13 of the best places to get San Francisco Sourdough

It’s crispy and crunchy. It’s tangy and sour. It holds up your favorite sandwich and sops up your most-loved soup. Sourdough bread is in a league of its own, and no city is more famous for this loaf than San Francisco. 

In 1849 Isidore Boudin (of the eponymous Boudin bakery) came to San Francisco and is credited by many as creating the first loaf of sourdough. Isidore’s wife, Marie Louise Boudin, ran the bakery side by side until Isidore’s death in 1887. Marie saved the Boudin mother dough from the Great Earthquake and Fire in 1906, according to Boudin’s historical records.

It’s the mother dough that makes sourdough so special (yes, special enough to be saved from natural disasters!). Most dough is made using commercial yeast, but sourdough is made using wild yeast, which means it will taste slightly different depending on where it’s made. 

This brings us to our next point – where to find the best sourdough bread in San Francisco. Any way you slice it (we had to) you’ll find a great sourdough treat at these spots. 

Read on, bread lovers! 

Photo Courtesy of Boudin

2. Semifreddi’s San Francisco Sourdough

• Address: Check out their retail shop at 372 Colusa Ave, Kensington CA or find them in grocery stores around the Bay, including Whole Foods, Mollie Stones, Safeway and more. 
• Hours: Weekdays 7 am – 5 pm, weekends 8 am – 4 pm 
• Claim to fame: The Bay Area’s family-run bakery 

The 100+ full-time employees at this family-owned bakery make over 200,000 loaves of bread and over 40,000 pastries and cookies each week! At their retail location in Kensington (near Berkeley, okay, we know it’s outside of San Francisco, but trust us) you can get hot sourdough paninis, custom sandwiches, cookies, and loaves to go. 

Their massive bakery in Alameda is also Green Business certified, offering natural light, a robust recycling program, and smart delivery routes. They’re dedicated to giving back to the community and provide extra baked goods to charities each week.

Photo Courtesy of Acme

4. Tartine’s San Francisco Sourdough

• Address: Have a full dining experience at Tartine Manufactory 595 Alabama St. San Francisco, CA 94110 or visit the bakery near Dolores Park at 600 Guerrero St. San Francisco, CA 94110
• Hours: See here for the Bakery and see here for Tartine Manufactory 
• Claim to fame: Co-founder and pastry chef Elisabeth Prueitt bakes technically perfect pastries – with and without gluten

Chad Robertson, Co-founder and baker, has instilled in Tartine a profound love of the grain. Their relationship with local farmers allows them to get a much better grain with which to make their bread. They take a thoughtful and poetic approach to baking. As quoted on their website (where you can watch behind the scenes videos about their practice), “A baker reads the weather, the flour, the levain, yesterday’s baked bread before starting to mix.”

Their San Francisco sourdough recipe is known as the “country bread” and it was featured in the New York Times cooking section. You can try your hand at making this loaf at home, or visit any of their locations (in addition to San Francisco you can get Tartine in Los Angeles and Seoul!). Try it on its own, or get a hot pressed sandwich…and a pastry, why not.  

6. Outerlands San Francisco Sourdough

• Address: 4001 Judah St, San Francisco, CA 94122
• Hours: Breakfast/Lunch Mon-Fri 9am-3pm, Brunch Sat-Sun, 9am-3pm, Dinner 5-10pm daily
• Claim to fame: Matt Jones, Outerlands’ head baker, was sort of Instagram famous

While they did have plans for a full Outerlands bakery spinoff, owners Lana Porcello and Dave Muller decided to stick to their Outer Sunset location. You can still get delicious bakes from head baker Matt Jones, like levain toast, peach galette, eggplant & miso rye and more. 

In 2011, according to The Bold Italic, “When [co-owner] Dave’s starter was accidentally tossed, his friends at Tartine gave him a piece of theirs, knowing it would soon pick up Outer Sunset bacteria and become a thing of its own.” 

Photo Courtesy of Paul M

8. Arizmendi’s San Francisco Sourdough

• Address: 1268 Valencia St. San Francisco, CA and 1331 9th Avenue San Francisco, CA 94122 
• Hours: Closed Mondays, Open Tues – Fri: 7am – 7pm Sat – Sun: 7:30am – 6pm
• Claim to fame: A worker-owned cooperative serving up bread and pizza to hungry cyclists

Using principles that brought Berkeley-based cooperative Cheeseboard to success, Arizmendi bakery began with a location in Oakland, eventually expanding into San Francisco and San Rafael. Their varieties of sourdough are far-ranging from classic or rustic loaves, sandwich loaves, sourdough croissants (in plain, chocolate, OR almond!), multi-seeded sourdough, cinnamon raisin sourdough, walnut sourdough, fig fennel sourdough, and chocolate cherry sourdough. Yeah, get us a sampler please. 

While their sourdough loaf and pastry lineup is impressive, they’re also well known for their sourdough crust pizza. They serve it up daily with one variety – don’t let that stop you, they know what they’re doing when it comes to flavor. Previous pizzas have including toppings like roasted yukon gold potatoes, mixed greens, Dubliner Cheese, garlic oil, chives & parmesan. Get it by the pie or by the slice. 

Restaurants serving San Francisco sourdough (in a fun way) 

So far we’ve shown you great bakeries where you can pick up a fresh loaf of bread, and a few where you can get a slice for a sandwich or soup. If you’re looking for a restaurant with sourdough bread on hand, here are some spots to try. 

Photo Courtesy of Wing L on Yelp

10. Goat Hill Pizza

• Address: Locations in SoMa, Potrero Hill, and West Portal 
• Hours: All locations open daily 11am – 10pm

Like the Mill, Goat Hill Pizza is serving up delicious pies with a classic sourdough base. Named for the goats who roamed the lot behind the original location, Goat Hill Pizza has been serving up smiles since 1975. Their dough is mixed daily and rests for three days to develop its distinctive sourdough flavor. 

Photo Courtesy of Long Bridge Pizza 

12. Woodhouse Fish Co. 

• Address: 2073 Market St. San Francisco, CA 94114 and 1914 Fillmore St. San Francisco, CA 94115 
• Hours: Vary based on location, both open at 11:30 am daily

While you can get sourdough with your chowder or soup at Woodhouse Fish Co., what makes their San Francisco sourdough offering unique is on the dessert menu. Their sourdough bread pudding is served with ice cream and caramel, making it a unique treat for any bread lover.

Photo Courtesy of cindyli on Flickr

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