Started with
a glass jar
of flour and water.
Helena Voss kept a sourdough starter alive in three apartments before the bakery existed. The starter is the oldest thing here. Everything else — the room, the shelves, the Polk store — followed it.
- 2017
The starter began
Helena Voss took home a piece of starter from a Berkeley sourdough cooperative. She kept it alive through three apartment moves before the bakery existed.
- 2019
Mission Street opened
Helena and partner Tom signed the lease on the corner of 9th and Mission. They baked four breads, two pastries, ran espresso. The first morning sold out by 11.
- 2020
The pandemic year
We baked through. Pickup-only for nine months. Bread sales doubled — so did the shape of our day. The starter never missed a feeding.
- 2022
Cookbook + classes
Helena's first book — A Year of Bread — published by Lorena Jones. The Saturday sourdough class started the same year and has held a 12-week wait list ever since.
- 2023
Polk Street opened
A bigger room, a longer counter. Same recipes. Tom moved to managing both kitchens; Helena stayed at Mission.
- 2024
James Beard semifinalist
Outstanding Bakery, regional. Didn't make the finalist round; we still printed the certificate.
- 2026
Two stores · 9 loaves daily
Today: nine breads at Mission, eight at Polk. Two staff per kitchen, plus Helena and Tom both still on the bench every week.
Two founders.
Six bakers.
Helena Voss runs the bench at Mission Street. Tom Reyes runs the operations + the Polk kitchen. Both still bake every week. The four other bakers — Maya, Lila, Daniel, Jordan — joined between 2020 and 2023; none have left.
The team meets every Monday morning, the closed day. We taste through the prior week’s loaves, talk about what changed, plan the next seven days. The pastry calendar gets written in pencil; bread is the spine.
Bake what holds
We don't add menu items because customers ask. We add them because the bread is better when there's room for them. We've removed two breads in seven years; both came back later.
Single-vintage flour
Cairnspring sends one harvest at a time. We adjust hydration weekly to match. The country loaf in March is not the same loaf as the country loaf in October — same name, different bread.
No app, ever
We tried online ordering in 2021. It made the pickup line worse, not better. Phone calls work. Walk-ins work. We're not changing it.
Mondays we rest
The starter rests; we rest. Helena writes the next week's calendar from home; Tom does inventory. The shop is closed for a reason.
