Found Treasure: San Juan Bautista Bakery

December 2, 2022 – You know you have a local institution on your hands when it hosts the town’s visitor center inside the shop.

So it goes with San Juan Bautista Bakery, which offers a bunch of other indicators it’s both an institution and a Found Treasure, starting with its old-school sign.

The corner spot on SJB’s adorable Third Street no longer deals in groceries, but the signage out front says so, because local law prohibits altering historic landmarks.  

The building has been in place since 1938. Several families have steered its long run from there, starting with the Cornaggia family way back in the pre-WW2 days. 

It experienced a renaissance much more recently, however, when Dianne Hampton and her son Jesse bought it a decade back. One major boost to the operation: The Hamptons were gifted the bakery’s original recipe binder and have put it to maximum use.

Somehow I’ve walked past the bakery a dozen times without peeking inside. I knew I needed to change that when I asked Edible contributor and longtime San Benito County resident reporter Robert Eliason if he’s tried it. 

“Many many times,” he texted. “I love that place.” 

I wasn’t able to reach the Hamptons before deadline, but Eliason filled me in on a few tasty details, including the “massive” brick oven they cook everything in, and key coaching: “You gotta hit them early in the morning on weekends—they sell out fast.”

He rattled off highlights like their dinner rolls, a large variety of breads, fruit turnovers, French bread, oatmeal cookies and jalapeño bread.

“The [new] owner, Dianne, really rescued that place,” Eliason says. “It was falling apart about a dozen years ago and she took it over and brought back all the old recipes.”

His recommendations all landed deliciously. They included the blueberry donut—available only on weekends—which I did not expect to like so much, thanks to its balance of berry, sparks of sugar and almost sponge-like cake texture. 

The airy and fresh jalapeño cheese rolls prove incredible buttered on their own or cradling a pork loin-fried egg sandwich. 

The best-seller, an apricot turnover, arrives thin, not too sweet, with a great crust. 

Meanwhile the “heavenly bites” turn out to be dangerously delicious donut holes stuffed with chocolate custard. They’re a star character in an expansive cast of sweets like strawberry cream cheese croissants, monkey bread, lemon bars, spiced mango pies and snickerdoodle cookies.

And the fluffy sesame French bread—one of 11 breads—works well as a foundation for garlic bread. Like the other items, it prices out very reasonably. 

Zooming out, San Juan Bautista presents an outsized amount of attractions for a village of 2,000. I dig the elegant basilica, nostalgic cantinas, motorcycle hombres, classic ice cream shops and restaurants like The Smoke Point and Jardines de San Juan. 

But none of those works as well as a microcosmic mascot for SJB as the bakery: It weaves together kitsch (note the epic cookie jar collection), friendly service, time-honored paintings and the whole welcoming effect of the brochures, magazines and event calendars in the visitors corner.  

That said, all that simply adds extra blessings on top of the baked goods, a most outstanding reason to take a 5-minute detour off the 101 on the way between Bay Areas. 

Just make sure to time it so everything’s not sold out. Your taste buds will be happy you did. More at San Juan Bautista Bakery’s Facebook page.