The Mill
Josey Baker's country loaf won the Chronicle's blind sourdough tasting in March 2026, first of twelve. Fire badly damaged the room on Divisadero in the early morning of 29 June 2026. The owners say it was contained quickly. The owners say nobody was hurt and that they have closed while they work out what reopening takes. I have not found a news report on the fire.
Why go
Baker was the first in San Francisco to roll a mill into a bakery and grind his own grain.3 He mills the whole-grain flour on site every day. Grain used inside 24 hours, he says, carries aromas that evaporate out of older flour. The loaf is red and white wheat, sea salt and the house culture. He rests a wet dough 36 to 48 hours so it takes a hard bake. We definitely walk a razor's edge of, you know, almost burning it,
he told Mario Cortez.1
That flour is the trade-off. It is not a free one. Lauren Saria and Becky Duffett put it plainly: Critics quibble about inconsistencies, and sure, the bread can occasionally be dense, a risk that comes with a more natural ingredient.
3
Josey Baker Bread started in Josey's Mission apartment in the summer of 2010, on a starter he got from his friend George's gramma. Sixteen people bake more than 450 loaves a day.4 Four Barrel Coffee shares the space and hand-roasts on a vintage steel roaster. Tal Mor and Jodi Geren run that side and co-own the Mill with Baker.7
Order this / avoid
- Order: the country loaf. Bi-Rite Market, Mollie Stone's and Rainbow Grocery Co-Op stock it while the room is shut.1
- Order: toast, once the counter is back. They cut it off thick slabs of the same bread.
- Avoid: turning up before the room reopens.
What locals & experts say
- Cesar Hernandez and MacKenzie Chung Fegan, in the Chronicle's Bay Area sourdough guide, October 2025:
His country bread is the platonic form of sourdough, a perfect exhibition of crumb, crackly crust, flavor and custardy consistency.
2 - Elena Kadvany, on the Chronicle's blind panel, March 2026, praised the crunchy crust and the custard in the middle; Cesar Hernandez picked the loaf out blind by its sour and by the ripples on the crust.1
Good to know
- Getting in: a counter, no bookings, when it is open.
- Where: 736 Divisadero Street, in NoPa.
- Status: shut since the fire; the owners are raising money to rebuild.5
Verdict
should-visit — Do not build a morning around this address yet.