Edible Food Find: Mahalab Bakery
Photos by Linda Campos
Walk through the Roslindale Farmers Market, pay a visit to Pemberton Farms or order a burger on a sourdough bun from Black Ruby and you’ll run into Mahalab Bakery’s tangy breads.
Ayham Haddad is the mastermind behind Cambridge’s Mahalab Bakery, named for the seed harvested from the stones of cherries which are ground into a powder to use in Syrian, Palestinian, Lebanese and Jordanian baking. A mainstay at Boston-area farmers markets since 2020, Mahalab Bakery opened its physical location on Massachusetts Avenue near Porter Square in the spring of 2024. Beyond simply offering pita bread and their stellar range of focaccia, the brick-and-mortar location offers a range of savory baked goods showcasing Mahaleb’s signature sourdough base.
The Cambridge storefront is small, with just two window seats available if you can’t wait to devour your bounty until you get home. What it lacks in seating, though, it more than makes up for in product. There are three cases of baked and refrigerated goods greeting you as you enter the shop; behind one of the cases, there’s also a shelf with dry goods, like za’atar. No matter what, you can leave Mahalab well-stocked for several meals.
Haddad began operating Mahalab at farmers markets in Greater Boston in 2020. He felt he could fill a gap in the market: “Bakeries here tend to focus on sweets and satisfying that sweet tooth craving. I wanted to create something wholesome that didn't just satisfy a craving but… could satisfy your hunger.”
Although he has a background in information technology, Haddad has always been drawn to baking. He’s been baking since he was a teenager in Jordan and is now fascinated by the science of sourdough, as well as the complexity of flavor and the health benefits it delivers.
Mahalab is known for its staple breads: “We always sell out of our [focaccia and pita at farmers markets]. That’s typically the first thing to go,” Haddad reports. But Mahalab has a larger range of savory baked goods from the Eastern Mediterranean, sometimes looking even farther afield to Eastern Europe. The ground beef and tomato-topped sfihas are a standout: The meat is tender yet tangy from the tomatoes and other seasonings, all on top of pillowy sourdough. Haddad also took much care to develop his boat-shaped three cheese and chive fatayer, drawing on Armenian and Italian cheese combinations: The final product features a blend of ricotta, mozzarella, gorgonzola, chives and, if you’re lucky, some slight caramelization.
Despite building a big footprint through wholesale and farmers markets, Mahalab is also increasingly a staple for the local Cambridge community—Haddad does not take those relationships lightly. He has been carefully listening to feedback from his customers and incorporating it into the menu. Mahalab’s flavorful pita was itself a customer suggestion. “Customers are one of my biggest influences, especially the food savvy [ones]…. Seeing customer reactions and how they respond, I can see what products are worth keeping.”
Mahalab now offers cold goods, like hummus, baba ghanoush, ajvar and labne, also added to the lineup due to customer feedback. For the labne in particular, Haddad was unsatisfied with the products available on the market in the United States. He asked his family to bring him a bag for straining yoghurt from Jordan and began making labne himself.
But some of the offerings came about in part due to chance. Haddad accidentally bought baby kale instead of baby spinach and decided to incorporate it into a fatayer, stuffing a kale-onion-sumac mixture into his signature dough and folding it into a triangular shape.
Haddad has already begun to outline his next steps, including speculating a larger space for the brick-and-mortar. Most importantly, Haddad hopes to continue to deepen his relationship with the Cambridge community.
“People tell us they’re happy we’re here… Customers tell me that with time, the quality of products at new businesses goes down. They say it’s the opposite with us, that we keep getting better.”
Mahalab Bakery is located on 1786 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, and can be found at the Central Square, Davis Square, Union Square, Roslindale, Natick and Winchester farmers markets.
This story appeared in the Fall 2025 issue.
