Williamsburg, Brooklyn · Bagels + breads + morning pastries
We bake before dawn six days a week from a tiny corner shop on Grand Street. Standing orders are the easiest way to guarantee a loaf. Otherwise, come early. Most Saturdays we are sold out by one.
A note from the bench
Salt & Steam opened in 2022 in a fifteen-foot storefront on Grand Street. Sara had been baking bagels in her Bushwick apartment for four years and running an Instagram waiting list of nearly two thousand people. Marcus had spent a decade working the ovens at a Michelin-starred bread program in Copenhagen and was tired of restaurant hours. They ran into each other at a Court Street farmers market, argued about hydration percentages for an hour, and had a lease signed within three months.
The menu is short and does not change often. Six things, made the same way every week. We stone-mill Wild Hive Farm heritage wheat and rye each Tuesday. We ferment every dough for at least forty-eight hours in the walk-in. We boil bagels in honey water (no barley malt, no baking soda) and hand-shape every one. Our butter is European-style cultured. Our flour is organic. Our shortening list is short: butter, olive oil, that is it.
We bake before dawn Wednesday through Sunday, plus a smaller Tuesday morning bake for standing orders and wholesale accounts. Come early, or reserve ahead. When it is gone, it is gone, and we will not restock it until the next day.
Six things, made the same way every week. When they are gone, they are gone.
Wild Hive Farm heritage grains, stone-milled every Tuesday morning in the shop.
Every dough sits in the walk-in for at least two nights. Slower = better flavor, better crumb.
Every bagel, every day. No barley malt shortcut. That is the whole trick.
You are buying bread that came out of the oven while you were still asleep.
This week at the counter
Hand-rolled, boiled in honey water, and crusted with our own eight-seed everything blend (poppy, sesame, black sesame, caraway, fennel, garlic, onion, flaky salt). Chewy interior, blistered crust. Best split and toasted the same day.
Our workhorse. 30% whole-wheat starter, honey-water boil, packed with toasted white and black sesame. Standing-order favorite. Ships well if you cannot make it in.
80% stone-milled hard red wheat, 20% whole rye, 78% hydration, wild-yeast starter fed twice a day. Thirty-hour cold retard. Dense crumb, dark caramelized crust. One of the six we make every week.
Laminated brioche dough braided into a knot, brushed with brown-butter cardamom syrup, and finished with pearl sugar. Rolled at 5 am, baked at 7. Limited to fifty per morning bake.
100% whole-grain rye with a spoonful of white miso folded into the dough at final mix. Long, slow ferment. Nutty, deeply savory, keeps for a week. Sold Fridays and Saturdays only.
Made in-house from Battenkill Valley cream. Fermented thirty-six hours before churning, then rested another twelve. Flaky Maldon or plain. Pick at the counter. Batch is small, comes out Wednesday.
In the shop
Regulars
The everything bagel is the closest thing to a real New York bagel I have found since the H&H days. Actually chewy. Actually crusted. Not those fluffy fake things every other new place is selling.
Before you come in
We open at 7 am Wednesday through Sunday, and 9 am on Tuesday. Weekend queues start around 8. Bagels usually last until 11, cardamom buns often gone by 9:30, country loaves by lunch. On slower weekdays we might make it to close.
Yes. We hold a small batch each morning for standing orders. Email us with what you want and how often, and we will add you to the list. We do not take one-off same-week reservations. The standing list keeps the mornings sane.
We currently work with six wholesale accounts within a fifteen-minute delivery radius. Minimum is two dozen bagels or six loaves per delivery, twice a week. Email hello@saltandsteam.co with your name, location, and expected volume.
No. We mill and ferment wheat and rye in our shop and cannot guarantee any product is safe for celiac. The cultured butter is the only gluten-free item on the menu.
Only bagels and sesame sourdough bagels. Tuesday and Friday shipments via a local courier for the five boroughs, and a limited Amtrak-window run to Philadelphia. Loaves and pastries do not travel and we do not ship them.
Small ones, yes. Breakfast platters (2 dozen bagels + cream cheese + smoked fish, up to 40 people) with a week's notice. Wedding morning boxes and studio breakfasts are our regular event work. Email us with the date and headcount.
Standing orders + wholesale
We hold a small batch each morning for standing pickup and wholesale. If you want a specific loaf or a case of bagels on a specific day, email us. We bake to a schedule, so a week's notice makes it easy for both of us.
Contact
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