With a menu that revolves around the restaurant’s twin woodfire ovens, you just know that the bread is going to be good. The house sourdough ($8) is worked from wholewheat rye flour, filtered water, Olsson’s salt and a 12-year-old mother starter, fermented with pear, apple and rhubarb juice, which is responsible for the bread’s distinctive tangy flavour. What’s more, it’s beautifully elastic – drop it on the floor and it may just bounce back up to the plate – and has a smoky, toothsome crust for those that like a bit of crunch. It’s served with house cultured butter, smoked over plum wood and nutty nibs of sprouted rye for dipping.

You’ll never get a stale slice at this Surry Hills restaurant which has its very own full-time baker on staff. Those in the know get the flatbread ($10), a puffy pocket that’s worth the third degree burns of scoffing it hot. Each disc is flipped to order and served with a glossy sheen of olive oil and scattering of za’atar. Drag the tears through the buttery cannellini bean hummus or wrap around wobbly ricotta and smoked Nardin anchovies. If you’re impressed with the baker’s efforts then you should probably order the semolina doughnuts for dessert.

Alessandro Pavoni has worked with local bakery Berkelo to develop his famous garlic bread recipe, which you can try at three of his restaurants, Sotto Sopra, Via Alta and Chiosco by Ormeggio. Forget soggy, stained centres, these fluffy garlic-infused brioche buns ($12.50) are light-years ahead of its foil-wrapped competitors. Cooked in the kitchen’s wood fire oven, the quartet of rolls are cooked until golden then finished with a splash of melted butter, garlic and rosemary.

There’s no pizzas on the menu at this Italian trattoria, just woodfired flatbread ($10). And what a flatbread it is. The dough’s lengthy 48 hour fermentation process is followed by a quick two minute flash in the fire, the intense heat creating a blistery dome with a crackled exterior. There’s plenty of great places to wrap it, from the house made ‘nduja to the marinated peppers and stracciatella salad.

Prepare to be torn between Ester’s two great offerings – the house baked sourdough ($3) and the fermented potato bread ($21). Whatever you choose you can’t lose. Cooked over ironbark embers each morning, the malted rye and honey sourdough is prized for its spongy crumb and thick, noisy shell. If you prefer something softer and pillowy, try the fermented potato buns, served with a savoury set of kefir cultured cream, dashi jelly and salty bursts of trout roe.

Making your own bread doesn’t have to be time-consuming or fussy, as Jeremy Bentley from Eliza Food & Wine shows. His contribution to the gluten scene is a simple yoghurt flatbread ($6) that channels the soft warmth and comfort of a baby’s first blanket. The simple naan-style dough is rolled out 30 minutes before service, then whacked on a flat grill for crispness and colour. It’s served with edges tucked in and a smear of spiced hummus splashed with parsley oil.

Dropping into 10 William Street for a glass of orange wine inevitably turns into snacks, then dinner, and dessert, and perhaps a few more late-night bites to soak up that second bottle of Trebbiano. Over the years, the kitchen has been manned by some of the country’s best chefs, from Dan Pepperell to Mike Eggert, their current head chef, Trisha Greentree notwithstanding. The menu may be short, but with options like whipped bottarga with pretzel, cacio e pepe chitarra and flan with burnt vermouth caramel, the decision-making is tough. 10 William Street, Paddington; 10williamst.com.au.