Today we take a look around the new Boudin Bakery & Cafe at the Fisherman’s Wharf of San Francisco. Well, while this 26,000 square feet, high volume bakery, retail shop, restaurant and museum location is relatively new (opened in 2005), Boudin Bakery the company has been around for a long, long time, established in San Francisco in 1849.

Sourdough was the main bread made in Northern California during the California Gold Rush era, and it remains a part of the culture of San Francisco today. Boudin is the largest and oldest, with many more San Francisco-based bakeries out there now competing for market share, including Semifreddi’s and Acme Bread Company, to name a few.

The wild “lacto bacillus San Francisco” contained in the mother dough gives each loaf its distinctive “sour” tang, and is site specific, changing in response to the ambient temperature and humidity. This group of wild microorganisms thrive in the Bay Area’s unique climate, working together in a feat of culinary science to produce San Francisco’s unique Sourdough bread formula. While most breads are leavened using a single genetic strain of commercial yeast—trading flavor for consistency and predictability—sourdough relies on these wild microorganisms for leavening as well as flavor. Using a bowl of flour and water as bait, the baker makes a starter by capturing yeasts and bacteria (including lactobacillus sanfrancisco) from the air, the mixing bowl itself, even the baker’s hands. Feeding on the flour, these microorganisms begin to multiply. The yeasts give off carbon dioxide, which makes the dough rise, while the bacteria produce lactic acid and acetic acid (vinegar), which contribute the sour flavor. Once the dough is made, a bit of it is folded back into the unused portion of the starter, providing sustenance for the ever-growing colony of wee wildies, which is henceforth known as “the mother.” Fed a regular diet of flour and water, this mother strain continues to multiply, creating new “babies” every day, producing descendents indefinitely. In fact, the Boudin Bakery still uses the same “mother” strain that was created by Isidore more than 150 years ago.

Learn more about the fascinating history of San Francisco Sourdough here and here.

Without further ado, let’s check out Boudin Bakery & Cafe at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf!

I brought home a bunch of 1 lb. Sourdough rounds for omiyage, but I should have grabbed a couple of these half-pound rounds to use as soup bowls, as the 1-pounders are too big for that…

What’s funny is, when I asked that gentleman to give the camera a “shaka”, while showing him how to do it and explaining that it means “greetings” and “hang loose” in Hawaii, he was rather confused in how to position his fingers, having to look at his hand to make sure he was doing it right. lol

You know your bakery is way cool and hit it BIG when it has its own automated ceiling-suspended bread basket-on-a-track delivery system…

Now THAT’s what you call a cool bakery!

About half of the bakery’s retail space is occupied by a gift shop featuring culinary goods made by various third party local companies. This is just one of many display racks stocked with gourmet coffee, cooking oils, herbs & spices, dishware, cookbooks and much more…

Here’s the Boudin Bakers Hall Cafe menu…

I didn’t get around to eating at the Cafe, but if I did, I’d probably order the Tomato, Basil & Garlic Sourdough Pizza. Sounds yum!

Finally, luring in passersby from the bustling Fisherman’s Wharf sidewalk, is an open window kitchen where Boudin pastry chefs give live demonstrations on how their Sourdough bread is made, as well as making whimsical creatures out of it to keep the keiki entertained…

Man, if there’s a such a thing as a “Sourdough Bread Heaven”, Boudin Bakery here at Fisherman’s Wharf is exactly what that would look like. Neat shop!

You may remember in my last post I featured Clam Chowder in a Sourdough Bread Bowl from the Crab Station…

Boudin Bakery is just footsteps away from the Crab Station, however I’m not sure if all the vendors get their Sourdough Bread from Boudin, as I seen a few who had packaged Sourdough Bread for sale made by another company (IIRC, it was ACME).

