Bernal Bakery

Another day in the office, another co-worker bringing in treats from somewhere to share.  This time, my co-worker came yielding goodies from a bakery I hadn't heard about: Bernal Bakery.  As a daily consumer of baked goods, I was certainly curious, and wondered how I'd missed out on hearing about the place. 

"It started off small, just baking a few loafs of sourdough for the neighbors. As word spread about our story and goods the community almost instantly adopted us and started pouring in their support. Within just a few days Bernal Bakery was up to its neck in orders! We expanded our menu to offer sourdough cinnamon rolls, brown butter chocolate chip cookies and a seasonal crumb cake. "

Bernal Bakery is a pandemic-born business that still does not have a physical storefront.  They bake in a commissary kitchen, and show up on Fridays at Charlie's Cafe, and farmer's markets on the weekend.  My co-worker grabbed goodies at Charlie's Cafe, and said he's a regular there to get them.

The lineup from Bernal Bakery is relatively small, with a few different styles of bread, a couple cookies, croissants (plain, chocolate, chocolate hazelnut, ham & cheese, almond), donuts, cinnamon rolls, and seasonal danishes, including signature croistocks (croissant-bostocks).   No cakes, cupcakes, pies or items like that.

It doesn't seem like Bernal Bakery has one item that people love the most.  Some folks go for the bread.  Others adore the slightly unique brown butter cookies or sourdough cinnamon rolls.  Others rave about the donuts.  I don't see any "signature" item, just, well, everything gets good reviews. 

Sourdough Cinnamon Roll, Apple Cider Donut (Left).
Savory Danish, Pear & Pomegranate Croistock (Right).

My co-worker brought in a few items, and had them already cut up into pieces.  This meant I was able to easily try all 4 items, 3 sweet, 1 savory.  

Seasonal Savory Danish.  $5.

"Whipped Brown Butter Ricotta, Delicata Squash & Fried Sage."

The first item I tried was the seasonal savory danish.  I heated it up lightly.

It was fantastic.  The pastry itself was outstanding - perfectly laminated, so flaky, and nicely crispy.  If this is what their croissants are like too, I'd love to try them.  Top notch danish base.

In the middle was a gob of ricotta, not just any ricotta, brown butter ricotta.  It was creamy, not too rich, and had a lightly nutty flavor.  It provided a softness that was a nice contrast with the flaky pastry.  And then, rings of roasted delicata squash, that paired nicely with that ricotta.  My hunk didn't have any of the fried sage, which was a loss, as I think it would great on here.

Overall, this was just a beautiful item.  Excellent pastry, flavorful toppings that went together well, and it was nice to have a savory pastry to mix it up.  I think it would be great with some caramelized onions or toasted pumpkin seeds to jazz it up even more, but, it didn't actually need them.  My favorite of the items, and yes, I picked a savory for first place.

****.

Apple Cider Donut. $2.50.

Next up, alongside my coffee in the afternoon, the apple cider donut.  Since I don't generally love cake donuts, I took just a small hunk of this one, so I could focus on the other sweets.

It was good though - a fairly dense cake donut, a bit of depth of flavor to it from the apple cider, and well coated in cinnamon and sugar.  It was remarkably not greasy, and nearly tasted healthy.

I liked it dunked in my coffee, and it was exactly the kind of old school donut that brought back nostalgia for me (yes, I grew up near lots of apple orchards!).  **** calibre, although kinda just a ***+ from me as it isn't the type of item I get that excited for.

Seasonal Croistock. $5.50.

I moved on to the one I was most excited for: the croistock!  I expected it to be a hybrid croissant-bostock, and the looks of the caramelized edges drew me in, even if the toppings (seasonal pear and pomegrante) weren't the most exciting.  It had been several years since I had a bostock anywhere, and I still drool thinking over past ones I had elsewhere, like the one from Neighbor Bakehouse.

It was ... ok.  I didn't really understand the "crois" part of it, as the dough didn't seem to be laminated like a croissant, or really mirror a croissant in any way.  It was just a thick slice of toast really.  It also didn't seem to have any almond or frangipane component, that I kinda thought most bostock should?  The edges were lightly caramelized, but mostly actually just tasted a tad burnt.  The entire thing was quite dry, it didn't seem to have a fruity soak either.

So ... a thick slice of decent enough toast, with lightly burnt edges, and a scattering of pomegranate seeds and slices of pear on top?  Not compelling to me, even when I warmed it up and added ice cream.  I wished I had skipped it and opted for more of one of the others instead.  My least favorite.  **+.

Sourdough Cinnamon Roll. $5.

"Sourdough culture, sweet and salty cream cheese frosting."

And lastly, the cinnamon roll, one of their first items Bernal Bakery offered (after bread), one people love, and ... the one I approached with apprehension.  Sourdough.  Sigh.  I just truly don't like sourdough.  (Yes, it is possible to live in San Francisco, and not like sourdough.  I'm also allergic to avocados, so you can guess how I feel about brunch menus filled with artisanal sourdough avocado toast.  Puh-lease!).  

I took one hunk, and wished I had taken more.  It was even good at room temperature!

The dough was lofty and, uh, dough-y, and did NOT taste like sourdough.  It was perfectly baked - lightly golden on the outside but not burnt nor dried out on the edges, and nicely moist in the middle but not under-baked anywhere (picture Paul Hollywood poking at it here).  The folds of cinnamon were flavorful, and the frosting was great, sweet but not cloying, and a decent amount of it.  It tasted more complex than standard cream cheese frosting, and I was expecting to see use of brown butter here too, but it seems it really was just sweetened cream cheese with a touch of salt.

Overall, very good, nothing sourdough about it, and an item I'd gladly get again. My second favorite of the items.  ****.