Boudin Bakery: how an 1849 Gold Rush starter became San Francisco's oldest business

Few foods are as tied to San Francisco as a round of sourdough, and few names are as tied to sourdough as Boudin. The bakery calls itself "San Francisco's oldest continuously operating business." It says it still bakes its sourdough fresh every day "using the same mother dough cultivated from a gold miner's sourdough starter."

Gold Rush beginnings

Boudin's own history dates to 1849, when, in its words, Isidore Boudin "struck gold with four simple ingredients: flour, water, salt, and mother dough." Wikipedia says Boudin came from a family of master bakers in Burgundy, France, and built his bread by combining the sourdough already common among Gold Rush miners with French baking techniques.

The Giraudo era

The bakery's modern history runs through one Italian-born baker. Wikipedia says Steven Giraudo, whose first job in America was at Boudin, bought the bakery in 1941. Boudin's site calls him "Papa Steve" and credits him with the bakery's international reputation. He later sold it in 1993, and his son Lou Giraudo bought it back in 2002, and Wikipedia says it is now run by his grandson Daniel. Under Daniel, Boudin bread is sold through grocers including Costco and Safeway.

Where it's made

The flagship is at Fisherman's Wharf, which Boudin calls the "home of our mother dough." You can watch the bakers at work, eat in the casual café or the full-service restaurant, and learn the history of the bread there. Wikipedia lists the main bakery in the Richmond District at 10th Avenue and Geary Boulevard, along with about 30 cafés around California and a location at Disney California Adventure, where the "Bakery Tour" attraction shows how sourdough is made.

A short-lived trip east

The first Boudin outside California opened in 1979 at the Yorktown Center mall in Lombard, Illinois, according to Wikipedia. It closed in mid-2009.

Why the starter matters

Sourdough rises on wild yeasts and bacteria rather than packaged yeast, and each starter has its own character. That's why Boudin makes so much of continuity. Wikipedia notes that the bakery "still uses the same starter yeast-bacteria culture it developed during the California Gold Rush." That claim is central to the trademarked name Boudin bakes under: "The Original San Francisco Sourdough."