Seven Hill Baking Co

Overall grade: Superb

# of visits: 2

Genuinely excellent bakeries like this are exactly the reason I started this blog, as the headline goes, "In Search of Good Bakeries". I feel the strong propellant of letting people know what good baked goods truly taste like and how much joy the whole experience brings whenever I come across a place that fulfills the criteria.

Having been on the search in the Bay Area for years, I thought I've already covered the top tier ones (just need to update the blog) and wouldn't be surprised by the upper bound any more. Apparently I was wrong. But I'm more than happy that I was wrong. Now there is one more solid star on the map that I'd try to go back to.

It's an early Monday morning right after their opening that I arrived. Everything available is on the display counter. They are all the standard pastries with flavor variations (croissant, scone, muffin, brioche etc). You can tell they are the good stuff just by the look, accompanied by the irresistible buttery baked goods smell. Normally I'm rather selective on first-time sample review. But given so many good candidates, I couldn't help but get almost one of each from what's available then. I reviewed them in the next four days. They are not only all mind-blowingly good, but also keep as well as it gets for baked good under proper storage¹.

Best of the best

Everything on the menu is amazing. It's not a metaphor or exaggeration. By everything I literally mean everything.

Croissant

Almond Croissant - Almond cream center, almond cream top baked to crunchy biscuit, glued wtih almond slices. This is the MOST complex and flavorful almond cream I've ever had, vanilla hint in the background, smoothly blended with almond jam, with almond skin freckles. The croissant layers are distinct

Fruit Croissant - Raspberry jam center, almond cream top baked to crunchy biscuit

Plain Croissant - Airy and light. Inner layers have a well developed gluten chew to it. Outer layer is crispy and has a buttery shine to it. Very good flavor and texture. Just the right amount of butter.

No Name Bun - Kouign Amann with everything bagel seasoning

Muffin

Blueberry Polenta Muffin - Moist and fluffy, cornmeal texture and flavor, lots of pulpy juicy blueberries

Bran Muffin - Hearty and dense, oat bran porridgy texture along with flaxseeds whole wheaty flavor, apple cinnamon spice, just a touch of sweet

Pumpkin Muffin - Moist and dense, ginger pumpkin base, pumpkin seeds and walnut add texture contrast, juicy cranberry crowns fall flavor

Scone

Cheddar Garlic Scone - Moist and airy, baked in cheddar cheesy every bite, everything bagel seasoning with highlight on garlic

Oatmeal Cranberry Scone - Hearty and dense, grounded oat creamy texture, bright cranberry stands out in the wheaty base

Others

Brostock - Double baked brioche slice dressed up like almond croissant

Bread

Brioche - Buttery but not overly rich, airy and fluffy, shiny crust not only for good look, also retains the moisture longer. So good just snack by itself, or can be the star of your burger.

Ciabatta - Chewy crust, super open crumb, excellent to build sandwich

Pretzel - Soft with just a bit chew, signature shiny dark skin, just right amount of flaky salt to highlight the high pH flavor, among the best pretzels

Sourdough - Chewy not hard crust, open moist crumb, distinctive sour note, very enjoyable base sourdough bread

¹ By experience, the best way to store pastry is to put them in a covered paper box not overly crowded, especially for laminated pastries to retain crispiness. If putting them in a completely sealed container, the moisture coming out of the pastries has nowhere to go and the layers get soggy. If leaving them completely uncovered, they will dry out very quickly. Covered paper box can still let moisture go out, just very slowly. It's the best for moisture control. For quick bread like muffin or pie dough like scone, they naturally last longer. Still covered paper box preserves them longer. For bread, if uncut and wrapped with a paper bag, they should last two days without too much effect on taste.