Baghdad Bakery Guide

We’re experiencing a renaissance in baking, and it’s great news to this food groupie and a lot of people with a taste for what talent can do with sugar, flour, yeast, water, fruit, cocoa and other pretty simple staples. I look for people and places willing to really push the envelope and my God, they’re starting to crop up all over town in their own places. Elizabeth Faulkner opened the gate with the brilliant Citizen Cake and she attracted serious bakers to try their luck like the great Tartine and the exciting Arzimendi Bakery. They join Pascal Rigo’s wildly successful Bay Bread and old stand by’s like Dianda’s, Stella Pastry and some others that are exploring their own boundaries. This is a short list of some of my favorite old and new bakeries here in Baghdad by the Bay.

There are a couple San Francisco institutions that are more or less than bakeries and I’d like to give mention here. Each is outstanding in what they do and perennial winners as judged by media and consumers alike.