Sourdough bread feeling pinch of high prices

###Live Caption: Master Baker Fernando Padilla inhales the yeasty aroma of his 150 year old sourdough starter he uses to bake Boudin breads. Bread prices are skyrocketing especially for the flour used by sourdough bread makers like Boudin Bakery in San Francisco, Ca. on Thursday, April 10, 2008. Photo by Brant Ward / San Francisco Chronicle ###Caption History: Master Baker Fernando Padilla inhales the yeasty aroma of his 150 year old sourdough starter he uses to bake Boudin breads. Bread prices are skyrocketing especially for the flour used by sourdough bread makers like Boudin Bakery in San Francisco, Ca. on Thursday, April 10, 2008. Photo by Brant Ward / San Francisco Chronicle ###Notes: ###Special Instructions: less ###Live Caption:Master Baker Fernando Padilla inhales the yeasty aroma of his 150 year old sourdough starter he uses to bake Boudin breads. Bread prices are skyrocketing especially for the flour used by ... more Photo: Brant Ward Photo: Brant Ward Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Sourdough bread feeling pinch of high prices 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Local salmon is off the menu. Fresh crab is getting scarce. And now the food perhaps most synonymous with San Francisco itself is taking a hit.

Sourdough bread, the legendary staple of the original Forty-Niners, may be headed for luxury status. An unprecedented spike in the cost of flour has meant prices for sourdough and other locally baked breads are surging.

"It used to be that I would buy a loaf of good-quality bread every time I went shopping for dinner," said 34-year-old teacher Annie Wilkens as she studied the bread lineup at a local supermarket.

"My husband and I would finish half, and then the rest would sit hardening on our counter until I bought the next loaf and threw that one away. Now, I really try not to waste it." With an artisan loaf of bread priced from $2 to $5, "it really just begins to add up."

While the costs of gas and some food commodities fluctuate substantially, wheat has been relatively immune to price bumps. But not this year. Wholesale flour prices have tripled in the last six months, the result of a number of circumstances including the lowest supply in 60 years, increased demand worldwide, high transportation costs and a weak dollar.

"This is the worst I've ever seen it," said Dan Giraudo, vice president of operations for family-owned Boudin Bakery, which has been baking sourdough in San Francisco since Gold Rush days.

Michael Rose, co-owner of Semifreddi's in Emeryville, said his flour costs have jumped from $2,000 to $6,000 a day, forcing him to raise wholesale prices 10 cents per loaf. That means the sourdough baguette that you'll find in one of Semifreddi's retail outlets for $1.95 - up from $1.75 at the beginning of the year - may be $2.29 or more at Whole Foods.

It's a similar story elsewhere. Steve Sullivan of Acme Bread Co. in Mountain View says it costs him $140,000 more per month than last summer to make the same amount of bread. He's raised prices by 8 percent.

The shortage in a crop once considered affordable and plentiful has Bay Area bakers jockeying for flour shipments, adjusting prices and speculating about the causes.

Traditionally, a tight supply could be credited to poor weather and small harvests. But this time, those explanations are just the tip of the iceberg. The real problem, said Keith Giusto, president of Central Milling in Oakland and owner of Full Circle Bakery in Petaluma, is that for many farmers the crop is not worth planting.

"From the early '80s until now, wheat has been depressed. Now, with rising production of ethanol and diesel, farmers see an opportunity to plant corn or soybeans instead."

Plus, there's the fact that emerging countries are developing more Westernized palates.

"Not only do you have people in India and China eating more bread products," Giusto said, but the growing middle class throughout the world is also eating more beef. "The cows are eating grain, too," he said.

While sourdough may be dearest to the Bay Area's heart, the impact of the flour shortage isn't limited to bread.

"Everybody who has been to a supermarket lately has noticed that anything that has wheat in it - from English muffins to naan to frozen waffles - has gone up," said Michael Mindel, senior vice president of marketing for Corte Madera-based Il Fornaio bakery and restaurant group.

Still, with its relatively straightforward blend of flour, water and salt, punched up by the distinctive tang of the Bay Area's native bacteria, sourdough has always been relatively inexpensive to produce and has filled restaurant bread baskets throughout Northern California. But that could be changing.

At Nordstrom's Cafe Bistro, lunchtime servers don't automatically bring bread; diners have to ask for it, although it's still complimentary. Nearby, at Boulette's Larder, patrons pay $5 for a plate of assorted slices.

Other restaurateurs are also rethinking the way they handle bread service.

"We're happy to give you bread," said Gabriel Amaya, owner of San Francisco neighborhood spot Olea, although he points out that bread is "a huge expense."

Olea's menu notes that bread is available for those who request it, which Amaya said lets him keep his prices affordable. "We'd rather not raise the prices on our menu to account for bread for everybody" when only some diners eat it, he explained.

At Nopa, on San Francisco's Divisadero Street, chef/owner Laurence Jossel will serve bread only if diners ask for it. It's been that way since he opened Nopa in 2006.

"For us, it's more about sustainability," Jossel said, adding that he's bothered by how much bread he's seen thrown away over the years. But his approach has helped him save money. "Instead of spending what would probably be about $150 a day on bread, we're only spending about $40," he said.

Mindel of Il Fornaio doesn't have the same luxury.

"One of the signature things at our restaurants is that we give a basket of ciabatta, olive bread and breadsticks to each table when they sit down," he said, noting that it's not something they feel they can stop doing. Mindel said the company has absorbed the rising costs.

"You can't raise prices on something you don't charge for," he said.

And while most restaurateurs say they have no intention of charging for bread - at least in the foreseeable future - diners will see their checks rise to account for high flour prices in other items, like pasta and pizza.

The kitchen at Perbacco makes its own pasta, said Staffan Terje, executive chef and owner of the Financial District restaurant, which means it uses lots of flour. "Pasta has always been associated with reasonably priced dishes on menus," said Terje. "Now it might not be the cheapest thing any more."

In the pizza industry, "it's pretty serious," said Tony Gemignani, owner of the popular Pyzano's restaurant in Castro Valley. Gemignani has raised prices twice in the last few months - in October and January. He's noticed other pizzerias cutting down on the weight of the pizza crust, which he says he's unwilling to do.

"I've heard customers complain about (the prices), but we have an excuse - the price of wheat, the minimum wage increase, and gas is high. It's not like we've done this for no reason," Gemignani said.

Not everyone seems bothered, however. Some bakery and restaurant owners say their customers seem oblivious to climbing bread prices, and argue that, all things considered, bread is pretty cheap.

Still, for a food long associated with affordability, not to mention with San Francisco's history and collective palate, people may no longer be able to take sourdough - and the Bay Area's other artisan breads - for granted.

Said Boudin's Giraudo: "I think the higher prices are here to stay for a while."