When it comes to the flavor of a city, you could say that San Francisco tastes like a bite of crusty, chewy Boudin sourdough bread. That’s because the bakery’s wild yeast starter, which bakers have fed with flour and water daily since Isidore Boudin founded the company in 1849, includes the city’s foggy, salt-kissed air.
Keeping that mother dough alive is the most important thing to master baker Fernando Padilla, who has been with the company for 40 years. In 1979, a then-17-year-old Padilla began training under “Papa” Steve Giraudo, who was master baker and owner at the time. Since then, other than the original sourdough round, long and baguette, every loaf of Boudin bread has been created by Padilla, from the Chocolate Raisin Sourdough to the seasonal critter shapes, like Dungeness crabs and Easter bunnies.
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