San Francisco sourdough is a tangy, open-crumb white loaf made with a wild starter unique to the city's foggy climate, used for sandwiches and as the base of cioppino bread bowls.
French baker Isidore Boudin started Boudin Bakery in 1849 at the height of the Gold Rush, keeping a starter alive his descendants still use; a lactic acid bacterium isolated in the loaves was named Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis in 1971. The bread's sour profile comes from the local microbial mix, not the recipe. Acme Bread, founded 1983 across the bay in Berkeley, raised the city's bread standard a generation later; Tartine, founded by Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt on Guerrero Street in 2002, redefined what a country loaf could look like.
4 editor picks for San Francisco sourdough in San Francisco, ranked by editorial score. All San Francisco signature dishes · San Francisco sourdough across every city.
Tartine Bakery ★ 4.7
600 Guerrero Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Tartine Bakery in San Francisco is Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt's Guerrero Street original, with a queue that has not let up since 2002 and a morning bun.
Josey Baker Bread ★ 4.5
736 Divisadero, SF CA 94117
Josey Baker Bread in San Francisco is the back-of-house bakery at The Mill on Divisadero, with stone-milled whole-grain loaves and the seedy Adventure Bread.
Jane the Bakery ★ 4.5
1881 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94115
Jane the Bakery in San Francisco is Amanda Michael's Lower Pac Heights flagship, with a stone-mill grain programme and the city's best whole-grain country loaf.
Boudin Bakery ★ 4.2
160 Jefferson Street, Lower Level, San Francisco, CA 94133
Boudin Bakery in San Francisco is Isidore Boudin's 1849 Gold Rush bakery at Fisherman's Wharf, still running a starter through six generations of bakers.