Saltwater Bakeshop opens first San Francisco storefront after long delays
Saltwater Bakeshop finally has a permanent SoMa home, and opening-day lines proved the market favorite brought its crowd with it.
Saltwater Bakeshop opened its first permanent San Francisco storefront on May 14 at 1309 Howard St. in SoMa, giving Brittany Dunn Holden’s long-followed sourdough and pastry operation a fixed home after years of delays and detours. Within hours, several fan favorites had already sold out, a sign that the bakery arrived with real demand, not just curiosity.
For regulars who had been chasing Saltwater through Ferry Plaza, Clement Street and Fort Mason, the move changed the whole rhythm of the business. Holden started Saltwater in 2018 after moving to San Francisco in 2015 to work at Mr. Holmes Bakehouse, the spot that helped popularize the cruffin. She built the bakery into a market staple and later into a wholesale presence in local cafes before a planned permanent shop in the Richmond District stalled in 2023 and was ultimately abandoned.
The SoMa cafe lets Saltwater do more than a market table ever could. The opening menu included several types of sourdough bread, sandwiches, pastries and drip coffee, with espresso drinks set to follow on May 30. Orange-blossom cardamom buns and sourdough boules were among the signature items drawing early attention, and the bread itself was right where Saltwater’s reputation suggested it would be. The classic country loaf landed with a springy, golden crust, a creamy interior and a clean, pleasant tang.
That focus matters in San Francisco, where sourdough is not a trend so much as part of the city’s food grammar. The San Francisco Chronicle has traced that heritage back to the California Gold Rush, and it has pointed to Tartine’s original Mission District bakery, which opened in 2002, as a modern reference point in the city’s sourdough revival. Saltwater now joins that lineage with a permanent address instead of a folding table, moving from a farmers market favorite into the neighborhood bakery-cafe it was always headed toward.
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