Oat Bakery in is a local bakery in downtown Santa Barbara specializing in what “superfood breads”: nutritious breads made with wholesome, organic ingredients. Their goal is to change some of the current American bread culture and show the community that good bread—handmade in small batches from local, organic ingredients—is a healthy food. Many of their breads are vegan or gluten-free, and they incorporate “superfood” ingredients like chia seeds and activated charcoal.
Their breads are Scandinavian style, based on a recipe one of the founders ate growing up in Copenhagen. Her mother was a marathon runner and so in order to fuel herself, she created nutritious and tasty breads filled with seeds, nuts, and oats (some of these can be seen on her Instagram account). For more about how her recipe grew into Oat Bakery as it is today, see this Santa Barbara Independent article for the story behind the bakery.
Since opening in 2017, Oat Bakery has become quite established in the local community, and last year they were voted the second best place to buy bread in Santa Barbara. Their breads are on the pricier side, but Santa Barbara is an expensive place and they do use high quality and locally sourced ingredients, so I think some of their breads could be worth it. Their prices are comparable to those at another local bakery, Helena Avenue Bakery, and they’re quite nice with samples in case you want to try a bread before committing to it.
Their hours start at 9 a.m. on most days, which is late for a bakery, but this is so their employees can stay well-rested and don’t have to bake in the wee hours of the morning. They’re open every day except Sunday, when they’re at the Ojai farmers market, but they have a limited bread menu except on Tuesdays and Saturdays, which is when the Santa Barbara farmers market takes place. Their shop is located right next to where the State Street Market takes place, so they’re a great place to stop by if you’re at the Tuesday market. On regular days they have several flavors of bread buns, gluten-free breads, and their SuperSeed bread. I visited on a regular day and a farmers market day, so I was able to pick up a few different breads to try.
Daily Breads
Their non-GF bread bread buns all have the same base but incorporate different mix-ins. This vegan dough starts with oats, wheat flour, flax seeds, and chia seeds. Oat Bakery’s classic is the is their pumpkin seed, but their other flavors include sage garlic, shiitake shallot, and almond date. Their full menu is available on their website, and they sometimes have specials and seasonal additions.
Each bun is around 12 ounces in weight and is $5 or $6. They’re leavened with yeast and fermented overnight, so texture-wise they’re on the dense yet fluffy, soft, and moist side—sort of reminiscent of homemade bread—with a generous helping of seeds distributed throughout. They’re soft and squishy to the touch and don’t really have a crusf. The bread base itself very flavorful, with a touch of wheaty sweetness, a slight tang from the long fermentation, and a lasting saltiness (they were actually a little too salty for me personally), and the flavors of the mix-ins permeate the dough and enhance the taste even more. They also keep for several days and retain their moisture, so they make really tasty toast.
I tried the pumpkin seed ($5, pictured above), shiitake and shallot ($6, pictured below), and a sample of the sage and garlic ($6). The pumpkin seed bun was my favorite: very fragrant from the pumpkin seeds, and with a fluffy yet slightly springy texture. The shiitake and shallot bun was slightly moister and softer in than the pumpkin seed one, due to the olive-oil-roasted shallots and shiitake mushrooms mixed in, and it was also a bit saltier. The sage and garlic was super garlicky (and surprisingly slightly crusty), which is great for a garlic fan like me.
Another one of their daily breads is their SuperSeed, which is my favorite of their breads. This gluten-free bread is delightfully dense and seedy. It is very pricey at $10 for 1/3 loaf, $15 for 1/2, or $25 for a full loaf—I was told that this is due to the very high concentration of seeds: it doesn’t contain any flour. Instead, it’s made from oats, carrots from Roots Farm, husk, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, and coconut oil.
It’s surprisingly moist and chewy, and it wasn’t as heavy or crunchy as I expected from its appearance. The flavor of the bread is extremely rich from the oils of all the seeds inside: it almost tasted buttery to me. I think all of Oat Bakery’s breads would be good eaten plain, but the SuperSeed bread in particular doesn’t need anything added in my opinion: it’s delicious as is. This bread keeps for a while (2 weeks in the fridge), and just a small slice is quite filling since it’s so dense, so I do think it’s worth the price.
Farmers Market Specials
Oat Bakery has a much larger menu and extended hours on farmers market days. In addition to the daily breads, they also have sweet and savory twisted buns (Hygge bun and farmers market bun, respectively), sourdough focaccia, and a few different sourdough loaves. They also sometimes have specials that they post on their Instagram account.
Note: Their daily breads are available when they open at 9 a.m., but the sourdough loaves don’t start coming out until 11.
Their sourdough focaccia is topped with roasted seasonal vegetables from the farmers market, and it’s available with or without cheese ($7 or $6, respectively). It’s quite dense and soft, and it’s less airy and oily compared to other focaccias.
The cheese-free focaccia I bought was topped with herbs, roasted cherry tomatoes, leeks, and shallots. The size of this bread makes it enough for a meal, and it definitely feels healthier than a standard focaccia, but it wasn’t my favorite bread here (though the roasted veggies on top were delicious).
Activated charcoal bread is quite trendy in Paris but not so much in the US, so I had to try Oat Bakery’s version when I saw it. Their activated charcoal sesame sourdough ($10/loaf) isn’t pitch black like Boulangerie Utopie’s, but instead it’s a visually striking swirl of both black and white dough.
It’s on the denser side for my preference, but I liked the chewy and springy texture. It has a complex, mildly sour flavor (much more than the focaccia) together with a strong sesame scent and a charcoal taste that isn’t unpleasant. The sesame-seed-encrusted crust is especially fragrant, and while it’s not a very crusty crust the seeds add a nice crunch.
This very flavorful bread was quite tasty on the first day, but I don’t think it keeps or toasts as well as the buns do. Luckily, all their sourdough loaves are available in half loaves (~12.5 oz per half). In addition to this charcoal loaf, they also have other sourdoughs, which include a Danish rye sourdough, a seeded sourdough, and one with olives. One of their bakers posted a photo of a fun turducken loaf made with the ends of three different sourdoughs, but I don’t think it’s available for sale. 😁
They also had a special bun when I visited on the Tuesday right before Halloween! Their Princeton spookily-colored Halloween bun($6) was colored with activated charcoal and butternut squash. Last year their Halloween special was a sourdough loaf, but this year’s bun is a variant of their daily bread buns. Like the other buns it was densely soft, fluffy, moist, and quite salty. It might seem similar to the charcoal sourdough but it was actually very different: softer, lighter, and completely different in flavor profile. There weren’t as many pieces of butternut squash as I was hoping for and I initially didn’t like it as much as the charcoal sourdough, but over the next few days I enjoyed it as toast.
Oat Bakery
5 West Haley Street
Santa Barbara, CA, 93101
805-335-1628
https://www.oatbakery.com/
Hours:
Monday: 9 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
Tuesday: 9 a.m.–6:30 p.m. or until they sell out
Wednesday–Friday: 9 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
Saturday: 8:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
Sunday: CLOSED
Will Travel for Snacks 