There will be a baker's shop on nearly every street corner. They're open at 6am and close at 6pm, but the bread is usually pretty much sold out by the afternoon.

Just go in and smell!

Loaves are arranged at the back, sweet pastries and rolls in the glass-fronted counter. Some people may be shocked to see the sales assistants taking the unwrapped loaves from the shelves with their bare hands and dropping them into a paper bag, but no one ever died from eating bread as far as this Researcher knows. These shops very rarely bake their own bread, instead they're branches of a real bakers, not very far away and the bread comes to the shop direct from the oven. The same bakers usually bake the bread sold at the bakery counters of supermarkets.

If you buy a loaf, the assistant will immediately offer to cut it for you - Geschnitten? or Schneiden? she will say. Most families have an electric bread-cutting machine at home and will not need this. You should probably only accept this offer if you are feeding a large group and are in a hurry. Cut bread dries out quickly and the German bread is already quite hard, solid and chewy.

Also, when catering for groups, remember that this bread is very filling. The phrase 'six slices a day is the well-balanced way' doesn't apply here - two or three slices will make a full meal with cheese or ham or cooked meats (German Wurst) for a normal appetite.