A Fresh Batch of Mexican Bakeries Are Innovating Pan Dulce in the Bay Area

Up-and-coming bakers are putting a new spin on conchas.

There’s a pillowy soft tradition of pretty conchas in San Francisco. Just hop off the BART train at 24th Street, occasionally to a blast of mariachi music. Then stroll down 24th Street into the historic heart of the Mission, past colorful murals and papel picado crossing overheard. Within the space of a few blocks, you can spot half a dozen old school Mexican bakeries with pan dulce racked up in the windows. Including the most iconic shape, conchas decorated like seashells, and topped with a sugary crust in white, pink, or chocolate. Grab a pair of tongs to fish one out of the case. Dunked into coffee or hot chocolate, they make a sweet breakfast for only a few bucks.

Related: Vanilla-Sugar Conchas

But in the past few years, there’s been a new generation of bakers daring to revisit the simple pleasure. Raquel Goldman from Norte54 in San Francisco started rolling conchas during the pandemic, inspired by summers with her grandmother in Mexico City, but going richer with real butter and quality ingredients. At La Cheve in Napa, the popular bakery and brunch spot that found a permanent home in 2020, the Cisneros family went wild with flavored fillings and rainbow toppings. The San Francisco Chronicle noticed the trend in 2021, spotting a few other pop-ups, which have since gone quiet or closed. But no matter, the new school of conchas only keeps spinning in the Bay Area, with a couple of new contenders coming in hot this year.

The freshest batch is at Forma Bakery in Oakland, which opened in May. Baker Jackson Schnetz is only 25 years old, but he grew up running around his dad’s Mexican spots in the East Bay—that’s restaurateur Thomas Schnetz of La Esquinita, Xolo, Tacubaya, and formerly Doña Tomás and Flora. Schnetz baked for several years at the acclaimed Fournée Bakery in Berkeley, so he’s got classical training in California sourdough and French croissants. But when he went to open his own bakery, he decided to set those alongside Mexican conchas. “I wanted to keep in mind the flavors I grew up with,” Schnetz says, inspired by his family from Guadalajara, Mexico.

Related: Our Favorite Places to Eat, Sleep, and Explore in San Francisco

His conchas are oversized, unexpectedly light, and completely vegan, so his partner can enjoy them. He uses Tourlami plant-based butter developed by the former head chef from B. Patisserie, doubles the yeast with both active dry and natural leavening, and does a long slow fermentation for three days. Following a stage at Criollo in Oaxaca, he also added a sprinkle of corn flour to the topping, for a touch of crackle texture and toasty popcorn aroma. He only offers two flavors, classic chocolate and vanilla, but they deliver big comfort. “I like heavily fermented doughs,” Schnetz says. “A concha can be pretty dry with a sugary sweet top, which is good for dipping in coffee. But I wanted it to stand alone. You can eat it and feel super satisfied.”

Meanwhile back in the Mission, another panaderia has been popping up in the past year. Ximena Williams of Florecita is a former marketer turned cottage baker, who started selling out of her home kitchen in April 2023, and took up residence in a loft in April 2024. Born in Mexico City and raised in Georgia, she missed having any kind of neighborhood panaderia, and loved visiting her grandmother during the summers. “Conchas are so nostalgic and have brought me so many good memories,” Williams says. “I remember my mom coming home with a bag full of pan dulce and two conchas for me and my sister.”

Related: Pumpkin Spice Conchas

Her conchas are smaller in size, in a range of fun flavors, with a cute flower stamped on top. Real butter flavor sings out, but she also avoids eggs, because her husband and partner Jared Williams has an allergy. Williams says most customers don’t even notice the difference, and her egg-free recipe smashed a blind taste test. She swaps in apple cider vinegar to help the dough rise, which definitely yields a tighter crumb, but it’s tooth-sinkingly soft and tender. She’s got four core flavors, always including classic churro, bestselling blue corn, strawberry hibiscus, and dark chocolate, plus a couple of seasonal rotations, from matcha to guava to apple spice.

Still, certain traditionalists refuse to go anywhere but La Victoria, the old school bakery with a history of more than 70 years. The Maldonado family originally founded it in 1951, then following some family drama, sold the original building in 2018. Thankfully, former employee Laura Hernandez reopened in a new spot with a tweaked name in 2019. For many, it remains the quintessential pan dulce of San Francisco, and you can taste the nostalgia. It’s a super soft bun all of the way through, from the crumbly topping to the yellow interior, enriched with tender lard but without any fancy flavors. You can’t beat the price at $1.50 a pop.

Husband and partner Danny Gabriner says they’re not surprised to hear about a new school of conchas rolling through the Bay. “I’m all for people making good stuff,” Gabriner says. “I get the vegan side, which is a challenge with bread, and there are people who can figure that out. In terms of flavors, that’s great and there’s a lot you can do with it.”

Especially heading into the holidays, these bakers are already considering creative takes on Pan de Muerto for Dia de los Muertos in November, followed by Rosca de Reyes or Three Kings Bread for January. In a city obsessed with sourdough and croissants, it’s fun to see up-and-coming bakers ripping into the details of pan dulce, with quality ingredients, strong technique, and rich and flavorful results.

For more Food & Wine news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Food & Wine.