Masa Madre

Conchas, sourdough donuts and a case built on starter

Masa Madre means mother dough, and the name is not decorative: the starter took nearly a year to develop before this New York City bakery opened in Queens in October 2024, and it runs underneath most of what sits in the case. Conchas are the item that made the shop’s reputation, and they are the clearest argument for the method, Mexican pan dulce built with sourdough practice and finished with French technique learned at a grandmother’s side in Mexico City.

The rest of the bake list is long and specific: Mexican chocolate croissants, almond croissants, sourdough donuts, maple sourdough donuts, pastel gloria with guava and cheese, piedras, banderillas, ojo de toro, cinnamon rolls, cubiletes, a mixed fruit tart and conchitas filled with whipped cream. Behind the case the bread programme carries old fashion sourdough, rustic baguettes and loaves, seeded loaves, cranberry walnut loaves, focaccia, pan crystal, bolillos and teleras.

A tight storefront that moves fast

The room is a narrow neighbourhood bakery in the Sunnyside and Woodside stretch of Queens, not a place to settle into. You enter through a croissant-shaped handle, past press clippings on the walls, into yeast and butter. Customers scan the case, ask for loaves sliced behind the counter, and leave with bread, pastry, tamales, tortas or a drink.

The savoury side gives the counter more range than a pastry stop. Tamales are a regular fixture, and the standout is the El Chapin, pork ribs and pipián wrapped in a banana leaf. Tortas are assembled to order. Drinks stay in the same frame: chocolate mexicano, champurrado, and brewed coffee from Mighty Oaks Roasters. The menu changes daily and the high-demand items move quickly, tamales earliest of all, so the bakery rewards arriving with a flexible plan.

Order the concha first, then decide sweet or savoury

Start with a concha if there is one in the case. It is the bake that made the bakery’s name and the most direct way to understand how sourdough practice, Mexican pan dulce and careful pastry technique fit together in a single item.

After that, choose a direction. For laminated pastry, the Mexican chocolate croissant or the almond croissant. For the hybrid style, the sourdough donut, the maple sourdough donut, or the pastel gloria with guava and cheese. For bread to take home, the rustic loaf, seeded loaf, cranberry walnut loaf, pan crystal, bolillo or telera all show the starter at work. For savoury, tamales are not an afterthought, particularly the El Chapin. Pair pastry with the Mighty Oaks coffee, or lean into chocolate mexicano or champurrado alongside tamales and tortas.