If I lived in the Bay Area, I’d definitely do my own “Best San Francisco Sourdough Bread Shootout”. As it is, I don’t, however a quick Google search yielded an article at SFGate.com (San Francisco Chronicle) titled “TASTER’S CHOICE: The surprising truth about San Francisco Sourdough“. This taste test didn’t include the more established “Big Boys” such as Boudin, but instead focused on baguettes from newer companies, often baker-owned. The aim was to see what a new generation is doing with a venerable classic.

Interestingly, the winner of that blind taste test was La Brea Bakery out of L.A., not San Fran’! So does that mean this whole “secret’s in the San Francisco air” thing is just a myth? Or perhaps they got their “mother dough” from San Francisco, and all the future bread they bake are spawned from that. Food for thought.

I know our local Safeway bakes fresh Sourdough Bread in both round and elongated loaf shapes. I’ll have to try it and see how it compares to Boudin, which I have a couple 1 lb. round-shaped loaves sitting in my freezer from this trip.

On the second half of our visit to San Fran’, we moved from the Grand Hyatt in the downtown area to the Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf…

Greeting us in our room upon check-in, a complimentary bottle of Zinfandel paired with an array of dry fruit, nuts, cheese, organic honey and of course, San Francisco Sourdough Baguettes…

That Zinfandel paired BEAUTIFULLY with the sharpness of the cheese, earthiness of the nuts and dry fruit, and golden sweetness of the honey. Very, very nice!

The following morning we decided to order room service for breakfast…



Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf Room Service Amenities: “Awaken Your Senses” Breakfast



Cranberry Juice, fresh-squeezed Grapefruit Juice, fresh-squeezed Orange Juice and Torrefazione Italia® Coffee



Sourdough French Toast: Dipped in Eggless Batter, Served with Peach Compote. $14



Corned Beef Hash: Poached Cage Free Eggs and Chipotle Sauce (omitted). $15



Three Egg Omelet: With Cheddar, Bacon and Ham. $15



Golden Gate Breakfast Sandwich: Hobb’s Honey Cured Ham, Cage Free Fried Eggs, White Cheddar, Sauteed Onion and Napa Valley Mustard. $14



Seasonal Fruits and Berries. $10



Rice

If you’re from Hawaii and work in a restaurant on the mainland, if you seen rice on this ticket, you’d probably think to yourself, “Hmmm, I bet these guests are either asian, or they’re locals from Hawaii.” The plate may already have potatoes, noodles or bread as a starch, but still, gotta’ get RICE! LOL

Here’s the Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf entire “Awaken Your Senses” room service amenities breakffast menu…

So how was everything? DELICIOUS. No, DELICIOSO! I ordered the Golden Gate Breakfast Sandwich, and everything in it tasted very fesh, using high quality ingredients. So did all the other dishes I got to sample a bite of.

But WOW, that Sourdough Bread French Toast with Peach Compote was particularly STEL-LAR!

Seriously, this is probably one of the BEST BREAKFAST DISHES I’ve ever put in my mouth. The chewy texture and slight twang/tang/shlang of the Sourdough, when combined with the roasty-toasty battered crust and sweet ‘n sour, totally fruity encompassing contrast of the Peach Compote, truly takes French Toast to levels previously unknown to mankind. Bam!

Seriously, EASILY 10 SPAM Musubi awarded for Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf Sourdough French Toast with Peach Compote’s themed “Awaken Your Senses” breakfast dish.

I’m DEFINITELY gonna’ make this using one of the Boudin Sourdough Bread loaves I have in my freezer. I’ll think of some local Hawaii fruits for the compote, while I’ll probably add Macadamia nuts to the batter for a nutty texture contrast and serve it with Coconut syrup. Sound gooooooo’oud, eh? lol

I was going to include a trip to Ghirardelli Square in this post, but decided to separate for the next post to keep this one from being too drawn out (as not any of previous posts recently haven’t already been drawn out). lol

So next up, an excursion to Ghirardelli Square to check out their “mock” Chocolate Factory (for display purposes only), and a few more musings along Fisherman’s Wharf. I may even be able to wrap up the rest of this San Francisco trip travelog in the next post. We’ll see.