Chad Robertson opens Altbau in Williamsburg, a bakery, café and classroom

Chad Robertson is taking the next step in his bread career not with a smaller Tartine clone, but with a bigger idea. Altbau, planned for 184 North 8th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is being shaped as a bakery, café and classroom that turns his reputation into a daily neighborhood presence, with handcrafted breads, pastries, light fare and a menu built around locally sourced, organic ingredients.

The site itself tells part of the story. Robertson relocated to Brooklyn, found a restored former warehouse that once housed a martial arts academy, and named the project Altbau, the German word for old building. The 7,500-square-foot space was far larger than the small sourdough pizza shop he first imagined, but he and his investors bought it anyway and renovated it from top to bottom while preserving the original character, including reclaimed 1800s walnut floors.

For home bakers, the most revealing detail is what Altbau is trying to become beyond counter service. The upstairs level is planned for culinary classes and community events, while the ground floor is being set up as an all-day café and bakery meant to draw regular visits for staples rather than one-off splurges. That is a meaningful shift in how a high-profile baker can function in a city: less pilgrimage, more routine.

The project also points to where influential sourdough culture may be heading. Steward describes Altbau as a mill-and-bakery model for New York City, with flour milled fresh on site, intentionally sourced grains and a production process visible to the public. That matters because it moves the conversation from finished loaves to the whole workflow, from grain selection to milling to bake. Steward identifies Dean Elnatan as head of operations and Jake Israel as president and co-founder, and says Israel’s search for high-quality flour led him to Cairnspring Mills and then to Robertson.

Robertson’s own path gives the opening extra weight. He moved to California in 2002 and opened Tartine Bakery with Elisabeth Prueitt in San Francisco, later helping build a brand that expanded to 17 locations in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Seoul. Robertson and Prueitt won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chefs in 2008 after nominations in 2006 and 2007, and Robertson trained early under master baker Richard Bourdon. Altbau suggests he is using that authority for something broader than a signature loaf: a bakery where milling, baking, hospitality and learning all happen in the same room.