Boudin Bakery, founded during the Gold Rush by Isidore Boudin, has remained dedicated to crafting its unique sourdough bread for nearly two centuries. The bakery capitalized on a largely French immigrant population in San Francisco, notably using a distinct yeast strain native to the area. While many bakeries switched to commercial yeast, Boudin's commitment to tradition set it apart, showcasing a bold stubbornness to preserve its unique baking techniques. Today, the bakery symbolizes historical perseverance and local tradition amid San Francisco's urban evolution.
The bakery carried on doing its one main thing, its distinctive sourdough bread, through the better part of two centuries.
It is certainly enriched with an airborne yeast that seems characteristic of this city - so much so that it has been saddled with the mouthful Latin handle of lactobacillus sanfranciscensis.
Boudin had a ready-made market here, since, as of 1852, nearly one in six of the 36,000 San Franciscans came from France.
Yet, Boudin declined to use Fleischmann's reliable commercial yeast, displaying the stubbornness that would become baked into the company's DNA.
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