Taking up the northwest corner of Reading Terminal Market is Beiler's Bakery, described on the Reading Terminal website as an "Amish bakery selling homemade baked goods." They bake breads, pies, cookies, sticky buns, donuts and other treats daily and they also sell an assortment of conventional bread on their easternmost endcap. This corner of the market is usually pretty packed when the Dutch Market is open, but your time waiting will be well rewarded with reasonably-priced delicious treats.
There was a huge Dutch festival a couple weeks ago at Reading Terminal Market, where Picky happened to be working at the time. He noticed that Beiler's was set up in the main seating area frying up fresh donuts. Without any cash on him, he didn't get a chance to sample the gigantic fresh donuts. He didn't recall seeing the donuts at the bakery in the past either. After the festival ended, he ventured over to the stand and sure enough, there were donuts (and buns)! Armed with some cash, he plunked down 75¢ for a vanilla creme donut and bit into soft and flaky dough oozing with fresh creme. Sure that Messy would also be a fan, Picky decided that the next tag team visit to Reading Terminal would definitely include a stop off for more treats.
Above is Messy's pick from the rack: a chocolate covered donut. While the donut was certainly fresh, Messy is not a huge donut fan and will probably go for a different treat next time. This didn't hurt Messy's perception of Beiler's — she is a big fan of their bread and has her eye on some of their other simple-but-hearty looking treats.
Picky's second sampling was a strawberry jelly and creme filled donut, a double whammy encased in powdered sugar. Life doesn't get much better than a good donut.With Beiler's being a walk up the aisle from Picky's day job, it would be easy to have too much of a good thing so he's limited himself (so far) to one return for a frosted blueberry donut. The only other blueberry donut he's had was a sad excuse of one from Dunkin' Donuts. In contrast, Beiler's blueberry donut burst with flavor. And the texture of a fresh small batch donut is to die for.
Aside from the donuts, we've also taken a liking to their fresh sandwich loaves. Their white and wheat breads run about $2.50/loaf and come in a bag that seems to be coated with oil or butter on the inside. We're not sure exactly what it is, but it's not hurting the flavor.
While the Dutch Market hours are only Wednesday through Saturday you can benefit from this bakery making everything fresh. Get there Saturday towards closing and you'll find treats marked down to $1.50 because they'll be closed until Wednesday.
Their best offering is the pumpkin creme filled donut. It's seasonal so only around October-November. But that makes them that much more special. Get 'em while they're around!
Messy ***1/2
Picky ***1/2
The final word: Fresh, homemade inexpensive baked goods.
Beiler's Bakery
Wed: 8am – 3pm
Thu – Sat: 8am – 5:30pm
Sun – Tu: Closed
215.351.0735
You should try the apple fritters and the cinnamon buns when they are still warm (not the iced ones!). And the strawberry cream donuts are great also…
[...] 12th and Arch: This is a little too early to pause your race and grab donuts from Reading Terminal, but who am I to judge? Of course duck off course! Hit the Terminal, and grab a sack of fresh jelly [...]
I have had the pumpkin donut once, and I still dream about it. Sooo very good.