Tartine Bakery

The country loaf and the method behind it

The bread is why the line forms. Tartine's country loaf is naturally leavened, high in hydration and fermented long, which gives it a dark, blistered crust, an open and irregular crumb, and a flavour balanced between acidity and sweetness. Chad Robertson built that loaf and the method now attached to it after baking in Point Reyes and Mill Valley and learning from a Bay Area oven builder, and he has bought grain directly from farmers to keep flavour and traceability in the same conversation. Elisabeth Prueitt runs the pastry side, rustic in shape and exact in execution, and the two of them won the James Beard pastry chef award in 2008. The bakery opened in 2002 on a San Francisco corner in the Mission District that had held neighbourhood bakeries before it, and the sourdough revival that followed owes it a good deal.

A cramped corner and a moving line

Expect counter service organised around the case, the bread shelf and a queue that is part of the experience. The original room is small and the tables are few, so most visits end as takeaway or a quick perch rather than a sit-down meal. Join the line, look over the pastries and savoury items while it moves, order at the counter, then take a seat if one opens. Atmosphere comes from production rather than decor: the smell of the ovens, trays of laminated pastry going out, loaves that sell out before the day does, and a mix of neighbours, visitors and people who plan their morning around bread. Espresso drinks support the food rather than compete with it, with lattes, cappuccinos and drip coffee alongside a morning bun, a quiche or a tartine.

Order the morning bun and a loaf

The morning bun is the headline pastry: soft, caramelised at the edges and lifted by citrus. Pain au chocolat and the plain croissant cover classic viennoiserie, and the almond croissant adds frangipane richness. The case can also hold banana cream tart, lemon cream tart on a crisp cookie crust, coconut cream tart, a dark chocolate cookie, banana-walnut muffin, eclairs, apple pie and chocolate layer cake. On the savoury side there are airy quiches, ham and cheese, leek and spinach or chanterelle, plus gougères with cheesy crusts and hollow centres. Take bread home as well. Porridge bread pushes into moist, whole-grain, multigrain territory, and the country loaf turns up again in the egg sandwich and the smoked salmon tartine, which is the best argument for buying a whole one on the way out.