. I think I waited almost 20 minutes before getting in!

Chamsae Bori Sikppang hours, closing days and how to check for sellouts

Chamsae Bori Sikppang Bucheon main branch opens at 10am and is closed every Monday and Thursday. If you go late you may make the trip for nothing because of sellouts, so here are the rules and a tip for checking live notices so your visit doesn't fail!

• Opening time is 10am, the golden window when the shelves are fullest.
• If all the bread prepared that day sells out, the shop closes early.
• It's closed every Monday and Thursday, so better to avoid those days.
• Delivery orders aren't available at the moment, only in-store purchase.
• You can get live notices about full sellouts or important shop news through the KakaoTalk open chat or the shop's announcements, so I recommend checking before you go.

Inside Chamsae Bori Sikppang Bucheon main branch and how ordering works

As soon as you walk in, you pick up a basket and queue up, choosing your bread and paying as you go. There used to be a chocolate loaf and more variety, but it seems they now only do the original.

When I visited, I could order three kinds: Grand Prize sticky barley (대상 찰보리), grain sticky barley (곡물 찰보리) and rye sticky barley (호밀 찰보리).

The bread just kept selling without a break...! The staff kept refilling the shelves too. Wow, a really popular place is different.

It was a delicious bakery that everyone from grandparents to kids, men and women alike, can enjoy.

A basket full of sticky-barley loaves, and cream samples instead of fresh cream loaves

Chamsae Bori Sikppang was chosen as the No. 1 loaf in Korea and won the Grand Prize on "Master of Living." With a track record like that, there's no way I could buy just one loaf. I caught myself piling my basket full without realizing it. Haha.

Honestly, I had wanted the fresh cream loaf and it wasn't there, which was a bummer. But then I saw that the checkout sells cream separately, and they even had samples out to try. What a thoughtful touch! I loved that.

I tucked into one right away and it felt like eating cake!

What ingredients go into Chamsae Bori Sikppang?

The loaves in the photos were packed up at Chamsae Bori Sikppang Bucheon main branch around 10:30am on Sunday. They'd just come out of the oven, so they were even more enjoyable.

The honesty of putting health first is baked right into the bread. They say they use 100% domestic eco-friendly barley as the main ingredient, plus New Zealand grass-fed butter, high-calcium milk, fresh eggs and natural sourdough starter fermented in the shop. Chemical additives, preservatives and margarine are all left out, and when I ate it, it tasted natural.

How did the freshly baked sticky-barley loaf taste?

The key points of the sticky-barley loaf were the chew that pulls apart in layers, the moistness and the nuttiness of barley. I gently tore the loaf by hand, and the chewiness and moisture of the layers peeling apart were a work of art!

When I took a bite, the nutty, plain flavor unique to barley spread softly the more I chewed, and it was really delicious.

They say the 72-hour long, low-temperature fermentation produces gluten-breaking enzymes. And in fact, even though I ate a lot of bread, I had no heavy, bloated feeling, which was great!

Overall verdict on Chamsae Bori Sikppang Bucheon main branch

Chamsae Bori Sikppang Bucheon main branch even generously handed me coupons at checkout! It was a really satisfying place, and the 20-minute wait at Sunday opening was worth it. I enjoyed it a lot.