Sourdough Bread:A Colorful & Surprising History

Team 26035: Fred Lamora, Alberto Jimenez, Jorge Gonzalez-Garcia

The Original Boudin Bakery is Founded in 1849

In 1849, an enterprising French immigrant by the name of Isidore Boudin started a small bakery on Dupont Street in San Francisco. He brought with him a centuries old tradition of French baking, and a special gift for making French village bread. The photo on the right shows the Boudin family. On the left is Steve Giraudo, an Italian artisan baker who bought the bakery in 1941.

Making Sourdough Bread in the French Tradition

Boudin was the first baker to combine the sourdough process with French baking technique. The result was the first sourdough French bread baked in the U.S. He would start with a hearty dough fermented with wild yeast, and then form it into the shape of a traditional French loaf. The distinctive taste came from the starter, or “mother dough,” which contained micro-organisms that fermented and raised the bread. The original starter from the early 1900’s is used in the bakery to this very day.

Egypt: The Birthplace of Sourdough Bread Sourdough bread likely originated in ancient Egypt around 1500 BC, according to historians. It was likely the first form of leavening available to early bakers. This early method of using sourdough remained the usual form of leavening until the European Middle Ages, when it was replaced by ingredients from the beer brewing process, and then later by purpose-cultured yeast.

GROWING WHEAT TO MAKE BREAD IN EGYPT

Farming to produce wheat and other grains was at the very core of life in Egypt. Survival meant saving a portion of crops harvested in case of drought or misfortune. Wealth was measured by the amount of farmland a family owned. The back breaking labor and careful irrigation produced the wheat, which was made into flour, and which was then made into bread.

From Wheat to Flour to Bread: The Staff of LifeFarming in Egypt was dependent on the cycle of the Nile River, which flooded and receded in regular seasonal intervals. Farmers plowed and planted seeds in the fields which were irrigated with ditches and canals. They cultivated wheat, emmer and barley, all used to make the two main staples of bread and beer. The bread provided sustenance and the beer refreshment.

Feeding the Multitude: The Miracle of the Bread and Fishes

The Bible and other holy books are rich with numerous references to bread as the staff of life. One well-known example is the colorful parable of the feeding of the multitude. According to the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, Jesus took what his disciples had gathered, seven loaves of bread and a few small fishes, and multiplied them in order to feed a hungry crowd of 4,000 followers.

French Sourdough Bread in the 19th Century

French culture has always placed a high priority on the enjoyment of food. And baking bread has been a central theme of village life in France for centuries. It was this rich tradition of baking simple, nutritious bread using the sourdough method that Isidore Boudin learned as an apprentice baker in France. And the craft that he brought with him to California during the height of the Gold Rush.

San Francisco: Sourdough Bread Arrives in the U.S.When French baker Isidore Boudin arrived in San Francisco, it was awash in newly arrived fellow immigrants from all over the world. The city swelled in population during the Gold Rush period from 1848 to 1855. Everyone was seeking their fortune in this new rough and tumble land, and baker Boudin, newly arrived from France, was no exception.

Sourdough Bread and Gold Prospectors

Sourdough was the main bread made in Northern California during the Gold Rush. The bread was so common that "sourdough" became the common nickname for the gold prospectors. Experienced miners and other settlers frequently carried a pouch of starter either around their neck or on a belt. Old hands came to be called "sourdoughs,” a term still applied to old prospectors.

Saving the “Mother Dough” During the 1906 Fire

A major earthquake struck San Francisco and the coast of Northern California on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. Devastating fires broke out in the city and lasted for several days. As a result of the quake and fires, about 3,000 people died and more than eighty percent of San Francisco was destroyed. According to family history, Louise Boudin, widow of founder Isidore Boudin, saved the original “mother dough” in a bucket. She is shown on the right with the family.

A New Generation of Immigrant Bakers

Master Baker Fernando Padilla carries on the San Francisco Sourdough French bread tradition at Boudin Bakery. He took over as head baker after the death of Papa Steve Giraudo in 1997 at the age of 84. He and his team of bakers continue the centuries old tradition of hand crafting each loaf, and using a portion of the original mother dough, dating back more than a hundred years.

The San Francisco Sourdough Tradition Lives On

Boudin Bakery started as a tiny, old world bakery on DuPont St. founded in 1849 by French immigrant Isidore Boudin. It has grown and prospered in the last century and a half. The company’s new flagship location is a 24,000 sq. ft. showcase bakery and restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf. It serves what is still considered the essential San Francisco meal: fresh-cracked crab, dark bake sourdough bread, and a chilled bottle of California Chardonnay.