Jane the Bakery owner Amanda Michael, who named her place after daughter Jane, opened her first San Francisco location in 2011, starting with pastries, breakfast and lunch items. A second store followed in 2013. Then came their “bursting at the seams” moment.  

In late 2016, Jane the Bakery opened on Geary Street in the Lower Fillmore neighborhood where a diverse community comes for bread, sandwiches, pastries and fresh salads. The 3,000-square-foot bakery offers limited counter seating and outside benches, and there are nearby parks, playgrounds and athletic fields. They bake several dozen breads in-house daily as well as a full line of laminated items and pastries. They make several different rye breads. They rely on Central Milling flour, one of which is a California 100% wheat flour.

“We are stretching ourselves — by breaking down the walls to work in bakery to pastry, and pastry to viennoiserie,” she exclaims. “We are working with whole grain lamination, which is a super dynamic change. We have opened up with more savory pastries. We are endlessly putting out new products.”

As an example of one recent creation, they make a savory puff pastry with ham and cheese, with the flour made from einkorn, an ancient grain. On National Bakery Day in late September, customers flocked to Jane the Bakery where they concocted a unique peanut butter and jelly kouign amann, first originated in the 1800s in Brittany, France. Layers of butter and sugar are folded into a yeast dough; Michael adds a special touch with house-made jam swirled with peanut butter. In every bite, you taste a bit of each delicious flavor.

Michael bakes by a simple rule: Never skimp on inclusions.