The bakery that came before the avenue got busy
La Farine opened in 1974 on a quiet, undeveloped stretch of College Avenue between Alcatraz and Claremont. It had a handful of employees and a neighborhood to feed.
The hours were European: in early, home early. The whole of August was a vacation, and the shop closed for a week after Christmas and New Year.
College Avenue filled in around us. The leisurely hours went, August went, and we are open seven days a week now. What did not change is the reason people walk in, which is French baking done carefully and sold the day it is made.
The bakery grew with the avenue, and it now runs on a staff of full and part-time bakers and counter hands across three shops in Oakland and Berkeley.
How the bakery works
Baked that day
The bread on the shelf came out of our ovens that morning.
No preservatives
Bread that is eaten today does not need chemistry to last until Friday.
Pure butter
The pastry is made with 100% pure butter, the way a French pâtisserie makes it.
Hand work
Loaves are molded by hand, cakes are decorated by hand, and fruit is arranged on tarts by hand.
Time in the dough
Fermentations get a generous helping of time, which is where the flavor in a rustic bread actually comes from.
Sold at our own counters
Our breads, pastries, and cakes are sold at our own shops and nowhere else. Coming in is part of what the bakery is.
Jeff Dodge
Owner
A note from the owner
I am the current owner of La Farine, and I say current because I follow a small line of owners I know only a little about. I never met Lillian Lecoq, who started the bakery, and I know her by her reputation as a character and a superb pastry chef. I bought La Farine from one of her first employees, Jennifer Sandstrom, who began behind the counter, worked her way into the kitchen, and eventually bought the place.
What I mostly knew about La Farine before I owned it was that when I wanted a morning bun, this was the only place worth the trip.
I grew up in Walden, Colorado, population 800, helping my father with his milk delivery business, which is where I got my love of a small business. I became a serious classical trumpet player and studied at Northwestern with a member of the Chicago Symphony, which is where I got my love of process. I took a Masters in Music at the University of Illinois while waiting tables and tending bar to pay for it, which is how I got into food.
Eventually I decided that eating mattered more than music, heard the Bay Area had a reputation for food, and headed west. After stints at Il Fornaio, Bruce Cost’s Monsoon, and Acme Bread, I found myself in a position to buy La Farine. An odd route, and a good one.
It turned out to be work I love, with employees who surprise me, and it carries on something that has been here a long time and should be here a lot longer.
The neighborhood
Leftover product goes to area food banks and senior centers at the end of the day, and we support East Bay schools. It is a neighborhood bakery, which means the neighborhood is the point.
Order it for the day you need it
Most orders take 48 hours, and cakes larger than 8 inches take 72. Call the Rockridge counter, or send the form and we will call you back.