Backhaus | San Mateo
Anne Moser taught herself to bake from a Tartine book because Daly City had no corner bakery. She raised $54,570 and gutted a travel agency to open this one in June 2019.
Why go
Moser left Germany for a Daly City suburb and missed the bread.1 She made her first sourdough loaf out of Chad Robertson's Tartine Bread,
then sold to friends as a Cottage Food Operation while her husband Robert drove the deliveries.1 The operation moved into KitchenTown, then farmers markets, then this shop, which took a year and nine months to build out of a former travel agency and a Cricket Wireless store.1 Backhaus is German for bakehouse. A hallway at the back has windows onto the production room, so you can watch the croissants go through the sheeter.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the heavy seeded rye, which is Moser's own pick:
a hearty, German-style bread made with whole wheat flour, wheat berries, rye berries, sunflower seeds, sourdough culture and sea salt.
1 - Order: the
little dude,
which the Chronicle describes asa salty-sweet, bite-size hybrid of a pretzel and chocolate croissant.
2 - Avoid: arriving late for the savory counter. The Chronicle's note is that the
breakfast bowl
pastry filled with egg and speck goes quickly.2
What locals & experts say
- San Francisco Chronicle, on the baking:
excellent bread and pastries that more than hold their own among the Bay Area's baking pantheon.
2 - Anne Moser, on what she bakes:
I've always considered it not so much a style that I have, but that I just make the things that I really miss, that I really want to eat.
1
Good to know
- Hours: 7:30am to 4pm, Tuesday through Sunday. Closed Monday.3
- Booking: none taken. Tables go first come, first served.3
- Sit outside. There is seating along 3rd Avenue and a back patio with a herb garden.1
- Which door. This is the San Mateo flagship. There is a second Backhaus in Burlingame at 261 California Drive.3
Verdict
should-visit — The evidence is unusually complete for a suburban bakery: a reported origin piece with the formula in it, and a Chronicle guide three years later that says plainly how good the bread is now. Both are Kadvany, which is worth saying plainly, so this is one writer twice and not two independent voices. What holds the rung is that the second piece is a comparative judgment against the region's best bakeries, and the baker's own stated aim is checkable against the bread on the counter.