Pane Ora is a small Dunedin bakery on Hargest Crescent in St Kilda, run by three friends — two surfers and a skater — who work as chefs and bakers, rising early to bake before heading for the waves at sunrise. The name joins pane, the Italian word for bread, with ora, the Te Reo Māori word for good health: together, Bread for Good Health.
Every bake is gluten-free, plant-based (vegan) and made with 100% organic or spray-free ingredients. The bakery favours flours that support better farming — hemp and buckwheat — alongside nutrient-dense chia, flaxseed, psyllium husk, brown rice flour and tapioca. Seeing first-hand the impact humans have on Aotearoa's moana and whenua, the team sees itself as kaitiaki, guardians of land and sea, baking loaves that are kind to people and the planet.
The range spans a rosemary and olive focaccia, turmeric bread, sourdough, hemp-hearted loaves and brioche, plus sweet cinnamon scrolls, mini loaves and a bread mix that makes four loaves at home. Customers with long-term gluten-free diets repeatedly call it the best bread they have tried — moist, flavourful and impossible to tell is gluten-free.
The bakery offers pick-up on Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm, with an online store for ordering. The Otago Farmers Market stall is currently on hiatus. Contact is 022 514 4311 or paneora@protonmail.com.
Pane Ora means bread for good health — pane, the Italian word for bread, joined with ora, the Te Reo Māori word for good health. It is a fitting name for a small Dunedin bakery whose entire range is gluten-free, plant-based and built on 100% organic or spray-free flours, and whose tagline says it plainly: Bread for Wellbeing, Crafted in Aotearoa.
Pane Ora is the creation of three friends — two surfers and a skater — who work as chefs and bakers and have found their rhythm between the bakery and the sea. They rise early to craft bread that nourishes, then head for the waves as the sun comes up. That daily contact with the moana and whenua shapes how they work: seeing first-hand the impact humans have on the natural world, they have chosen to be part of the solution rather than the problem.
They describe themselves as kaitiaki — guardians of the whenua and moana — and bake with a holistic aim: food that creates positive change for present and future generations.
The ingredient list is where Pane Ora's mission becomes tangible. The bakery uses flours that support better farming practices, starting with hemp and buckwheat. Buckwheat, they explain, helps release phosphorus bound in the soil and attracts beneficial insects, including bees, while offering a naturally gluten-free option for people with wheat and gluten sensitivities. Hemp is naturally resistant to many pests and diseases, needs little intervention, and actively absorbs nitrogen, helping protect and restore waterways — and as a food it is rich in protein, fibre and essential fatty acids.
Around those flours, the loaves are built with nutrient-dense ingredients such as chia, flaxseed, psyllium husk, brown rice flour and tapioca, giving the bread depth of flavour and real nutritional value. Crucially, the team insists health should never mean compromise: the bread is meant to be chosen because it tastes amazing, not just because it is good for you and the planet.
The rosemary and olive focaccia — gluten-free, vegan and organic — is one of the bakery's most-loved bakes; one customer described the moment she bit in as remembering how much she had missed that flavour and texture. Reviewers also single out the turmeric bread, and describe a range spanning the tang of sourdough, the heartiness of hemp and the gentle warm crunch of brioche, all striking a balance between soft fluffiness and substance.
For something sweet there is the cinnamon scroll. The original gluten-free organic loaf earns praise for staying moist and being just as good toasted as fresh, and it comes in a smaller mini format alongside a mini seeded version. Home bakers can take the process into their own kitchens with a bread mix that makes four loaves.
The bakery at 37A Hargest Crescent in St Kilda opens for pick-up on Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm, and orders can be placed through the online store. The Otago Farmers Market stall is on hiatus until further notice, so the bakery window and the web shop are the ways to buy. Questions are answered on 022 514 4311 or at paneora@protonmail.com, with updates shared on Instagram and Facebook.
Reviews keep returning to the same theme: bread so good people forget it is gluten-free at all. Fifteen-year gluten-free veterans call it the best they have tried, and families report the whole table loving it. That, paired with a mission that treats every loaf as an act of care for people and planet, is what makes an order — or a pick-up run — worthwhile. Ngā mihi nui, as founder Pietro signs off.