Boudin Bakery created the “Original San Francisco Sourdough French Bread” in 1849 when a French immigrant named Isidore Boudin moved to the city, ready to capitalize on the Gold Rush boom from the previous year. He set up shop and used the traditional European technique of capturing natural yeast found in the air for his “mother dough” — the leavening base of sourdough bread. Unlike the mother dough from his native land, Isidore was pleased to find the mother dough created in San Francisco was quite different. The city’s foggy climate produced an exceptional bread — tangy, with a crunchy crust and chewy center that’s pretty addictive. What’s especially unique about this mother dough is that a part of Boudin’s original dough has been used in every single loaf of bread made by the company in the last 160 years. It’s replenished daily with flour and water, ensuring the survival of the strains of yeast Isidore captured in the 1800s. This hardworking mother dough has seen a lot, including the switch to delivery trucks instead of horse-drawn wagons in 1900 and the fire and earthquake of 1906, where it was saved in a bucket by Isidor’s wife Louise.
