Spelt Bakery has been part of the Maori Hill neighbourhood since 2012, baking handmade sourdough breads, pastries and pies from its bake house at 481 Highgate. The team describes themselves as passionate foodies who take quality local ingredients and mix them the old fashioned way — by hand, with dedication, skill and love. It is, in their own words, your neighbourhood bakery.
The bread bench is the heart of the shop: a wide rolling lineup of sourdoughs including the namesake Spelt Sourdough, White Sourdough in rustic and tin shapes, Beetroot and Nigella, Carrot, Chia and Pumpkin Seed, Fig & Cranberry, Toasted Seed, Multigrain, Quinoa and Oat, and Seed and Grain, alongside ciabatta, Turkish pide, flatbread and rolls. The classic baguette is baked exclusively for the Highgate store.
Mornings bring a pastry cabinet of croissants, almond and ham and cheese croissants, pan au chocolat, cinnamon buns and plum and custard danish, while the savoury side covers family-sized chicken pies, family-sized quiche and a jalapeño and cheese focaccia slab. After more than a decade on Highgate, the bakery grew — opening in Fairfield in 2023 and Mosgiel in 2025 — but this Maori Hill bake house remains the original. Note there is no phone at the stores; queries go by email, and orders can be placed through the website's shop pages.
On a corner of Highgate in Maori Hill, Spelt Bakery has been doing things the long way since 2012. The team calls themselves passionate foodies, and their approach is simple: take the best quality local ingredients and mix them together the old fashioned way — by hand, with dedication, skill and love. More than a decade on, the bake house at 481 Highgate is still turning out real food for the neighbourhood, one handmade loaf at a time.
Sourdough is the soul of this bakery. The counter carries a remarkable range of loaves, from a classic White Sourdough — available in both rustic and tin shapes — to the namesake Spelt Sourdough. Then the flavours branch out: Beetroot and Nigella, Carrot, Chia and Pumpkin Seed, Fig & Cranberry, and Toasted Seed sourdoughs sit alongside Multigrain, Quinoa and Oat, and Seed and Grain loaves. For something different there's ciabatta, Turkish pide, a Rosemary and Sea Salt Flatbread and humble bread rolls.
One item carries a badge of local pride: the baguette. It's marked as available only at the Highgate store, which makes this Maori Hill bake house the single place in the Spelt Bakery family where you can pick one up.
Mornings here run on the pastry cabinet. Classic croissants lead the way, joined by Almond Croissants, a Ham and Cheese Croissant, Pan au Chocolat, Cinnamon Buns and a Plum and Custard Danish — the kind of lineup that rewards an early visit.
The savoury side leans generous. The Family Chicken Pie and the Family Sized Quiche are built to be taken home and shared, while the Jalapeño & Cheese Focaccia Slab is a savoury bake with a bit of heat, cut in slab form for the table.
Spelt Bakery opened its doors on Highgate in 2012 and spent over a decade as a single-store operation before growing. In 2023 a second bakery opened in Fairfield, and in 2025 a third followed in Mosgiel. The expansion speaks to how well the handmade formula has been received around Dunedin, but the Highgate bake house remains the original — the place where the crust has been baked since the beginning.
The Highgate store opens early, at 7am, Monday through Friday until 3pm, and on Saturdays from 7am to 2pm. Sundays are closed, as are all public holidays, so time your visit accordingly.
One quirk worth knowing: there's no phone at the stores. For any queries, the bakery asks that you email [email protected] — they'll reply as soon as they get a chance, in their words, to dust off the flour. Orders, meanwhile, go through the shop pages of the bakery's website rather than by email, so if you want to secure your loaves or a family pie ahead of time, that's the channel to use.
Whether you come for a spelt loaf, a weekend baguette you can't get anywhere else, a croissant fresh from the morning bake or a pie big enough for the whole family, Spelt Bakery on Highgate delivers a very Dunedin kind of bakery experience: unpretentious, handmade and baked with genuine care.