One chilly, hazy December morning, a group gathered at the corner of Filbert and Stockton streets in San Francisco as the clock struck 3 a.m. It would be another four hours until Liguria Bakery opened for business, but the crowd didn’t budge. They had fresh focaccia on their minds.

Michael Soracco, Liguria Bakery’s third-generation family owner, didn’t expect the early birds this past Christmas Eve, but he should have. Historically, it is the busiest day of the year, when the crew triples their dough to meet demand and the lines stretch for two blocks. The seminal bakery reopened on Dec. 19 after a minor kitchen fire kept the 113-year-old North Beach mainstay closed for nearly five months.